The Utopian Mask

Jack MoodyOctober 3, 2022

They don’t scream like we do. Pleasure-howls that twist around walls and bleed through the cracks underneath locked doors. Yips that crash into the echoes th...

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How to Conquer Your Fear

Shana GrahamOctober 3, 2022

Stare straight into the Marionette’s bulging, white foam-ball eyes starting immediately after Mom tucks you in, clicks your bedroom door shut. That terribl...

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OOOOH! I THINK I HIT MY LEFT VENTRICLE !

Chase GriffinOctober 3, 2022

So, my scared stupid moment is super on-brand and I apologize. I can't help it, okay? This state really is goddamn weird. I wake up and there's a marching band ...

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He even freaked out on Bruce Willis

Caleb BetheaOctober 3, 2022

I used to run out of the room when the opening theme came on, with the very 90s night-filtered montages of empty row boats and swing sets, the match lit up unde...

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The Witch Lucille

M.M. KaufmanOctober 3, 2022

Dear Great Witch Madge,  It was great seeing you at the last Witch & a Steak barbecue. Those kababs you made were insane. Sadly, I am not writing today t...

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Jacob and Connie Know Nothing About Ghosts

Christina RossoOctober 3, 2022

Jacob and Connie pack up their Subaru and back out of the driveway to their house, better known as the Most Haunted House in Drexel Hill. So consumed are they w...

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Total Protonic Reversal

Tex GreshamOctober 3, 2022

If you are ever to get rid of Him, you have to read this and follow what I say religiously. I didn’t and now… It’s safe to say I didn’t give this to you, that y...

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Venereal Disease in Ancient Rome

David M. RubinSeptember 23, 2022

Wherein Madigan Fiske failed to transcend circumstance and forgive crimes against his soul, but was begrudgingly forced to accept the love of the many.   ...

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What the Lady in the Mobile Game Ad Doesn’t Know

Alexandra M. MatthewsSeptember 23, 2022

It’s dawn and my contacts feel like freeze-dried apple rounds on my eyeballs. To win the game, all I have to do is tap the marshmallows at the exact moment of t...

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Why My Backpack Smells Like That

Ev YoungSeptember 23, 2022

There was an especially ebullient morning on the farm in late August. My skin at the time was raw from interminable afternoons in late July, but that day a west...

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About Lee (About You)

Abigail OswaldSeptember 23, 2022

All of your stories begin with Lee. You can’t help yourself. Whatever year it is, whatever bar you’re in, inevitably his name rolls off your tongue and you say ...

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Forgeries of the Self

Tyler PlofkerSeptember 20, 2022

Black sludge seeps from the walls; drops from the ceiling and splashes against my face. I do not even close my eyes, though some drips in. My skin, from neck to...

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Tour Guide

Dmitry SamarovSeptember 10, 2022

An Excerpt from paint-by-numbers   An email from the Museum of Only Art Now asking if I’d be interested in giving their artist-in-residence a tou...

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Last Night in Celebration

Swati SudarsanSeptember 5, 2022

Have you come to get me Lyra? I have been stuck in Celebration for the last sixteen years, and I am not asking for anything more than I left with. You can retur...

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You Searched For —

A. C.September 5, 2022

“allie wilde figure skating”   Skating Magazine Could this 10-year-old be figure skating’s next big thing? Allie Wilde, discovered through her lo...

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Notes on Hope and Despair

Sacha BissonnetteSeptember 5, 2022

  Monday: The world is supposed to end this Friday. That’s what the government, or whatever is remaining, has been telling us. Friday is the day w...

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The Professional

Eli S. EvansSeptember 5, 2022

Being myself a grown man, I was having an argument with a child, the particular subject of which was whether a certain artist, who the child had dismissed as me...

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Halloween 2: OFFICES NOW

J. F. GleesonSeptember 5, 2022

Coming soon: a bit of hookless prose. At the bus stop, which is the same, some decades older in body, 503 years older by soul, perhaps a great deal more, tho...

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How to Shoplift: A Guide

Nathan PenskySeptember 5, 2022

My name is Lawrence. I’m sixteen years old, and I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I go to school and get stoned and skate with my friends. I have a girlfriend...

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“If I ripped this seatbelt out, it couldn’t possibly do any harm, right?”

Annalie SandorSeptember 5, 2022

  Why the hell are we slowing down?    To feel the jerking and rattling of the large steel cage currently carrying me at 40 miles an hour thr...

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The Funeral of Fame

Kevin TaylorSeptember 5, 2022

“Initial here and…sign here.” Cyra shook her tired wrist and made her mark. Greeves turned the page. “And here. Excellent. Now, there is one last order of...

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The Netherlands Institutes a Trade Embargo

Scott Mitchel MayAugust 24, 2022

Night is for walking and thinking and making the most of the opportunities you are given, and she firmly believes this. She had one set over at The Cellar, and ...

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Mania

Chloe PingeonAugust 22, 2022

I’m sitting in a cafe in Boston, and my present state of mind is manic. What is your present state of mind? It’s a question typed on a crumpled piece of p...

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Temporal

Francois Bereaud and Melissa Flores AndersonAugust 15, 2022

(Missed Connections on a Spring Afternoon at JFK in 2003)   19   Lucy woke up with her bag clutched on her lap, a line of drool escaping fro...

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Confessions of a Healing Girl

Sadhika RajAugust 10, 2022

Some people ask me how I spend my time, I remain silent, but the words I heal sit at the tip of my tongue that is usually always covered with the remnants of Or...

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WELCOME TO BLOCKCHAIN CHICKEN

Caleb BetheaAugust 3, 2022

He wasn’t even there. And I was excited to tell him how I worked my way all the way through his cookbook—my Billionaire’s Bacon this close to looking like the p...

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Smoking Is Highly Addictive, Do Not Start

Dipti AnandAugust 1, 2022

Let’s try this again. A. confesses to being inoperative since growing is ongoing and she’s been at it too long a time. Luckily, she wears it well. Her cheeks do...

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Based on a true story I dreamed a few years ago while drunk

michelangelo franchiniJuly 28, 2022

A pub. No, a bar. No, a pub. A man sitting near the window. Weary. A weird waiter. Sunny outside. The man is thoughtful. The waiter asks him what he wants to or...

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The Work from Home

Alexandra Dos SantosJuly 28, 2022

  The roots of my hair fuzz up like lint. Late morning, unbrushed teeth, tacky banana breath, I log onto a Teams meeting. Sale reps still paint their fac...

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A Guided Backpacking Trip with the Creators of the Simulation

Jake CampJuly 27, 2022

The creators of the simulation have many interests. Watching their characters do stupid shit is definitely one of ‘em. As far as this goes humans are the ...

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