For Harmony

By A.L.F. Fagan My nursing shift at the hospital was finally ending. I’d lost track of time, and my boss, Karen Baker, had to inform me that it was almost time to go home. “Frank,” she says, “Tina just arrived to take over for you. Once you and her have completed the change-of-shift, you can …

My Brother’s Books

By Mary Kathleen Felice my brother’s books are old with dusty jackets and torn covers yellow edged and sepia toned pages many dangling from broken spines as are we worn and aged through time as was he until his passing on the most recent of Mothers’ Days the heavenly reunion of which I’m sure brought …

Death Won’t Do Us Apart

By Dr. Imbesat Maheen Syed Death won’t us do us apart, It brings us together. The ones that leave us physically, Become part of us spiritually. Transcendence liberates one from grief, suffering and pain. Let’s not mourn the physical separation, but celebrate the spiritual union with our loved ones. May the tears of joy and …

A Timepiece Story

By Rosa Meronek The room is silent. She frowns as she steps into the foyer, turning to lock the deadbolt on the front door. The soft tick of the large clock on the wall echoes in the quiet. Tick. Tick. Tick. Her gaze falls on the dirty socks in the corner. The muddy shoes. She …

Garden Views

By Candi Lavender Reaching for a towel to dry her hands, she noted the towel next to hers. It was haphazard. No, that was the wrong word. It was carelessly hung. Everything he did was careless, except when it was in his domain. Tools were hung precisely on the shed walls and if she returned …

The Room

By Joan Hyams Schmitz It’s been a calendar full of days since the boy entered the room, dumping his backpack on the floor as he flopped onto his bed for a power nap. This brief, impromptu trip home served one purpose—a quick trip to the dentist to repair a chipped tooth. Once the incisor was …

The Step-Mother

By Ann Christine Tabaka Madalyn did not like having to be alone with her step-mother all the time. She was irked with her father for having to travel far away from home for work so often. Her step-mother was not mean or cruel like the evil step-mother in the stories that she read, like Cinderella. …

A Tall Tower to Sleep In

By W. T. Paterson Jeremy felt like an out-of-place monster sitting in the line of cars to pick up his twelve-year-old daughter Emilia from an all-women’s coding camp. Tech giant ByteSyze hosted an eight-week summer program for young women interested in STEM careers, the final week of which happened to coincide with the one-year anniversary …

Wet With Tears

By Thomas R. Bates I cannot get out of my head, Nor do I necessarily want to, The image of the one time you Wept, eyes red, wet with tears, During those last weeks of your Painfully slow decline into death. You seemed to face it and accept it So stoically without any regrets, But …

To Still Exist

By Molly Ketcheson   Sometimes she woke up crying.  In her dreams, the Blank Year still existed. Or so Annie presumed whenever she was dragged from sleep with heaving sobs but no recollection of why the tears ran down her cheeks. She wasn't sure if she was crying because the memory was devastating or simply …