Heavy Rain ~ Thiago Rego

A man exits the building’s main entrance. It’s early evening, and it’s pouring rain outside.  “Dan!” shouts another man coming down the stairs in a rush.  Dan rolls his eyes as the man stands next to him under the rain cover.  “Where are you going?” he asks....

The Cycle ~ Sarah Langer

It was hypnotic.  The rising heat. The constant drumbeat. The fluorescent haze.  The atmosphere in the Lansdale County Laundromat was absolutely electric. The wonders of the world could not hold a candle to this fervor. There was something about the rhythmic...

The Lightning Bug Escape ~ Bethany Tomes

Where I’m from, we call the glowing critters “lite-nin bugs.” They’re the flying insects that appear at night, you know — the ones you collect in glass jars when you’re small. These bugs were the symbol of youth when I was small; they represented wonder and innocence...

Smoke and Fire ~ Sierra Auman

You dashed out of the building as the flames nipped at the hair on the back of your neck. The unbearable heat clashed with the ringing in your ears; the alarms sang a siren’s song through the hallways as you ran, which followed you out the front doors....

People Like Us ~ Huzaifa Malik

These traditions aren’t for people like us – Saadat Hasan Manto I wasn’t the only whore in Rawalpindi, but if “they” (those who write things) wanted one to remember, I’d like to imagine it’d be me. My name is Alina and I lived in a small gully just past the...