She’s going to fall and I can’t do anything about it. The small toy truck on the ground rolls forward and hits the wall. I still can’t do anything about it. Fran wavers forever. Forever on the third step, arms wind-milling in slow motion to grab the banister—to fall forward instead of back. She doesn’t…
Human Child, Thistledown had called him, when her fairy hand wrapped around his chubby fingers and led him to this place so many seasons ago. But Human Child took too long to say when there were games to be played, dragonflies to dance with in the waterfall’s spray, or frogs with whom to sing. He…
Vera rotated the lever to transfer the next set of refugees into the airlock. Below, the Earth glowed red like a blossoming rose in a time-lapse video, the petals unfolding, spreading out across the seas. “Do we have an update on the toll?” She asked Avery through her com link. Avery sighed. “You’re just torturing…
My splashbike squelches as it leaves the concrete. I’m airborne, wet hair flailing, stinging my cheeks. I love this part, the almost not-quite making it to the other side. But despite the constant shifting rain I hit a cantilever. My splashbike bobbles, the specially designed tread of the tires defying gravity until I’ve got enough…
FIVE CANDLES FOR THE APOCALYPSE by Michelle Muenzler The first candle is the biggest—it’s from when we met, don’t you remember? Everything was still Christmas and pumpkin spice despite the news, and we found ourselves reaching for the last unscented candle on the shelf…and when our hands bumped, we both apologized at the same…
The Lights of Wonderland by Rebecca Birch It’s never truly dark here on Rigel Five, or Wonderland, as Alison and I re-christened it upon making landfall. Nighttime is a heavy blue blanket softened by the bioluminescent fungus forest, its mushroom caps gleaming rose, periwinkle, and violet. We wandered among the thick blue stalks, swathed in…
Exchange by Katherine Quevedo When I got to Mario Reyes’s dorm room, I heard him scuffling around, opening and closing drawers as if he had a girl coming over. I smirked as I knocked. If he’d seen my room, he wouldn’t have bothered cleaning. He opened the door. “Hello, Leland,” he said. “Please come…
At Least No One Else Will Suffer By Dawn Vogel The king will be dead before the end of this celebration of our marriage. In the days to come, some will say that I married him, and murdered him, solely for my own benefit. Who else stands to gain as much as the queen,…
A Salamander’s Wisdom by Rebecca Birch It didn’t hurt much, dying. A sharp, bitter taste when my teeth broke the red berry’s skin. Tingling on my tongue and the insides of my cheeks. A sudden tightness in my chest. No, dying didn’t hurt—not near as much as living while my daughter wasted away…
Peace in the Valley By Rebecca Birch The effort of walking to the open hatch of her rusted lifepod made Margaret’s body ache. Fighting a wave of dizziness, she gripped the edge. Sunlight broke over the mountains, illuminating the valley she’d inhabited for the last three years. The tart scent of the ubiquitous blue…
