Category: Fiction – 16th Edition
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There is no place in London quite like the Royal Exchange. People from all across the world gather in one place to trade their goods, so a man from Wales could purchase a flower from Madagascar. Animals that most would never have the chance to see in their entire lifetime are held in cages for…
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It was hard to try and make a living here, and Avia knew this well. Even being named a mastra at birth, it served her no better than performing parlor tricks on the street for gold. So, like most residents of Miredge, she faced an arduous job in the mines. Miredge has seen tough times…
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My favorite memory is from a late night in December last year. It was almost a whole year before the accident. I vividly remember the way Annika’s hair fell across her shoulder and the arm of her car seat. She always had such pretty hair. It was straight and soft and I loved whenever she…
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The buses have long since stopped running. It’s nearly two in the morning on the outskirts of the city and I hold a half-empty bottle of beer in my hand as I shuffle my feet along the sidewalk. Water pours from the sky, drenching my black dress and my previously pretty makeup. My hair sticks…
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Trevor Igeby flicked the switch on his lighter and lit the hand-rolled cigarette, shoving it between his lips and taking a deep, long drag. He stood leaning against the door to his father’s office, right foot up on the hand-carved wood as he zoned out the blubbering of his red-faced old man. “…and you just…
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It took three days for the news to hit local stations. Four more, and it became a global phenomenon. Politicians and the world’s wealthiest trampled over each other, trying to be the first to get involved, to find out if it was true. After a week, it was no longer a wild rumor or wishful…
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Cuffley, EnglandAugust 15, 1910 The smell of a campfire was Cascadia’s perfume. Heat-warped air drifted up past a kettle hanging low over the flame. The welts on her body from her prize fight in London had long faded away, but the bruises on her knuckles remained. Those were renewed with increasing regularity as her brother’s…
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There’s a thickness in my throat, a shallowness in my breathing as my lungs contract. My chest is heavy, like it’s been filled with sludge, and my shirt is stuck to my skin with blood and sweat. Lifting my head is futile; I’ve been here for too long. I’m too tired. My neck aches under…
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“Small towns tend to have big rumors, Nathan Jr.” Farmer Henry stopped and positioned his shoulders to look at his young new farmhand. “But in this case I reckon they’re right.” His chest heaved with a laugh, and Nathan Jr. drew an eyebrow up in concern. “You look stiff, Mr. Henry; are you alright?” Farmer…
Arrow Rock Literary Journal 