Fiction

“Thieves,” Officer Summers said, “are generally lazy.” I wrote this down in my notepad. It was my first day on the job, and I wanted to make a good impression. “Take that car over there, for example” he said, pointing to a late-model black Audi in the rear of the Pacific Place parking garage. We […]

Three seconds was all it took. Push, slip, fall then a haphazard tumble down the wooden stairs the teachers’ quarters were known for, before Ms. Adebisi’s body rolled to a stop at the bottom, lifeless. How long did they stand there, eyes bulging out of their sockets, the horror before them not registering? The first […]

“Who is Millicent?” “It’s not a who. Millicent is a cryptocurrency. You know, like Bitcoin.” Dr. Abrams tented his fingers and pressed them to his lips. “Fake money.” “That’s what I thought. Years ago, I did a favor for a friend. No need to go into any detail on that. As a thank you, this […]

I don’t see the dog till I clip it with my bumper and flip it into the scrub. “Fuck!” I stomp the brake and fishtail into the shoulder, my heart a knocking bass line. Peering back through the dust cloud, I search for movement, but there’s none. No houses on this stretch, just the DollarMart, […]

Bonnie saw Clive for the first time in seven years at an illegal get-together outside Killington. No masks—a good thing, or she wouldn’t have recognized him. She hadn’t seen Clive since her sister’s wedding. Bonnie had a hazy recollection of making out with Clive after the reception. Later that afternoon, she was in a pickup […]

The motel’s feable forty-watt bulbs cast her flesh in an orange and ghostly light. Sam hadn’t been this close to a woman in a long time. His nervousness surprised him. The place smelled of mildew and lilac, an odd combination, but not wholly unappealing. His ballpoint pen wobbled against her stomach. Her black hair fanned […]

It was dark when I got home and parked the car on the patch of gravel in the front yard. I could see my boys sitting on the couch, each one playing on their separate tablets, their heads leaned forward, long black hair loose and messy. As soon as I parked, I pulled out my […]

“You right-handed or left-handed?” He looks to me, up from the chair he’s bound to. The wood is mahogany—old, thick, and matching the desk I’m leaning against. Stout juts his chin to the right, the sweat dripping from his goatee adding to dampness already home to his crotch. I cut the zip tie that binds […]

“I know, I know.” He squeezed his eyes shut as his wife raged. “I’m doing my best. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Julie was livid, and he couldn’t blame her. He wasn’t exactly excited to be working his way through a list of seedy adult stores instead of being at Piglet’s fifth […]

Looking down on her former boyfriend lying face up in the middle of the road, Ella May Pride was thinking about her daddy and the men that would come for him, probably tonight, all because Matt Talley saw Brett Favre in the back corner of the endzone. Like he’d seen Jesus or something. That’s basically […]

“I don’t do that stuff anymore.” I tried to sound convincing even if I knew Carlo wouldn’t care. “You’re never out as long as you’re breathing. You don’t turn your back on your brothers.” Carlo and I were sitting on the rockers on my grandmother’s porch. Him still trying to make it as a gang […]

One truth about addiction:  your addiction does not care if it’s Christmas.  It does not care if it’s New Year’s.  It does not care who you are.  When the dogs bark, you feed them. I should know.  I’ve been in and out of enough clinics to run the Yelp of rehab.   I’ll tell you the […]