may-2026
Your Sacred Resting Place
MOIRA RICHARDSON
The mountain air sends my breath aloft as my footsteps crunch icily over the morning’s path. I’d come for pine-scented solitude, but instead, I found you.
Perhaps you’d hiked the selfsame path, enchanted by this deep forest. Now, you’ve rested here quietly for years. All that remains are your bones, mossy with abandonment and neglect.
As the forest reclaims you with this youthful pine growing through your ribcage, I have to wonder: Who were you before you fell, forgotten? Where have you gone?
I crouch beside you, whispering your last rites, and lay a gathered pine cone at your feet.
Moira writes weird stories and pretends to be a rat on the internet. @moirariom.bsky.social www.ohmoira.com
Auld Lang Syne
NATALIE BUCSKO
The descending ball sparkles on TV. I navigate the potted trees, looking for the right guy.
FIVE!
The excited crowd drowns out the revelers twenty stories below.
FOUR!
He’s in a corner by himself, peering over the protective-perimeter of plants. A chill races up my spine when he turns my way.
THREE!
My mouth is dry. I lick my lips in anticipation. Only one thing can sate my thirst.
TWO!
I press my hands to his chest. Hard.
ONE!
His scream is swallowed by the fireworks’ roar as he falls. I join the crowd, singing, “Should old acquaintance be forgot…”
Natalie dislikes being perceived on the material plane. Check out her work at https://nataliewriteson.com/
The Family Collection
MONICA LYREHART
Cynthia affixes her head on the mantle, beside her others. Really, which to wear for those who'll come knocking?
Perhaps… Indiana State Fair, 1963? Her grandmother's burnt and blistered lips grimace down at her. It's a face for keeping neighbors off the lawn.
Home, 2009? She tries on her old head. Cracked jaw. Bruised eye.
No. Something softer for the kids. They deserve soft. She hesitates over the last head. Caresses it. Yes. It’ll be like a friend.
She answers the first bingbong of the night.
“TRICK OR—”
Their devilish smiles invert. Tears well.
Strange.
“You don't like Preschool 2020?”
Monica is a speculative fiction author, poet, writing contest goblin, and “the best mommy ever.”