We Didn’t Hire Molly Catherine Wilson Garry Illustration by Andre Poise Personal Information On Thursday, we met Molly. Molly had a neat fringe and two perfect rows of clean white teeth that she touched with her tongue when she answered all the questions we asked her. She gave a presentation on an iPad that […]
The Dictator’s Bride
The Dictator’s Bride Rebecca Ferrier Illustration by Jana Galushkina It is always 32°C. The reptile house at Edinburgh Zoo maintains this temperature through heat lamps, rinsing us—the snakes, lizards, turtles, and me—in red. The light sweats across each tank, feeding station, the hygrometer device (for measuring humidity) and the collar to my would-be-cream-now-red blouse. […]
Enormous Weight
Enormous Weight Simon Ewing Illustration by Julia Plath Content Warning: Themes/ Images of Disordered Eating Mary’s stomach growled all through the funeral. After the service she drove straight to a McDonald’s and ordered two Big Tastys with bacon, two portions of large fries, a box of chicken nuggets, and a large Pepsi. And […]
The Chimes of Graig Trewyddfa
The Chimes of Graig Trewyddfa Rhys Owain Williams Illustration by Joseph Gough Sometimes Jamie thinks about what he’d do if he inherited his nan’s house, which walls he’d knock down. He’d probably have them all go, strip the wallpaper and put that laminate flooring all the way through. Make the downstairs open plan, like […]
A Haunting Too Close To The Heart
A Haunting Too Close To The Heart Charlotte Heather Illustration by Lauren Raye Snow She dreams of mutilation. She wakes up and can pluck each dream like ripe fruit to examine in her mind, they are so familiar to her. She does not. She leaves them be. She tries to roll over but is […]
Passengers
Passengers Rhys Owain Williams Illustration by Zuzanna Kwiecien She greets me at the door in a bright red dressing gown and hair curlers, her smudged-lipstick mouth locked in a yawning ‘O.’ ‘Hello, I’ve got a room booked—my office called to say I’d be a little late?’ It isn’t a question I need answering—I was […]
The Lovebugs
The Lovebugs Jenna Dietzer Illustrated by Katiana Robles After a summer of record-setting heat, Carissa longed for the day when she could ride her bicycle to work again. She stood in her red, sweat-stained uniform under the overhang of Prime Foods and squinted across the parking lot in search of her fiancé’s truck. He’d […]
My Husband’s Garden
My Husband’s Garden Shaun Byron Fitzpatrick Illustration by Jana Galushkina My husband has taken a lover, and to make up for it, he is growing me a garden. The first day he met her, he brought home a tomato plant. It was already potted in something cheap and plastic, its vines growing up the […]
The Colour of Pain
The Colour of Pain Melissa Elborn Illustration by Deena So Oteh Content warning: Self-harm imagery Tuesdays are always blue, no exceptions. Never a blood orange like today. And definitely not an orange that tastes of mud, dregs of coffee granules and wet ash. My dream comes back in snatches—hands rotten and black, […]
Thicker Than Water
Thicker Than Water Catherine Wilson Garry Illustration by Pollyanna Johnson The last bus of the year drags me towards the empty rental cottage. I double check that my shopping bags are still next to me, crisp plastic handles still standing upright despite the shuddering of the bus. The road suddenly dips and my stomach […]