By Jacob Alexander Who can perceive a fly?A speck whose life flits away between blinksBut in that fly does not the knowledge of the beginning and the end exist?And if such magnitudes are contained in that microcosmThen what eternity lies inside the behemoths of the pastAnd the leviathans of tomorrow?In that regard we approach life … Continue reading The Fly and the Behemoth
Greasepaint
By David L Painter There is a certain mystique that lingers backstage,where roles become habitand characters are set free.Time hangs like a slow-motion waterfallas you memorize your lines-just words on paper, voices yet to be born,echoes not your own,mere reflections waiting to be accepted.Your entrance is made, stage left-time to be heard, time to astound.The … Continue reading Greasepaint
Her Life
By Cynthia Li With a lilac bra on the top and underwear on the bottom, and with face downwards, she dived down under the pool, motionless. Illuminated by ethereal lime-green glow, the ripples sparkled as the shallow waves rolled. Behind the pool was her stately mansion. The ivies twined their way through the gate and … Continue reading Her Life
The Unfinished Sentence
By Dr. Deepak Dev I am ink that refuses to dry,a story that stutters mid-breath,a thought unraveling at the edge of language,too vast for the shape of words.Every beginning carries the weight of its ending,yet mine lingers—unfinished, unclaimed,a stanza missing its last line,a map with roads that never meet.Some call it hesitation,this reluctance to carve … Continue reading The Unfinished Sentence
The Eight Chair
By Mark Moran The invitation came unbidden, a slim envelope of cream paper slipped under my door. Its edges were crisp, its ink black and exact. Dinner at Blackthorn Hall, Donegal. November 10th. Eight. No name, no flourish. Just an address and a command. I held it too long, and felt it graze my fingers. … Continue reading The Eight Chair
Brake Neck Speeds
By Faith J Forster ‘I bought a Cadillac,’ Wilson hollers over the phone. He overwhelms me with talk about his newly acquired car. He’s gone mad, I decide and collapse flat on my back to pedal my legs in the air. A thing I do to get in a few seconds of fitness while attached … Continue reading Brake Neck Speeds
A Photograph of the Lobotomy Room in One of the Abandoned Buildings of Pilgrim State Hospital
By Peter J. Dellolio They performed hundreds of lobotomies especially during the 1940s when Doctor Freemanpromoted this new procedure that was supposed torestore mental and spiritual tranquility see where they strapped them in? therewas a special set of head restraints twoassistants stood on either side of the patientabout to be transported into emotional well-beingthe once … Continue reading A Photograph of the Lobotomy Room in One of the Abandoned Buildings of Pilgrim State Hospital
May Microfiction Contest: Gold Winner: “Breadcrumbs” by Scott Tierney
The two noble mountaineers, weighed down by their leathers and hoods and frost-encrusted beards, were less than an arm's reach apart and within touching distance of the summit; yet the brutal, howling, all-engulfing blizzard made both distances seem insurmountable. “Victor!” Dudley screamed over the torrent of snow, both his voice and parched lips cracking with … Continue reading May Microfiction Contest: Gold Winner: “Breadcrumbs” by Scott Tierney
May Microfiction Contest: Silver Winner: “The Vampire Child” by Oliver Kleyer
When the vampire hunter finally managed to break open the door and enter the tomb, the vampires had already abandoned it. Coffins were overturned; lids fallen to the floor. The hunter looked around. It seemed like there was nothing to do for him here anymore. Then he saw something move behind a coffin. Slowly, he … Continue reading May Microfiction Contest: Silver Winner: “The Vampire Child” by Oliver Kleyer
May Microfiction Contest: Bronze Winner: “Under the Moonglade” by Jacob Young
On the beach, we dreamed of our remains. In a millennium, would they find them? Would they find the ash moon in the sand where a fire once singed the peach fuzz on our cheeks, when we made believe we were troglodytes, our beer bottles wedged in dunes? They could trace our steps along the … Continue reading May Microfiction Contest: Bronze Winner: “Under the Moonglade” by Jacob Young
Academy of the Heart And Mind 