Ghost Parachute

A fish tank holds a red devil, blood parrot and flowerhorn cichlid. They swim back and forth, forth and back. A tiny leak at the bottom of the tank where the caulk, dried and cracked, has loosened from the glass, drips down the back of the stand where the tank lives to calm the almost […]

The bleeding still drove him crazy. Every time. As usual, it had started in the night, and Frederick woke up to the sticky feeling of blood in his bedsheets. He had long ago switched from white linen sheets to a burgundy cotton that could handle the stains, provided he washed them thoroughly every time the […]

Streets yawned thick with floundering old men, bellies tethered to slant. Lips drooled and eyes, well they were askew, like there was sun to squint through. It was night and dogs were wailing at the wind. Someone was going to die tonight. Maybe not someone known to go out, but men were watching porn on […]

In the dreamy middle layers of night, you wake. Even with eyes shut, you know it is there. The presence. Lingering minutes pass. You breathe, small fingertips gripping silent handfuls of sheets. Digging deep into the mattress as if to disappear. Hearing the breathing of the house. And your heartbeat. It will not leave until […]

I knew I would go to Mars when they told me my baby’s heart was no longer beating. They scheduled me for a 36-hour delivery to excavate my dead baby girl from my body. This body that buoyed her to new life for the past eight months. I took the anesthesia, couldn’t bear the thought […]

We tied him to a chair. Our questions made him drool and his eyes turn sky-less. At times, he mocked us with a smirk.  He smelled of whiskey and over-proofed sex.  We asked him about the Helsinki Affair, the murders of Section A heads. We asked him about the Herman Groutt files and the transvestite […]

Hey, you atoms, align yourselves or get out of the way. Don’t challenge my dedication to the art of perfecting yummy victuals that people want to push into their food-hole. I endure the fundamental impermanence of my craft: every masterpiece I’ve created has been deconstructed by a stranger’s digestive system. “Je suis désolé que ta […]

Statue, Mr. Jones yells. We all stop where we are and stand still. Mr. Jones pulls a hammer out of the box on this desk and throws it at Jerry, the eight grader behind me. After Jerry ducks, two wires fly at him and Jerry goes down, writhing. He’s not good enough, Mr. Jones says. […]

The zit erupted, spattering the bathroom mirror with fetid ooze. Jason just about had time to notice it was the same stale custard colour as the walls of his grandad’s care home before the pain hit and he had to bite down to avoid screaming. Blood trickled from the crater on his forehead. As the […]