Fiction

Or maybe he's looking at his old shoes, thin and hollowed out, like himself. He’s been making do with these sneakers for the past five years, regardless of the season, even though the leather shows cracks the size of his shoelaces.

As soon as the pair left with the angel, Ramli ran to Suleiman’s house screaming for his friend to wake up, that the monger had kidnapped the angel, that they had to run to the shore and save her.

The waitress, a twice-stabbed lady beetle, brought a bottle of Brazilian Zinfandel, made from black-skinned grapes grown on the misty banks of Iguazu Falls and aged in anjica barrels. The assassin bug nodded after sniffing the cork.

In the rust-drunk cesspit of West Virginia, there sits a thousand acre stretch of burn scars. Trees do not grow there, and the ground is cluttered with such ruin that animals will not run across it.

The pastor started talking about how unconstrained lust and sexual desire could break down marriages and families, but also break down a person and how they perceived their relationship with God.

Once they crossed the intersection, I met the lawyer. She was younger than I imagined. 16 years prison. That’s all I could remember. 16 years. I’m not going away for 16 years. Do whatever you need to do, but that’s not possible.

Even as a child, Jon had no interest in socializing with others. He couldn’t understand the rules governing social interactions, and this perceived flaw in his character never improved.

Francis re-enters the room, tears streaming down his cheeks – an image that will forever haunt Bobby, who’s never seen his father so vulnerable. Francis wipes his eyes with his shirt sleeve, composes himself, then fixes Bobby with a stone-cold stare.

The movement in question had been Jerome standing up on his couch cushions and standing squarely toward the camera. He wore nothing but a silk bathrobe, which he untied as he began to gyrate his hips in a circular motion.