The sun was dipping low, painting the sky in bruised colors over the faded vinyl siding and cracked pavement of the neighborhood. It…
“Olivia? Well, would you look at you,” he said, that familiar, condescending smirk spreading across his face as he strode toward me through…
The wind off Lake Michigan has teeth. It doesn’t just blow; it cuts. It finds every rip in your clothing, every thin spot…
A man with a clipboard and a tight smile was sweeping the entrance with his eyes. He hadn’t seen me. Not yet. I…
From the fourth-floor window of St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital, nurse Elena Rodriguez watched them come. It was 7:47 p.m. on Halloween, and outside,…
My gaze was fixed forward, locked on the gray plastic tub waiting for my shoes. But I wasn’t seeing it. I was seeing…
I tried to push Mrs. Gable’s words out of my head. “They’re not yours.” Easy for her to say. She saw them as…
The chocolate milkshake was melting. I remember that. The tiny beads of condensation rolling down the plastic cup, the perfect swirl of whipped…
The crowd didn’t understand. They saw ten men, different ages, different races, dressed in civilian clothes—polos, jeans, button-downs. But I saw them. I…
The elevator was a silent, mirrored box. It shot upward so fast my stomach lurched, a sick, empty feeling that was all too…