“Hello, Rae.” Rae’s eyes fluttered, unable to focus. All she saw was a washed-out grey that her brain refused to interpret as either light or dark. Her body felt light and airy, as her head had felt at times when she went too long without eating. She had the feeling that, if she just let … Continue reading Goodbye, Alphi
Tag: Magical Realism
The Stone
Marc had a magic stone. He knew it was magical, when he first saw it, because of its impeccable beauty. By some force, natural or supernatural, it had been formed into a perfect sphere, with sides so smooth that, though it was but mundane rock, it reflected the light and the world as clearly as … Continue reading The Stone
Eating
She hungered, and so she ate. At first, she ate only that which was laid before her, presented as a meal. For a time, this sated her, yet as is the way with hunger and desire, she could not be sated forever. As the days and years passed the meals given to her came to … Continue reading Eating
Fatigue
Karl feels heavy. He’s overweight, as he has been for years, but that’s not why he feels heavy. Every part of his body, from his fingers to the tips of his thinning hair, feels like it’s weighing him down. It’s a struggle even to lift his arm to pick up a potato chip from his … Continue reading Fatigue
Frozen
He awoke to find that his room had an icy chill, as though he had left a window cracked in the night, or his heater had decided to give up its fight against the winter weather. He discovered, upon finally forcing himself out from beneath his sheets, that neither of these things had happened. The … Continue reading Frozen
Expression
He’d felt it building up for months: that terrible, inescapable need; the dark pit, deep in my core, that told me he was going to need to vomit. He ignored it, at first, in the hope that it would go away. Sometimes that worked. Most of the time, if he just concentrated on something else … Continue reading Expression
Dry
Craig’s hands had been hard and rough for years. He had grown accustomed to it, and simply accepted it as a product of his life and work. In the winter, they grew even rougher, for the cold, dry air siphoned the moisture from them. Sometimes — often, in fact — they grew so dry that … Continue reading Dry
Glacier
The first time they touched, Darius was taken aback by the the frigid cold of Krystal’s skin. Touching her felt like making contact with a dry, fleshy ice cube. She had no warmth to her at all, which surprised Darius. From a distance, Krystal gave no hint at the cold within her: she was always … Continue reading Glacier
Beyond
It moved toward them, inexorably: blank and white, an end to their eyesight. They could not see or know beyond it. “What is it?” one asked, curious. Interested. “What is it?” another asked, afraid. Full of trepidation. “I don’t know,” said a third. “We should run,” said the fearful one. “It frightens me.” “We cannot … Continue reading Beyond
Bloom
There was a flower in my yard which wouldn’t stop blooming. It grew straight up from the ground, like an arrow. I didn’t plant it. I didn’t recognize the variety, even. One stalk, one bloom, and leaves only around the base. It had a pink-red color to it, with heaps and heaps of petals. The … Continue reading Bloom
