The white van bumped and shifted around the twists and turns of the dirt road through the forest. The young man at the wheel knew it was just a short half mile off the main road, but having to drive more slowly always made it seem longer. And despite how many times he made the trip, the break in the trees and the subsequent blinding sunlight always caught him off guard. He squinted and raised his hand to block the light,...

“Nervous?” Abby looked up at her boyfriend as the elevated train car rattled and screeched around a turn before straightening out and heading towards the loop. “What? No. Why would I be nervous?” “A million people…” She shook her head. “I can’t imagine that many in the same place at one time.” Justin nodded and laughed. “Can you imagine if they threw one of these things back home? There’d be like ten people there!” Abby s...

“Make me cum?” Her voice was soft and sticky. It should’ve been so easy to say no- to smile and say goodnight, to go home to my wife as I had promised. But as I looked down on this tangled mess of a girl half my age, red hair chaotic and wild on her pillow, little black strip of an adult dress riding perilously high on impossibly long legs, I made the fatal mistake of hesitating, of thinking twice. She unfolded from her c...

...Fuck you, John Junior… ...fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, fuckyoufuckyouFUCKYOUFUCKYOU... ...fuck you... Becca’s foot caught on a dried palm frond on the side of the road. She kicked it dramatically toward the scrub and kept walking. Highway 1 was fairly deserted here, where it curved away from the coast, especially at this time of night. There was something off about Florida in the dark, something disconcerting. In a pl...

“Alan? Are you here?” I closed the door behind me and dropped my keys into the singing bowl by the door. His car wasn’t in the driveway, but him not being home was odd enough that I couldn’t resist the impulse to call out again. “Alan?” Nothing. I kicked off my shoes and headed for his office. I knocked twice as I pushed the door open, only to find it dark and empty, the usually everglow PC cold and quiet on his desk. I c...

The roar woke me up. I blinked, confused, dazed by the freight train tumult that raged on every side. When I finally realized what was happening, I grasped at my phone on the nightstand. No! It was supposed to turn! It was supposed to turn! But the angry-red, swirling radar image didn’t lie. The hurricane was right on top of me. I jumped out of bed and went to the window, but couldn’t see anything. Just water splashing- p...

The morning after it happened, I got up, went to class, went to the gym, had lunch, went to class again. It was a completely normal day. It wasn’t until I was halfway through my studio class later that afternoon that I heard the little voice in my head. ...what the hell did I do last night? I pushed the voice aside and focused on my painting. My edges were coming together, but I still wasn’t happy with the red. Too bright...

My wife works for a university with a large and well-known art program. She helps students find representation, learn how to advertise themselves, and tries to prepare them for the business side of the art world. She also helps organize the many shows, gallery openings and exhibitions for the college, which means that I am forever getting dragged to an endless series of the horrible things.Don't get me wrong – I love art...