WINTER 2021 Fiction

 
 
Pink, orange, and yellow ameba-like shapes swirl together.

“52Tona” by DARKRECONSTRUCTION

BLOOD MAGIC

E. P. Tuazon

The things outside go by. They are what she understands as America. Traffic. A flush of trees and signs and order. Tall buildings, brush, and then the model homes, one after another, the same but different.

 
Vertical lines in shades of blue with large dabs of purple, yellow, and green.

“No Answers” by DARKRECONSTRUCTION

MERMAID JUICE

Lexi Pandell

I spent the summer of my sixteenth year sitting on a bathroom countertop watching Leilah learn how to be a woman.

 
Blue, yellow, orange, and green wave-like shapes.

“Stand Up Right Now” by DARKRECONSTRUCTION

LOCAL ARTIST IS TIRED OF YOUR GARBAGE

Elizabeth Markley

What was she supposed to call it exactly? A meeting? An appointment? She was standing on Alex’s doorstep because she had won a contest, but to say that out loud struck Joyce as unacceptably juvenile and ridiculous.