As we waited for good news from anyone, the slow drip of the IV filled the pauses between the ticks of the clock, creating an incessant symphony that numbed

her pain. –KERRITT SAINTAL

Drained with exhaustion, she held out her tooth brush and squeezed on the pasty hair product. -ANGELA LEBLANC

Long rotting reeds reached toward the sky as if the bodies trapped underneath the soil were making a final attempt to reach the gods and curse their existence. -LUCIA MORENO

Her teeth were the same phosphorescent yellow as the clunky gold costume jewelry with which she adorned the rest of her body. -BRET BUCKEL

I was seven years old again sitting in a rickety metal chair where the hawk eyes of an old woman waited to catch me if I dared cross my legs. -STEPHANIE ROCA

When Dude coughs, it’s a punching bag, his throat rapidly opening and closing, deep and guttural, making you perfectly aware of the flapping phlegm, the skin across his face stretched and red. -KENNETH LABOW