The word victim is designed to slide right between your ribs. It’s a slender blade of a word, and it excels at gutting you, at hollowing you out. What it’s not designed to do is break you. It assumes you’re already...
Fear
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Amy DeBellis
Amy DeBellis is the author of the novel ALL OUR TOMORROWS (CLASH Books, 2025) and the novella THE WIDENING GYRE (Lanternfish Press, 2026). Her stories appear in X-R-A-Y, Uncharted, Write or Die, Trampset, and elsewhere. Her writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net. Read more at amydebellis.com.
Beach Tree
I know something is wrong when the spot in the corner of my right eye won’t go away. I was hit until I saw stars, years ago and not by you, but this is different: this isn’t a star but a fuzzy gray cloud. Whenever I...