15 stories
A blinding sliver of refracted light struck the kitchen backsplash before I had even turned from the sink. My wife had barely crossed the threshold…
For four straight months, my wife’s excuses grew sharper, her late nights stretched past midnight, and the strange scent of woodsmoke and antiseptic on…
My wife Clara had a sacred rule that governed our four-year marriage: not a single penny was ever shared, and every grocery receipt was split down to the…
For six months, my wife disappeared every second Friday into the Blue Ridge Mountains for what she called radical silent meditation. She came home…
The very first object that arrested my attention was the heavy ballistic-nylon tool tote resting against the foyer trim, zipped shut and long abandoned.…
The digital green numerals on our microwave read 10:38 on a rain-drenched Wednesday evening when Julia eased through the front door wearing damp athletic…
The front door lock clicked at the absolute worst split-second imaginable. My wife crossed into the entryway just as her younger sister was standing…
The heavy brass latch to my private suite clicked open at seventeen minutes before midnight on a rain-soaked Thursday. Rachel froze on the…
My wife had barely stepped across our threshold when the dark discoloration along her throat seized my attention. She had not even let go of her…
It was the cheap, canary-yellow rubber gloves that anchored every detail of that evening in my mind, not the shimmering emerald silk of my wife's dinner…
At precisely eighteen minutes past seven on an overcast Friday evening, my wife walked out of our bedroom wearing a sleek, form-fitting black dress I had…
Barely thirty-three days had passed since our wedding when I caught sight of the cerulean sundress resting in her luggage. Seeing the very clothes meant…
The porcelain plate across the table had surrendered its warmth hours before my wife finally rattled her key into the front lock. Still sitting in the…
At seventeen minutes past six on a Saturday morning, the front door swung inward and my wife stepped inside, still wearing the dark dress from the night…
My mother registered the baby before she ever noticed the stranger. She had barely cleared the side gate when a piercing shriek echoed from behind the…