Fiction
Short stories and imaginative prose selected for publication in Open Arts Forum. Discover fiction by emerging and established contributors, then follow the linked author pages to read more of their work. Explore our quarterly and annual collections, or read the fiction submission guidelines.
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FictionMother
I was seven when an aneurism grew like a rotten berry inside Mother’s brain and burst. Everyone said, at least her suffering is over, the…
FictionNight Walk
She finds her way down the hillside in the late night dark, making no use of a flashlight habitually held in one hand. If…
FictionThe Hitman
"Seat open?" I asked the guy sitting next to an empty stool at this small town's local hangout. "Yup! You're welcome to it!" he,…
FictionHomeGirl
When I was a child, the word most often applied to me was shy. Not true. I simply enjoyed watching. Everything. Every night, I would…
FictionDavid’s Wife
Martha was dying. Her doctor knew it, her husband, David, knew it, and me being her caregiver, knew it too. The only one who…
FictionAndrocles & Mars
I can feel my molecules. My fingers clench and press on the opposite hand’s knuckles, wrenching, small strands of sinew click back and forth, my hands…
FictionThe Cure
Don’t ask me why I thought this would work. It seemed as plausible as any of the other “cures” I’ve tried since the diagnosis.…
FictionThe Interview
This apartment is noisy. Have there always been so many sirens, so many cars, so many bubbling lights? Where on earth is everybody going?…
FictionVery Best Mother
Dear Imaginary Daughter, You will be a horrible mother. I will inform you when you’re thirteen, the ripe age for making babies, because you’re…
FictionBereaved
My son Silas’s grief came as sleepwalking. It also came as nosebleeds. Fine one minute and the next screaming under a faucet of blood.…
FictionLast Word Dressed in a Gray Suit
We, the children, left our long shadows of childhood behind like rain-faded chalk on the sidewalk. The cement became root-buckled and uneven as we…
FictionBULLSHIT INSURANCE
https://youtu.be/xNhhgtZv5sk?si=FuDIeQbOzZSygXdw I went nuts in 2017. Had some kinda bullshit insurance with bold lettering on the card that read Includes Dental! It had a picture…