by Ray Banks — I know I’m in the shit the moment the short one asks us for a light. “Don’t smoke, mate,” I say, try to move on. He nips in front of us, blocking the way. Streetlight catches his face. Looks like he’s waiting for us to get violent. …

by Graham Powell — Tommy Roccaforte stood in the meager shade of an acacia tree and watched as the movers across the street carried his brand new furniture up to his brand new apartment. An entire household, packed flat in cardboard boxes. …

by Sean Doolittle — I spent a few days on my buddy Treynor’s couch, as far from the Jeanie situation as I could get before I ran out of buddies with couches. …

by TS Hottle — It was a long walk back to the service station, where Lenny would be waiting for me, not the sort of walk I wanted to make at 3 AM. …

by Kevin Tipple — “Tower Four, radio check.” The scratchy voice was barely indiscernible from the background noise. The old radios were damn near worthless. State budget cuts meant that replacement radios weren’t coming anytime soon. “Tower Four Operational.” He had to say it again before dispatch was able to break through the static…

by Harry Hunsicker — Bobby Ray pointed the muzzle of his Glock at the clerk in the Keep Your Spirts Up Liquor Store. He smiled the smile that used to make the crack dealers and pimps on South Lamar go shaky and cross the street to get out of his way. The clerk gulped…

by Ray Nayler — I had a father for six months. I met him when I was seven years old. There was a knock on the door of our prefab house, and my mother, who had been in the kitchen throwing cut vegetables into a bubbling pot of Ragu, smiled down at me and…

by Bryon Quertermous — Detroit, Michigan 1:05 a.m. The temperature was stuck at 80 and the electricity in the air was peeling the grease off the walls in the Breakfast Anytime Diner. …

by Anthony Neil Smith — I wanted to plan the coolest funeral ever for my girlfriend. I told her parents not to worry, that I’d handle it. After all, Hannah’s stepdad was the latest in a long line of her mom’s husbands, only been around half a year, and her mom was spaced — zoned…