All short stories published on The Quick and the Dead are linked below. Happy reading!
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I drop the letter to Gilda in the normal way. There is an old brick in the stone wall behind the post office that wiggles loose. I always fold the letter three times, tuck it to the right of the brick, then shove the brick back in place. I check the brick every few days.… Continue reading
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We don’t talk about the women in the stocks. Not openly on the streets. Not openly in our homes. Not openly in the most intimate of settings with our spouses. It’s never safe to talk about them, and how they got there, because if we ever discuss, it could be seen as questioning. We can… Continue reading
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I knew the moment that King Eadwig died. I woke in the night with a sigh escaping me, as my heart felt faint. I felt him close his eyes just as mine opened. There was no one wail for him. Not yet. “Osburga,” I whispered. She stirred next to me. “Osburga, he’s dead.” She didn’t… Continue reading
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I lived with Osburga until the season started to turn, and the cold set in, the mornings frosty and the evenings holding a chill that crept into my bones. I had seen my father once, his eyes understanding, even if he was sad. He knew he couldn’t protect me. Only another woman like me had… Continue reading
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Osburga wasted no time with me. As soon as the offer to teach me bewitching left her lips, a powerful wind blew through my spirit. I gasped at its bite, the chill of it snaking along my limbs. But I held Osburga’s eyes until it passed. She seemed pleased with my tolerance and my stoicism.… Continue reading
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I peered through the bracken, staring at the smoke coming from the little cottage just deep enough into the woods that you couldn’t see it from the clearing. The mossy, rich smell of earth and wet leaves filled my nostrils as I crouched behind the fallen tree, mustering the courage to creep forward. I knew… Continue reading
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10/18/22 2:11 pm Hey sis. Did you talk to dad? Not today. Why? He ok? uh… well idk. What do you know about what’s going on with him and Bobby? His neighbor? The pharmacy guy? Yeah, him. Did you know they got into a fight? About what? Jessica Oh. That doesn’t sound good. I’ll call… Continue reading
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When he came, I knew he was different than the other healers. Legion was afraid, and he was never afraid. His fear covered me like a sheet, hiding for just a moment all the rationality I had left. But he retreated so far into his own fear that I suddenly was free of him, just… Continue reading
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You’re mine, Dositheus. I can’t get away from them. A multitude inside. Legion invites them and they come. Sometimes I don’t even hear myself screaming because the screaming inside me is so loud. I cut myself to remember that I am me. I wail to remember that I have a voice too. You will never… Continue reading
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“And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him. He lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain, for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he… Continue reading
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