How to Die

Everybody knows this, but, die young. I look around at my fellow contestants and fight a smirk. I’m only twenty, won’t even be drinking legal for months. I can see them peering at me, thinking thoughts they don’t realize are petty and unflattering, thinking, for example, why would little One-Eye want to win her own death?

But they’re here, too. We aren’t any different. Except I have a better story.

The casting call was expansive, expensive. Pop-up ads on all three of the singles websites I frequented, text messages sent out weekly to contacts either stolen or bought from the country’s busiest therapists. 

[ Full story here, originally in Black Warrior Review ]

How to Spend a Cul-de-Sac Summer

Your mother will tell you not to play doctor with the neighborhood boys, especially not that Bradley, the one a few years ahead of you in school. Listen to her. Instead, when you get to feeling like you just have to misbehave, make your kid sister stay home while you tromp alone to the field behind your house. Make sure no one is around. Just you.

... [ full story at Human Parts ]