There is a Door
by: Shaun Byron Fitzpatrick
art by Mike McAmis

The abandoned doorway, maroon paint weathered and chipped with bushes and vines obscuring all but the outline, is the first thing the little girl sees every Sunday when she leaves Mass.

The door, or what was a door (it is still a door, have patience), is across from her church, and she asks her mother about it. Her mother says the building is abandoned, and that the door is nothing. Just an old, neglected thing.

The little girl, however, believes in rabbit holes and doors hidden in wardrobes, and does not accept answers like this.
One Sunday, she whispers to her mother that she has to use the bathroom. She sneaks out of Mass and crosses the street. The plants murmur and sway when she comes close. They part, and she hesitates, then takes a step.

The doorway still looks abandoned when her mother exits the church some time later.

 

Third Spark
by Barracuda Guarisco

The rough, scaly draft of the outline is occupational therapy; factory reset, heard and felt like the wind come fully torqued faucet; the scent of field roast, human shaped gluten glutton guten Morgan Freeman—language of the beanstalk. Sounds whimsical. Sounds a bit lazy. I moved across Little Water, a block from Caviar, pitched a tent without innuendos. Microwaved the fast I’d broken. A mush ripe with plant based replacements. Candled my organic ketchup. I swept up the tank fit for a Barracuda. Crawled inside the tent and zipped up the pockets of the outside world. Taken by the quiet. Falling in love with my harpooned passport. Opaque, pancake blue.

 

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Shaun Byron Fitzpatrick lives in Philadelphia with her husband and black cat. Recent publications include Maudlin House, Ellipsis Zine, New Gothic Review, and Coffin Bell Journal. You can find her on Instagram at @shaunyfitz.

 

Barracuda Guarisco is a polyonymous writer and Editor-in-Chief of @rlysrslit. He is the author of several books published by Spuyten Duyvil, Vegetarian Alcoholic Press, and Feral Dove Books. You can find him if you want to, somewhere in Seattle, WA.