Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Criminal.
The Last Wish
Every day an estimated 3,000 euros are thrown into the Trevi Fountain in Rome. Moonlight dances on Metasabia’s Ethiopian skin. She stands on the tiny terrace of a large estate building, the heat of this Summer night gathered moistly on her pores. In her arms she holds her breastfeeding baby who she almost lost at birth 6 months earlier. Her suckle is so forceful it’s hard to believe she touched death. She named her daughter Minyoti, the Amharic word for ‘wish’. Metasabia has always believed in wishes and now even more so. In the distance, the round roof of the Vatican seems to mirror the moon both in shape and glory.
By Phoebe Azario5 years ago in Criminal
Possession
I could feel it looking at me. I’d set it on top of my phone on the nightstand, and in the dark it caught the glow from my phone and the lights of the street below. It looked asleep, the bookmark ribbon lolling like a tongue out the side of its mouth. But I swear it slept with one eye open.
By Stephen S Lane5 years ago in Criminal
A Moral Conundrum
I tap the front cover of the little black notebook. If the information inside is accurate, I know precisely where to find a bundle of money. Lord knows I need one right now. I have a greedy ex-wife, a needy teenage daughter, a piece-of-junk car, and a house trailer with a leaky roof. Twenty thousand dollars could eliminate three of those problems, or one if I spend it all on the ex, which would be worth never seeing her again.
By Chris Mills5 years ago in Criminal
Off Trail
There were signs that told hikers not to wander off of the trails, but Carly was not a hiker, she was an art student. More specifically, she was an art student with a landscape sketchbook assignment due the next day. She had no desire to sketch the same few landscapes that her classmates would be finding on the trails in the state park near campus. How predictable, and how bored Professor Stanz would be. So, she dipped her hiking boots into the detritus on the lip of where the trail met the forest floor and tried not to trip over hidden tree roots as she waded deeper into the woods.
By Sophia Jurgens5 years ago in Criminal
Who's Professor Moleskine
At last, we arrived at the senior trip destination: Barcelona, Spain. One-by-one all the seniors trudged sleepily to their hotel rooms. As soon as I enter the room, I collapse face-first onto the bed fully clothed from my head to my shoes. I could feel myself drifting to sleep, then suddenly the undesired sound of knocking came from the door. My room buddies turn their glances to me due to the unspoken rule: the closest hotel buddy to the door opens it. Reluctantly, the words "Who is it?" leave the left corner of my mouth in a groan.
By Valencia Ingram5 years ago in Criminal
The Black Deal
I hear the gun cock behind me, sending a shiver down my spine, knowing what was about to happen if I make the wrong move. I stood there still, silent, and loathing what was happening And hoping they couldn’t sense my fear trembling through me. I didn’t mean to get involved, but they didn’t know that. Meaning one wrong move could end the whole deal all together.
By Andie Darko5 years ago in Criminal
The Little Black Book
The sounds swirled into muffled nothing. Traci liked putting her earbuds in. No music. No podcast. Just audio waves crashing into the plastic barrier to make stifled voice notes. Her hair hanging over the high tech ear plugs was a technique her sister was not entertaining today as Traci felt Keisha's frustration with a heavy-handed swat to the left temple. Her earbud shifted out and the sound came rushing in like a massive tide.
By Joslyn Madu5 years ago in Criminal
Oliver Woods’ Virtual Reality
20K GRAND PRIZE! VIRTUAL REALITY OBSTACLE COURSE TRY YOUR LUCK IN THE GAUNTLET! * Oliver Woods stood looking up at a two-story, lime green farmhouse. His feet were one step off the sidewalk in the unmowed grass. The front door stood at the end of a walkway made of red and brown rectangular stones.
By Luke DeRoy5 years ago in Criminal
Walter
Walter Gibbs had been employed up in Topeka as a clerk when he was abruptly cut for no good reason, as he would later express to Cotton. Needing work quickly, Walter would migrate south for the growing industry in Dallas, quietly settling soon after out west in Cotton’s ranch, some miles away from Amarillo.
By Abraham Barba5 years ago in Criminal
