One envelope stood out among the bills in the mailbox.

“Pre-approved.”

Christa Lyon-Moon spends her free time crafting flash fiction that finds meaning in small moments where imagination meets real life.

Take me, this day. Be it thorn or splinter, poison leaf or needle, or by way that does not make a sound.

May we dance with broken limbs, bleed with rotting hearts, and burn with contagious crowns of fire.

Let’s be the wind upon our last falling bough.

Morning in Rapunzel’s Tower by Bob Thurber
and
The Corner Seat by the Pond by Stephanie Lye

Stephanie is a writer from Perth, Western Australia, who likes to write about love, loss and relationships in the hopes it might help her understand them a little better.

Toya L. Walker is an educator, gardener, and founder of Organically Grown Queen, where she combines gardening, storytelling, and creative expression to help people reconnect with nature and their own cultural roots. She has presented at conferences including Herbstalk and NOFA, and her work focuses on native plants, urban gardening, and using sensory observation to inspire writing and art. Through her workshops, Toya shows how even the smallest garden space can become a place for imagination, learning, and community connection.

Arthur is a 14-year-old Brazilian student with a passion for staying active. A true sports enthusiast, he balances his athletic pursuits with his journey as an English learner, bringing the same energy to the classroom as he does to the field.

I unfold it as reverentially
as one performing surgery
on a butterfly.

Two initials, a phone
number, a schoolgirl’s
purple handwriting. I refold
the delicate specimen
and tuck it away.

Charlie B. is an emergency room nurse in the Ozarks whose wallet holds far less money than it does memory.

Pretend that I want to be here.

Pretend that I meant to say yes.

Pretend that I never stopped loving you.

lyson Floyd is a writer, rock music devotee, and west coast smoker. You can contact her on Instagram at @monochromefloyd. Knock three times.

Marc is a writer, artist, husband, and father of two, living in southern Michigan, where he writes under the canopy of maple trees and dreams of a cybernetic future.

The currency of siblings. Glittering, rare and cold.

Rachel Canwell is an author who, having grown up in the Fens, has lived and worked in Cumbria for over twenty years. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies. Her collection of flash fiction Oh I do like to be was published in 2022 and her novella-in-flash Magpie Moon in 2023. Paper Sisters, her first novel is out now with Northodox.