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Fiction

229 posts
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  • Fiction
  • Rumpus Original

Rumpus Original Fiction: Monkey Men

  • Chris Vanjonack
  • July 22, 2016
Still lying on the bed in the Wausau hotel room, I started counting ceiling tiles. From above the covers. Not under. Never under. I always feel constricted, under.
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  • Fiction
  • Rumpus Original

Rumpus Original Fiction: Rhino Girl

  • Taylor Brown
  • June 24, 2016
But these were not men, she realized. They were a cackle of spotted hyena, bright-toothed in the dark, and they were laughing at her.
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  • Fiction
  • Rumpus Original

Rumpus Original Fiction: On Documentation

  • Joselyn Takacs
  • May 27, 2016
What is it like to be you? he was always asking, in his way, and it seemed a stupid question then. I didn’t know. I could lie better than I could tell the truth. I hadn’t left yet.
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  • Fiction
  • Rumpus Original

Rumpus Original Fiction: Service Area

  • Matthew Kirkpatrick
  • May 6, 2016
Even though the summer customers were the worst, always impatient on their way west to the places of her dreams, she envied them.
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  • Fiction
  • Rumpus Original

Rumpus Original Fiction: As Soon as I Stop

  • Brad Collins
  • March 25, 2016
I feel dizzy, but I've got the donkey's tail in my hand and if I pin it just right, my whole life could change.
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  • Fiction
  • Rumpus Original

Rumpus Original Fiction: Swans and Other Lies

  • Anita Felicelli
  • February 26, 2016
As she presses against Patterson, she feels her feet softening, losing gravity. He’s embracing her, willing her to disappear, swallowing her.
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  • Fiction
  • Rumpus Original

Rumpus Original Fiction: The Ghosts of St. Louis

  • Emily Koon
  • January 15, 2016
If I was a ghost, I wouldn’t want nothing to do with the world that killed me.
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  • Fiction
  • Rumpus Original

Rumpus Original Fiction: People and Oranges and People

  • Hugh Smith
  • December 18, 2015
Something must remain of me, of course. Someone has to lock the door behind us when we go out.
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  • Fiction
  • Rumpus Original

Rumpus Original Fiction: Grow

  • Ishelle Payer
  • December 4, 2015
I look like springtime, everyone agrees. Soon I’ve added a pair of gloves, brand new, but stomped in the dirt for authenticity’s sake.
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  • Fiction
  • Rumpus Original

Rumpus Original Fiction: Divina

  • Maria Theuma
  • November 6, 2015
Look at the star, your star, in my hands. It bears your name. I was told it does not have much longer to live. I hope you do not mind my untrimmed nails.
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  • Fiction
  • Rumpus Original

Rumpus Original Fiction: Like Mike

  • Dave Mulis
  • October 9, 2015
All the same, I’m as much a slave to necessity as anyone here. Fear and desire rule the heart. The paycheck has me leashed and basically obedient.
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  • Fiction
  • Rumpus Original

Rumpus Original Fiction: Out on the Coast

  • David Rice
  • February 27, 2015
When he was five, six, seven, and eight, Max spent most of the summer thinking about the whale, sitting in his room with the shades drawn remembering the first visit and looking forward to the second, just before the new school year.
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