I was twenty-two the first time it happened. My father slapped me so hard that I bit my cheek open and a thin trickle of blood spilled over my tongue while he stood there, jaw locked, holding the pearl in his hand. He looked at it, not me, his eyes only for the smear of light…
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Max Medeiros
Max Medeiros graduated from Bennington College with a BA in literature and writing. He’s lived in nine states and worked in education, insurance, tools, and fish. He has an essay in the Lambda Literary Award-winning New York Times best seller Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture. Fireside Fiction published his short story “My Sister is a House.” Max lives in Northwest Washington and is working on a young adult novel.
Isabel Burke
Isabel Burke has been drawing ever since she could pick up a pencil. She brought her passion for storytelling from Austin, Texas to the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she will graduate in 2022 with a degree in illustration and a minor in sequential art. She hopes to continue working in the publishing and editorial industries to bring stories to life through comics and illustration after graduation. When she’s not drawing, she loves cooking, watching historical dramas, and reading!
