To Live and Die in Dixieland
ShortStory 4,975 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"None of them can see what lies behind the tree line. They finger the oak trunks, white hands racing down the bark’s craggy, deep grooves. There is no blood on the leaves. As morning sun peeks through heavy branches, a light breeze masks the ashy bite of liquid smoke with a blast of sweet magnolias."
Content warnings 3
child-deathsexual-violencesuicide
Quasar links out; the story lives on Apex, where the author gets the click.