Without Wishes to Bind You
ShortStory 3,922 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"Michael is afraid to go farther. Pudgy pushes him on. They walk through the shrouded city, the sound of footsteps all but obscured. Pudgy holds hard to the band of the broken fedora that perches crooked atop Michael’s bent head; the knees of Pudgy’s trousers are soaked from kneeling against the brim. Rain drips steadily from above..."
Quasar links out; the story lives on Apex, where the author gets the click.