THUGLIT Issue Twelve by Marks Leon & Hart Rob & Porter Justin & Miner Mike & Hagelstein Edward & Garvey Kevin & Simmler T. Maxim & Sinisi J.J

Author:Marks, Leon & Hart, Rob & Porter, Justin & Miner, Mike & Hagelstein, Edward & Garvey, Kevin & Simmler, T. Maxim & Sinisi, J.J. [Marks, Leon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thuglit Publishing
Published: 2014-06-29T04:00:00+00:00

I leap over the stone wall into the arboretum. We've scattered among the trees. We've gone from running to hiding, and I suddenly notice the silence. The city is gone, muffled by dense treetops. I stand still, listening for another shot. I hear the strumming of a guitar. I walk toward the music and spot an old man hunched over his strings, sitting beneath an ancient apple tree. Is he deaf? His eyes are closed, his head slowly nodding to his music, safe as if in a dream.

"Run!" I shout.

He smiles at his guitar pick, not at me. I study the deep cracks on his face, like fortress walls.

Another shot, and I hear a groan in the distance. I leap behind a tree and peek out to find the victim. A young man with a blonde crew cut, dressed all in blue, grabs a sapling, like a cane, to steady himself. He looks about thirty, and his sneakers shine bright white as if they're brand new. When his body finally falls, it hits a small wooden sign—a genus, maybe—on the way down. He makes no thudding sound on the grass. I hope he falls softly asleep in his blue pajamas. But they're not pajamas, they're hospital scrubs. A doctor on his lunch break. Or running errands for his pregnant wife, who sits at home unpacking baby clothes and smiling to God as her husband's heart and brain come to the end of their useful lives under an Acer cappadocicum tree.