Category: Short Fiction

When Least Expected

by Taylor Rogers ’24 Cupid’s thin, heart-tipped arrow strikes my skin at approximately 10:00 a.m., attacking me while I was suffering through yet another pointless Zoom call. The sneaky little bastard hit me when I was most vulnerable, as he knew I could not defeat him in my lethargic state. Lazily, my blood falls from […]

Elizabeth McGinn

Hatchet

by Kate Ward ’23 The girl looked up and smiled. His blood ran cold. She shouldn’t be able to see him. The girl unbuckled the hatchet at her waist and brought her arm back to throw it. Isaiah pressed the small button on the inside of his uniform and phased back into his body, leaping […]

Elizabeth McGinn

Mud Pact

by Sarah McLaughlin ’23 We could usually all fit underneath the slide. It was stuffy and we were squished against each other like sardines, but we had enough room to do what we had to do. There were only five of us, after all. Only five of us were brave enough. We called the rest […]

The Cowl Editor

Victoria

by Kate Ward ’23 Like every other house on the street, their house was modern: a sleek black exterior with a white interior and a veiny granite counter. The house was sparsely decorated and resembled an emergency room in its cleanliness. It seemed to have a permanent draft as the tan curtains always fluttered as […]

The Cowl Editor

Urban Legends

A Real Deal By Ellie Forster ’24 “It’ll save you a fortune,” the man with different colored eyes said as he snapped his gum. She looked skeptically at the small green capsule in her palm. “Why haven’t I heard of it before?” she asked. “I’m glad you asked darlin’! The big oil companies don’t want […]

The Cowl Editor

A City to Long For

by Mariela Flores ’23 There is a distinct smell of freshly made sweet bread that clings to the air. All of the colors in the world seem to be culminating here, in a faraway land I feel more at home in than home. My Spanish is less impressive here than it is amongst my monolingual […]

The Cowl Editor

Wedding Lace

by Ellie Forster ’24 Every day she woke up at seven to leave at seven thirty to get to school at eight. She always walked, no matter what. Since about halfway through the fourth grade, she walked alone. That was, until her mother shoved a six-year-old’s hand in hers, said something about new neighbors, new […]

The Cowl Editor

Found

by Kate Ward ’23 As he took in the city view from the 20th floor of his apartment building, the lights flickered and dimmed. Methodically, as if there was someone going through a circuit breaker, each building went from a warm glow to a cold darkness. This wasn’t something new to Thomas. In fact, it […]

The Cowl Editor

Can You Keep a Secret?

by Kate Ward ’23 “Can you keep a secret?” he asked, looking over the edge of his coffee mug. I was surprised at the sudden question; we had been sitting in silence for an uncomfortable half hour while this coffee date dragged on.  Slowly, I looked up and dipped my chin in an anxious nod. […]

The Cowl Editor

The Strand

by Jay Willett ’20 When they sent me here, they didn’t expect me to survive. The atmosphere is too heavy to breathe, the water’s too thick to drink, the vegetation too poisonous. A mist of emerald encompasses the air between the canyon and the ship—I had to wait for the cloud to pass before venturing […]

Connor Zimmerman