They’re burning witches tonight. The local news channel runs a special segment on it. Greg Gallagher, the local anchorman with hair a little too stiff and a smile far too forced, narrates a touching piece on the strength of the community while he walks around the makeshift pyre in the middle of town. His eyes never leave the camera. He says he...

“Holy shit.” I whip my head in the direction of the shout and see my Grandma on all fours, a puff of grey barely poking out from under the yellow sun hat she’s sporting. Her face, covered in two inches of soot, gives her raisin skin an airbrushed look. From a distance she looks as youthful as the creepy china dolls Mother displays on the cedar...

Its umbilical cord was still attached. Iron, the smell of red, reeked off of it as drops of blood splattered onto the tiles. Charlie rushed the baby inside. He shouted for someone to get a doctor and began pulling off taffy wrappers, cigarette buds, and other trash still stuck to the infant’s sticky skin. I tried getting a better look of the...