Lurking

His dad told him to face his fears, so Kenny stalks the bees that zoom around his backyard, waiting for them to land. There’s something lurking there, but it’s not his dad. He moved away last month. The bee bobbs around his ears and glances off his shoulder until Kenny swats randomly like a boxer too brash to protect himself. “I am not afraid,” he shouts, imagining his voice floating toward the sky where the wind will catch it and deliver it to his father in Pittsburgh.

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Tommy Dean lives in Indiana with his wife and two children. He is the author of a flash fiction chapbook entitled Special Like the People on TV from Redbird Chapbooks. He is the editor at Fractured Lit. He has been previously published in the BULL Magazine, The MacGuffin, The Lascaux Review, New World Writing, Pithead Chapel, and New Flash Fiction Review. His stories have been included in Best Microfiction 2019 and 2020. Find him @TommyDeanWriter on Twitter.

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image: Lisa Lerma Weber