By Joe’s bed sits his favorite mug full of tea, now cold tea.  It’s days before they find his body and take him away. Another week before the landlord comes and removes the tea, pouring the fluid down the drain and throwing Joe’s favorite mug in the dustbin.
Liz Haigh

She hoped he would smoke a pipe, smell of tobacco. “I’m plump and interesting” she told him. They’d never met, and she loved to lie. May have been the wrong thing to say. Not many like plump…   She craved the swell of relief on a man’s face.
 Meg Pokrass

The large, enthusiastic crowd was overwhelming. He was exhausted, but excited and proud. He stood there drained of all energy, but he knew it all had been worth it. He threw up his arms in victory, but then he remembered that he had lost the election.
Eric Miller

The sky is an endless tusk. Ivory is being traded at five cents per share, a real bargain in a bull market, while your wife moans that she can no longer play Chopsticks at the piano keys. You call each other different names in the afterglow that’s hard as dentin. 
Kyle Hemmings

Brian told Kate she wouldn’t like him sober because it thrilled her to know that when he was drunk, he’d trip over to her backdoor like a stray cat looking for shelter. Kate lit a cigarette and handed him a shot of tequila, which he emptied. She refilled it.
Jenny Ortiz