Hatchet

by Eirik Gumeny

We don’t always understand the truth. About the world, about ourselves.

Even when it’s staring us in the face.

Or spattered against our office walls.

Parts of a trio of undergrads everywhere around me, staining into the shelves, sliding off the armchair. Under my fingernails.

I was horrified, of course.

Then guilt. Then panic. Then...

A quote, from Djuna Barnes’ Nightwood: “Every man should be allowed one day and a hatchet just to ease his heart.”

I doubt this is what she meant.

The desk, guttered with claw marks. Full moon on the calendar.

Not a hatchet...

But it’ll do.



Author bio: Eirik Gumeny is the author of the Exponential Apocalypse series. He's previously written for Monkeybicycle, Cracked, and The New York Times' Modern Love column, among others. He lives in New Mexico and twitters @egumeny.

Hatchet is part of 101 Fiction issue 20.