Fiction: Grazed

By Michael G. O’Connell 

 

I answered the phone.

 

“Mr. O’Connell?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“My name is Geneviève Osonga-Nonagoa. I am the Principal at your daughter’s high school.”

 

I wait. They don’t call like this unless…

 

“There has been a shooting. Your daughter— She’s been shot.” 

 

Shock.

 

“But she is fine,” she quickly adds.

 

My mind races. I almost miss the words “bullet” and “grazed” because this was the nightmare call every parent dreads. Like kudzu, that invasive feeling of terror and panic smothered me and violated all those places I once thought of as being safe.

 

She wasn’t fine, but maybe she would be. 

 

Someday.

 

 

 

 

Michael G. O’Connell has always been a storyteller. While he is a native of the Sunshine State, his work often takes a darker turn. His short fiction has appeared online and in print, including   and the anthology, Wyrms 2. O’Connell’s poetry has been included in The Raven Review, Moss Gossamer, Words and Sports, Dracula Beyond Stoker, Bindweed Magazine’s Winter Wonderland and The Turning Leaf Journal. He is currently writing and illustrating a middle-grade horror.