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Andrea Y. Rodriguez​

The Fall


​“Why the hell did you even say yes?”

Athena swallows the last of her whiskey and then on impulse flips her glass over, securing the gold band lying between her and Adam.

“I thought I would settle eventually” she says looking beyond the alcove, "I thought maybe one day you would come up behind me while I studied the birds in our apple tree, and it would register in my chest that I was content." Athena pulls her knees up to her chest and wraps her toned brown arms around them.
“But it didn't happen Adam. This…" she gestures towards the hunter green walls surrounding them,
"...will never be enough for me." Athena reaches out before her, tracing the grooves of the glass with her ring finger. It was lighter than she remembered. “Adam, your life isn't my life. Surely you of all people can see that."

"This isn’t your life?” Adam lets out a dubious laugh. “What the fuck are you talking about, Athena?" Beyond Adam and the alcove talons flash by and then reappear, settling in the closest branch of their apple tree. Athena watches the white barn owl in silence.

"Now you have nothing to say?" He asks.
Annoyed by her indifference, Adam rises from his seat and hurls his glass towards those green walls she was so hell bent on repainting.

“Adam" Athena says watching the glass recoil and slither against his skin, "You're acting like a child.” The white barn owl starts at the shatter, unwittingly dislodging an apple from its stem.

“The first year we were engaged you decided we needed to postpone the wedding, because you wanted to finish school” Adam’s hands are held out in front of him now, palms together like someone beginning a prayer, “so I found us a house in Eden Park not seven minutes from your university. When you finished Ornithology school and wanted to travel for your research, what did I do?” He asks, placing his fingertips against his bare chest, “I quit my job and booked us one way tickets to Tanzania. Fucking Tanzania! Do
you know how hard it was for me to live there!” Adam smacks the table. Athena's glass doesn’t move. “Athena” he says her name like a plea. “My whole life is centered around giving you what you need. Can't you see that?" Behind Adam the clouds break letting the sun creep in and Athena watches as the dust particles float about his head.

“It's not about what I need Adam, it's about what I want and that's not you!" Athena pauses to remove the hostility in her voice. “I’m sorry” she says eventually," I didn’t mean to be so harsh.” Adam rests his palms against the table and hangs his head, the light
splitting against his back. She could see him clearly now.
“Adam” Athena says leaning in closer, "there’s a piece of glass lodged in your skin, look." Adam curves his backbone with the fluidity of a snake to see where she is pointing. “Here” Athena rises and walks towards him, stripping the white T-shirt up and over her head on the way. When she reaches his side of the table Adam takes a step back. “Please Adam” she reasons, “let me help you.” Adam’s shoulders shed their stiffness and he turns around to settle against the table, his right hand hovering above his head. “This shouldn't hurt.” Athena says, bending to dislodge the glass from his side. When the shard is out, blood the color of apples begins seeping from his skin and Athena wipes it away with her white T-shirt. "Don't worry" she says when he winces, "It's only a flesh wound. All your ribs are still intact." Water smacks Athena against her forehead like a church blessing and when she looks up, she finds Adam is crying.

“Look” he says pointing out beyond the casement window, “there’s a white owl in our apple tree.” Satisfied his wound would no longer bleed Athena rises, tossing her stained white T-shirt atop the shattered glass on the floor.

“It’s a barn owl.” she says resting her bare ribs against his. Adam gingerly lowers his arm around her, and they sit for a while.

"I thought they traveled in pairs." Adam asks eventually.
​
"No,” Athena says, watching the owls white wings flutter in the setting light, “not the owls. They prefer to hunt alone."
​


--
Cleveland native Andrea Y. Rodriguez is an Afro-Latina writer based in Chicagoland. She recently graduated with her BA in English from Lewis University. Rodriguez's work has been featured in Ghost Heart Literary Journal, The Rise Up Review (2021) and Windows Magazine where she won first place for her piece “A Black Boys Guide” (Spring 2020). 

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  • Home
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  • Issue #27 Spring 2024
    • Issue #27 Art Spring 2024 >
      • Kristina Erny Spring 2024
      • Luiza Maia Spring 2024
      • Christy Lee Rogers Spring 2024
      • Erika Lynet Salvador Spring 2024
      • Marsha Solomon Spring 2024
    • Issue #27 Poetry Spring 2024 >
      • Terry Belew Spring 2024
      • Dustin Brookshire​ & Diamond Forde Spring 2024 Spring 2024
      • Dustin Brookshire​ & Caridad Moro-Gronlier Spring 2024 Spring 2024
      • Charlie Coleman Spring 2024
      • Isabelle Doyle Spring 2024
      • Reyzl Grace Spring 2024
      • Kelly Gray Spring 2024
      • Meredith Herndon Spring 2024
      • Mina Khan Spring 2024
      • Anoushka Kumar Spring 2024
      • Cate Latimer Spring 2024
      • BEE LB Spring 2024
      • Grace Marie Liu​ Spring 2024
      • Sarah Mills Spring 2024
      • Faisal Mohyuddin 2024
      • Marcus Myers Spring 2024
      • Mike Puican Spring 2024
      • Sarah Sorensen Spring 2024
      • Lynne Thompson Spring 2024
      • Natalie Tombasco Spring 2024
      • Alexandra van de Kamp Spring 2024
      • Donna Vorreyer Spring 2024
    • Fiction #27 Spring 2024 >
      • Bryan Betancur Spring 2024
      • Karen George Spring 2024
      • Raja'a Khalid Spring 2024
      • Riley Manning Spring 2024
      • Adina Polatsek Spring 2024
      • Beth Sherman Spring 2024
    • Nonfiction #27 Spring 2024 >
      • Liza Olson Spring 2024
  • Issue #28 Fall 2024
    • Issue #28 Art Fall 2024 >
      • Eric Calloway Fall 2024
      • Matthew Fertel Fall 2024
      • JooLee Kang Fall 2024
      • Jian Kim Fall 2024
      • Robb Kunz Fall 2024
      • Sean Layh Fall 2024
    • Issue #28 Poetry Fall 2024 >
      • Jodi Balas Fall 2024
      • Clayre Benzadón Fall 2024
      • Catherine Broadwall Fall 2024
      • Sara Burge Fall 2024
      • Judith Chalmer Fall 2024
      • Stephanie Choi Fall 2024
      • Sarah Jack Fall 2024
      • Jen Karetnick Fall 2024
      • Ae Hee Lee Fall 2024
      • Svetlana Litvinchuk Fall 2024
      • Mary Lou Buschi Fall 2024
      • Angie Macri Fall 2024
      • Gary McDowell Fall 2024
      • Sam Moe Fall 2024
      • Camille Newsom Fall 2024
      • Elizabeth O'Connell- Thompson Fall 2024
      • Olatunde Osinaike Fall 2024
      • Jessica Pierce Fall 2024
      • Diane Raptosh Fall 2024
      • Isaac Richards Fall 2024
      • Robyn Schelenz Fall 2024
      • Christopher Shipman Fall 2024
      • Alex Tretbar Fall 2024
      • Ruth Williams Fall 2024
      • Shannon K. Winston Fall 2024
      • Wendy Wisner Fall 2024
      • Anne Gerard Fall 2024
    • Issue #28 Fiction Fall 2024 >
      • J​oe Baumann Fall 2024
      • ​Morganne Howell Fall 2024
      • Matt Paczkowski Fall 2024
      • Ryan Peed Fall 2024
      • Gabriella Pitts Fall 2024
      • James Sullivan Fall 2024
  • Issue #29 Spring 2025
    • Issue #29 Art Spring 2025 >
      • Irina Greciuhina Spring 2025
      • Jesse Howard Spring 2025
      • Paul Simmons Spring 2025
      • Marsha Solomon Spring 2025
      • Elzbieta Zdunek Spring 2025
      • Na Yoon Amelia Cha-Ryu Spring 2025
    • Issue #29 Poetry Spring 2025 >
      • Deborah Bacharach Spring 2025
      • Diego Báez Spring 2025
      • Jaswinder Bolina Spring 2025
      • ​Ash Bowen Spring 2025
      • Christian J. Collier Spring 2025
      • ​Shou Jie Eng Spring 2025
      • Sara Fitzpatrick Spring 2025
      • Matthew Gilbert Spring 2025
      • Tammy C. Greenwood Spring 2025
      • Alejandra Hernández ​Spring 2025
      • Ben Kline ​Spring 2025
      • ​David Moolten Spring 2025
      • ​Tamer Mostafa Spring 2025
      • ​Rongfei Mu Spring 2025
      • Cynthia Neely Spring 2025
      • Pablo Otavalo Spring 2025
      • ​Bleah Patterson Spring 2025
      • ​M.A. Scott Spring 2025
      • ​Liam Strong ​ Spring 2025
      • Alexandra van de Kamp Spring 2025
      • ​Cassandra Whitaker Spring 2025
      • Angelique Zobitz Spring 2025
    • Issue #29 Fiction Spring 2025 >
      • Vanessa Blakeslee Spring 2025
      • K. J. Coyle Spring 2025
      • Meredith MacLeod Davidson Spring 2025
      • Jessica Mosher Spring 2025
    • Issue #29 Nonfiction Spring 2025 >
      • JM Huscher Spring 2025
      • Qurrat ul Ain Raza Abbas Spring 2025