My phone shrieks, punching straight into my chest. I flinch. The mug slips. Coffee hits my bare foot, heat biting.
The screen flares white.
EMERGENCY ALERT
INCOMING MISSILE THREAT
SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER
THIS IS NOT A TEST
IMPACT ESTIMATE: 14 MINUTES
Not a test.
Sam. Grade school. Soccer practice. Outside.
Lily. High school. Debate practice. Inside.
My hand closes around the phone, hard enough to ache.
Lily in the doorway. “You never choose me.”
I didn’t answer.
She didn’t wait.
The room tilts back into place.
My breath stalls, scrapes back in.
Keys. Door.
The space splits.
Sam—wide sky, nowhere to hide.
Lily—contained, not safe enough.
My heart hits once.
Choose.
BIO: Alaska/Washington author Lynne Curry—nominated for the 2025 Best of the Net Anthology, the 2024 Pushcart Prize and Best Microfiction—founded “Real-life Writing,” https://bit.ly/45lNbVo and publishes a monthly “Writing from the Cabin” blog, https://bit.ly/3tazJpW and a weekly “dear Abby of the workplace” newspaper column. Curry has published twenty-three short stories; seven poems; two articles on writing craft, and six books.
