Oddlands Magazine: The Ninth Stranger by Kristine Ong Muslim
We cornered the ninth stranger in the dump.
She was crouching beside the
rubber tires and an upended couch.
Somebody prodded her with a shovel.
She opened her mouth, and the unborn
strangers scrambled out of her throat–
the doorway, my grandmother said.
One of the elders was quick enough to strike
her neck with an ax. Her head did not fall
down cleanly. It took another swing.
We cut her up. She did not bleed
when sliced open, was all flesh
and bone. Her entrails had long ago
been eaten by what she had let in
to grow inside her body.
Her limbs we left by the lake
for the pilgrims to find.
Her torso we took home for the boys.
Author Bio:
Kristine Ong Muslim’s publication credits and recent acceptances include more than 500 poems and stories in more than 200 publications worldwide. Her work has appeared in Abyss & Apex, Dark Recesses, Dark Wisdom, Not One of Us, and Tales of the Talisman. She received an Honorable Mention in Year’s Best in Fantasy and Horror. She has twice won Sam’s Dot Publishing’s James Award for genre poetry.
