midnight & indigo - Celebrating Black women writers (Issue 5)

midnight & indigo is a literary journal dedicated to short stories and narrative essays by Black women writers.Featuring 15 Black women writers the fifth issue includes contributions by Stephanie Avery rebekah blake Danielle Buckingham Emily Capers Melie Ekunno Martins Favour Wandeka Gayle Ashanti Hardy Adrian Joseph Amani-Nzinga Jabbar Desi Lenc Melissa A. Matthews Adaora Raji Leslie D. Rose and Theresa Sylvester.In this issue we meet characters across continents in various stages of becoming. From women redefining their definitions of love and Black girls finding their place in world and family to narrators discovering self... and sometimes sacrifice - midnight & indigo is proud to present new short stories.⁠In The Last Time by Wandeka Gayle a Jamaican woman returns home for a visit from graduate school in Louisiana. She has a chance encounter with a recent ex with whom she has had a decade-long affair.When Chiwetalu leaves Nigeria to live the American Dream in Limbo by Adaora Raji he thrusts his wife into uncertainty that stretches the boundaries of her love and loyalty.In The Tractor by Theresa Sylvester a single woman in Lusaka discovers a secret involving her pretty married younger sister and their vocal mother. Phantom Itch by Melie Ekunno tells of the sexual struggles of a Chibok Girl in America.The Orphans Daughter by Leslie D. Rose is a retelling of stories told to her by her mother who was orphaned as a young girl in 1950s Spanish Harlem. Colorism in the Caribbean is examined through the lens and family history of a young Trinidadian woman and her complicated relationship with her grandmother in Bittersweet by Melissa A. Matthews.In Things I Cant Outrun by Amani-Nzinga Jabbar Nakisha is a former track star who stopped running after dropping out of a mostly white college. She tries to return to her passion by registering for a charity race an experience tainted by microaggressions. She later learns of the shooting death of a young Black jogger and realizes there are some things you just cant run from no matter how fast you are.In Barricade by Desi Lenc Flint Amara and their neighbor Ebony spend their time with adventure and imagination as only children can. One day Ebony and Amara create a new game.Mels therapist seeks to save her from the despair a name brings in Mel needs a new name by Martins Favour. After Sadie loses her daddy one year her mama has to go away for a while too in Too Much of Anything Can Kill You by Ashanti Hardy. That year Sadie learns that too much of anything can kill you.Middle school is tough. In Spirit Week by Emily Capers follow the narrator through her first taste of middle school Spirit Week where she learns about spooky school rumors.In Free Falling by Adrian Joseph Nia journeys through the darkness of her psyche as she uses everything she has within to overcome her fears and release her sinister past. Will she make it out alive?A girl lives with the psychological trauma she received during a religious experience in Salvation by Stephanie Avery. Lee is thrust into a caregiver role for her two younger sisters following her fathers death in Water Bearers by Danielle Buckingham. As her mothers grief consumes her Lee is troubled with strange dreams.She (A retelling of The Giving Tree) by rebekah blake is a retelling but also a story about a Black mother. She gives until she has nothing left.