First Lines
It wasn’t Alicia’s catechism teacher, her mother, or even her sister who taught Alicia the truth about God’s grace and the redemptive power of skin robes. It was her stepfather, Larry McBride.
Alicia and her sister, Stephanie, sat side by side on the edge of Alicia’s bed in their matching flannel nightgowns. The clock on the wall read 1:36 am. Like most nights, Mom was working the late shift at the hospital.
Their stepfather stood less than a foot away. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin was flushed. But that wasn’t their biggest problem. It was the constellation of freckles across his nose and cheeks. “Impurities” Larry termed those freckles when he tried to explain God’s holy mission and the need to reclothe the world.
The Magazine
Split Lip is a literary journal of voice-driven writing with a pop culture twist. We publish online monthly and in print yearly.