Elena Zhang
I stepped into the wolf’s jaws, slipped down the gullet. A birth in reverse. I was there for the beginning. In the beginning there was confusion. Wonton gone mad. I was shapeless but now I am wolfshape. All things die in the end, my girl, but we can choose what eats us. There is a haunting in my pleated skin and now I’m a hunger pang, but that is something you can never forget. Do not worry about the disturbed dirt or the crumbs of teeth. Worry about the candy apples. Worry about the bubble, and the boil.
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Elena Zhang is a Chinese American writer and mother living in Chicago. Her work can be found in HAD, The Citron Review, and X-R-A-Y, among other publications. She is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee and was selected for Best Microfiction 2024 and 2025.