Retrieving the mail, you notice new posters nailed to telephone poles out front. Help us find our cat they beg, our children are inconsolable. You reflect, then upload security camera footage from three nights ago when you barely glanced at the system’s warning ping. The usual nocturnality of suburban raccoons you surmised. Now you study silent video. Your front door camera captures a frantic, wide-eyed cat. Close behind, a coyote jumps, one elegant leap across the width of your driveway. A minute later, in your backyard view, the hungry canine drags its midnight meal. Just out of sight, the kill.
Adrian Bresler is studying creative writing after a forty-year career in accounting. Her work has recently appeared in Gastronomica and Prime Number Magazine. “Silent Night” is the winner of our OUT OF RANGE contest, part of our 2026 Micromemoir Marathon.