LOVE IS CRUEL

13 Stories

Love can inspire great things, but it can also spark jealousy, rage, and revenge. It can twist your brains and your guts, making you do things you never dreamed of.

In “A Special Kind of Hell,” a wife questions what kind of game her dominatrix-obsessed husband is really playing. In “Cold Comfort,” a priest tangles with a cop after a woman from his parish is murdered by her husband. In “The Siege,” a new wife suspects her husband has found someone to fill her previous role as his mistress. In “Swan Song,” a former actress sees an old friend spiraling in an abusive relationship with a powerful director. In “Unforgiven,” a woman investigates what role her family had in her husband’s untimely death. In “Answered Prayers,” a boyfriend comes with more baggage than his long-suffering girlfriend bargained for. In “Ladykiller,” the police interview a woman about her partner’s role in another woman’s death. In “Magpie,” a married couple battles over their increasingly divergent dreams for the future. In “Good Bones,” a man feels his marriage crumbling under the weight of a dream-home renovation. In “Hungry Heart,” a man’s abandonment of his children comes back to haunt him. In “A Hopeless Case,” the course of a cancer patient’s life changes forever from a random encounter. In “The Barnacle,” a pregnant woman is willing to do anything to save her shady boyfriend from the police. In “My Sweet Angel of Death,” a grieving widow discovers an unexpected new purpose to her life.

Sometimes, love is beautiful to behold.

But sometimes, love is cruel.