Gwynne Garfinkle is a Los Angeles native, a fiction writer, poet, and erstwhile rock critic. Her collection of short fiction and poetry, People Change, was published in 2018 by Aqueduct Press. Her work has appeared in such publications as Strange Horizons, Uncanny, Escape Pod, Apex, Mermaids Monthly, The Deadlands, Not One of Us, GigaNotoSaurus, and Climbing Lightly Through Forests. Her debut novel, Can’t Find My Way Home, is forthcoming in January 2022 from Aqueduct Press. Follow her on Twitter (@gwynnega) or visit her website: gwynnegarfinkle.com.
Emily was nine years old when she met the what-if imp. She was rereading her favorite book when the thing she loved turned sour. Something had its hooks in her mind. It worried her like a dog’s teeth as she sat motionless on her bed. “What if you ran away?” the what-if imp asked. “What if you ran away from home, like the girl in the book?”
