During the water break, you found your place between chalky goose turds in the spiky grass. No teammates talked to you, not even your friends.
The Five Stages of Being Cut from the Varsity Soccer Team
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Dane Erbach
Dane Erbach is a writer from Chicago’s northwest suburbs who teaches English and journalism at a public high school. His writing has appeared in JMWW, the Amazine, The Freak!, Mythaxis Magazine, Perseid Prophecies, and elsewhere, including several speculative anthologies. His novel, Meat Bees, was published by CLASH Books in 2026. When not writing or reading, you can find him catching Pokémon with his family, raiding his community library, and tending to the pumpkin patch in his backyard. Find him on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky @browntrowsers.