The Piano’s Song
She sits upright before us, like a tree trunk still and dynamic, and her frail fingers are placed alert on the ivory. Her old lungs fill and release once as the room slowly revolves around. We ...
The Pillow
Awake. Lisa bolted upright in bed, hazy vapors of fear still wavering in her periphery. The details of the dream were quickly escaping leaving only the overwhelming terror that had just gripped her psyche a moment ...
The Pixies
Chapter 1 What I'm about to tell you will seem unbelievable, inconceivable, and I'm sure downright made up. I can't help the way that it sounds. I can only tell you what happened, what I remember, ...
The Plague
They weave a slow andante as in sleep. Scaled yellow, swampy black, plague-spotted white; with blue and lidless eyes at a watch, they keep a treachery of silence, infinite. - Arthur Symons There was no other ...
The Plague Artist
If you're reading this right now, it means I am no longer of this world. Either I've committed suicide or the Plague Artist has grown bored with my existence. I suppose it doesn't matter which. This ...
The Plague Doctor
Ever since I was a child, I always had a crippling fear of doctors. You may wonder why; these individuals were here only to heal us, mend us. Ignoring slight hiccups in medical practice, everything they ...
The Pocket Watch
When I was a child there was nothing to eat. I was the eldest of five, so it was my job to make sure that I always let my brothers and sisters eat before me. War ...
The Polaroid Camera
Tara slammed the taxi door behind her with one hand and used the other to pull her raincoat’s collar tight against her neck from sharp, slanted drizzle. She found herself checking for the camera dangling by ...
The Poolhouse in Weinwick, Oregon
For Christyana and Dean: The shrapnel of my contagion. If you know, you know. The following is a transcript of a transcript, having been posted to an early internet forum page called "Oregontalesandtrails.com" in 1998 by ...
The Popcorn Ceiling
After my parent’s divorce, and for too many years after, my twin sister Ginny would wake me up unexpectedly in the middle of the night. Her demeanor would always be frightened and scared when she did ...
The Porcelain Mask
Marcel tightened the last cords on his hiking backpack. He stepped back admiring how neatly he packed the bag. Every year he and a group of friends went on three-day expeditions into the mountains, and this ...
The Portal in the Woods
“Dad, you said you’d play catch with me!” I yelled as my father walked past me to his office, where he spent most of his days when he wasn’t at work. “I’m sorry, bud, I’ve gotta ...
The Portraits (a.k.a. The Cabin in the Woods)
There was a hunter in the woods, who, after a long day hunting, was in the middle of an immense forest. It was getting dark, and having lost his bearings, he decided to head in one ...
The Post Office
In the panhandle of Oklahoma, along the interstate, there is a lone brick building marked "Post Office No. 56," and is marked with tape at the door as "Closed". The building has no doors, and looks ...
The Power of Belief
Be it new or ancient, religious or sacrilegious, empowering or self-destroying, no idea has true power unless it is given the chance to be voiced, shared, and believed. Of course, an unshared idea would have some ...
The Power of Gods IV
Dear Anonymous, I have received your answer and am glad you have shown interest. I know that the process seems daunting, but the opportunity that I have given to you is worth the risk. I have ...
The Pregnancy
Since before I could remember, I've wanted to be a mother. It seemed my whole childhood and teenager years were spent yearning for a child of my own. By the time I was nine, I had ...
The Price is Right
The Careys had spent months searching for an apartment in the city. After sleeping on friends' floors from July through the beginning of September, they were ready to have a home of their own. Their friends ...