“No, absolutely not,” I told the doctor. Dr. Murdock maintained eye contact with me. Whether or not he had any personal feelings about the situation, I couldn’t tell. I always thought it was eerie how detached some doctors could appear, almost as though they were machines that could turn emotion and off at will. Hell,…
Consider this a warning. In the event it ever comes to you during a moment of weakness, as it did me all those years ago, say no to the Pastel Man. It doesn’t matter how much you love the person that it promises to help, nothing is worth what it wants in return. I tell you this in hopes that you don’t make the same mistake I did that cold winter night, kneeling beside my father’s writhing body on the living room floor.
Read Part One Here It’s been about three months since my whole incident with The Expanse. I had been seeing my new therapist. Tiffany, for pretty much that entire length of time. She was on the younger side and had only really been working in the field for a few years, but she seemed to…
It was your standard blue collar work day—in at 9, work for eight hours, out by 5. My dad was on his way home to have a standard blue collar evening when something not-so-standard happened. Driving home from work, his car was hit by some douchebag pickup truck driver on the freeway trying to merge…
A bomb went off in the city. It happened on Monday. Today is Thursday. My dad was there. He hasn’t come back yet. I’ve been sitting at the window every day waiting for him to come home. Mom says the bomb interrupted the electric grid in the city, so there’s been barely any news about…
Greetings friends and horror aficionados. Thank you for joining me for the second story from the terror-filled annals of the Hotel Morte. I imagine you have questions following the first instalment, in which I described the premature demise of Mr Hillman in all its gory details. Hopefully I will be able to provide answers in…
Publisher’s Note: If you enjoy this story, the author encourages you to read its companion piece, Sniff. My first job was at a 24-hour restaurant called Flavi’s, on Third and Burlington in Westlake. It was a real hole-in-the-wall place, the type where patrons line up beneath the menu board; specializing in burgers, gyros, and all-day,…
People kept going missing from my town over the last couple of years. Their mangled remains were all that were ever found of them (if anything was found at all), and many thought that some sort of large predator was to blame. I guess that in the end, they weren’t far off, but they may…
It was supposed to be such an uneventful day, but overhead the clouds churned and plotted. Rebecca Madison saw and heard the roaring of the wind against her car, but she didn’t care. It was warm inside, so what did the fierce cold outside have to do with her? It didn’t matter. There were only…
“Name?” the man sitting across from my asked. I coughed. My mind had been wandering again. The man looked at me patiently. “Name?” he repeated again. “Edwin,” I replied. “Edwin Stroud.” The man pursed his lips slightly as he checked the papers in front of him. “Occupation?” He asked. “Musician,” I replied. His eyes looked…
“This is a matchmaking service?” asked the doctor, a concerned look on his face. “This is the Garden of Eden,” replied his host with a smile. The doctor looked around the room with a raised eyebrow and growing discomfort. The elaborate advertisement for the service promising to “find your perfect partner” had conjured images of…
As anyone who is or has been the “nerdy kid” growing up can attest to, you can’t help but assume the worst when the biggest bloke in class suddenly walks up to you. It took him calling me by name several times for me to stop pretending like I was reading the blank pages of…
Publisher’s Note: This is a companion piece to Slum. I never liked Rustic Gables Skilled Nursing Facility. Years ago, I worked as an EMT for MediTrans Ambulance Service. We did inter-facility transports, mostly dialysis runs and hospital discharges, so I spent a lot of time around crappy nursing homes. But even with my bar set…
Disclaimer: I am not a paranormal investigator. I am an author. While looking for inspiration for a book, I came across a series of stories surrounding a home in the American Pacific North West. It is an extremely un-extraordinary looking house in an extremely un-extraordinary looking residential neighborhood, but the stories that have emanated from…
(The following was found in an envelope on a bus bound for Chicago) My name is Jason Grimes and I am writing this so that when the room is eventually opened people will perhaps understand the things they find within it. And so that I will not be thought of as the madman that part…
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 direction until he was clear of the increasingly oppressive foliage. After what seemed like hours, he came across a…
((The following passage was found on an abandoned jump-drive two miles outside of Philadelphia. Though a somewhat longer passage, it has been passed on to, edited, and submitted by K.B. Miller. Original sources refused to disclose the exact location where such jump-drive was found. Therefore, certain names and events have been changed or redacted.)) ****…
In Berlin, after World War II, money was short, supplies were tight, and it seemed like everyone was hungry. At that time, people were telling the tale of a young woman who saw a blind man picking his way through a crowd. The two started to talk. The man asked her for a favor: could…
I don’t know why, but for whatever reason, I’ve always been naturally sneaky. Without putting any effort into the endeavor, I was always scaring people, or at the very least making them jump. Sometimes even when I approached from the front, people wouldn’t notice me until I was right upon them. Then they would gasp…
To read about the horrific events caused by my freshmen roommate leading up to this, click here for the beginning and here for the 2nd part. — Had I been thinking clearly, I would have made sure that Andrea didn’t see the pictures that “Zach” left me on his iPod. But, by the time I…
I just want to start off by saying if you want an answer at the end, prepare to be disappointed. There just isn’t one. I was an intern at Nickelodeon Studios for a year in 2005 for my degree in animation. It wasn’t paid of course, most internships aren’t, but it did have some perks…
Act I: Today I Buried a Man I am the Tollman. I sit in this lonely desert tollbooth and collect the tolls from people who pass by. When it is quiet in the night, I hear the voices of people arguing, but no one is near. I can see for two miles to the West…
“Mother?” In the dim light of my bedroom, cast by a single candlestick that made shadows dance on the ceiling, I sought her smiling face. It anchored my life and my world. “Yes, dear?” “May I ask three questions before I go to sleep?” “Of course.” Rustle went her nightdress; whoosh went the wind outside….
Have you ever played One Word Story? It’s a very simple game: a few people take turns, going around to make a sentence. Each person adds one word, until the sentence is complete, then someone says “period” and it’s read back. It’s actually pretty fun if you play with the right people, but I’m pretty…