Like all small towns, the one I grew up in had its legends. In my town, there’s one particular legend I’ve heard since I was a kid. The people telling it, though, never agree on the details. They like to talk about some “thing.” Some say it is takes the form of a man, others…
I suck in the air through my dry lips. I have to keep quiet. It’s here. And if It finds me, I’m as good as dead. I wish I knew what It actually is because my mind’s eye is probably much worse than reality, (or at least that’s what I pray to be in the…
You’re awoken from a dreamless sleep by a dull thud from the hallway. Your eyes snap open and fix instantly on the door. What made that noise? Breathing hard, fear beginning to twitch in your mind, you realise with a shiver that you’ve kicked your duvet off in your sleep. You quickly grab it, pull…
In a private terminal at the Port of Boston, there is a houseboat. This houseboat has been anchored there, permanently, for at least 50 years. The eccentric owner has maintained all fees and taxes and is in good standing with the Port Authority. Still, even if the owner wasn’t financially responsible, no one would ask…
Chapter 1 Jonathan was fascinated by magic. For as long as he could recall, it was something that undoubtedly enthralled him. Perhaps it was that the enigmatic nature that drew him towards it. He remembered witnessing his first act of wonder on the street, when an old man had a random woman select a card…
So here’s a quaint little story I’m only now recollecting for the first time in my adult life, having faded slowly in the memory since the event actually occurred on one day during my teenage years. I was 11, and it was the summer that existed immediately before my first year of secondary school was…
Soft sunlight glints off rides and merry go rounds, merry jingles floating through the air. The bustle of the carnival goes on around you as you stroll along, enjoying the day. It’s breezy, yet the breeze is warm and butter-soft, gently wrapping your soft silk dress around your legs as you walk, the taste of…
“Therefore the force, secrecy and power, in what manner the sacred names of spirits are truly and rightly found out, consisteth in the disposing of the vowels, which do make the name of a spirit, and wherewith is constituted the true name and right word.” -HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA The Divide (The following is an excerpt…
It wasn’t a big deal at first, you know? It was just another story online, one you’d read in the comments of a YouTube video, designed to scaring you into posting it on eight other videos. You know the kind, where you die a horrible death or your crush will reject you if you don’t…
Frank was strapped into his seat; he was one of the lucky ones. The trip was a way out, a way off this planet, out of the country that had abandoned him. Everything from the past was going to be forgotten, which was good for him. He would either spend ten years in a cell,…
May 4th, 2009 This is my first entry. I’m keeping this journal as part of my recovery. My therapist has recommended I start tracking my thoughts, observations and memories to help with my sessions. She believes the exercise of writing everything down will help me sort my memories into a logical order. She says this…
ORANGE THREE _________________ PART ONE The red fabric seats held nothing but dust. That made him uneasy. He didn’t know what to expect, but he did expect someone. The letter told him the exam would be held the following day, at the old theater, and that he should take a seat in the main auditorium….
New Year’s night is a time of bliss and celebration Joy to one and all, but one for the duration But all through the night till the morning after sedation The lowly eyeball man finds a different sort of elation Ragged clothes and face bathed in shadow A thousand eyes of empty sorrow No nose…
Diary entry 1 — 2nd of September 2012: Something is wrong. There’s just something not right recently, it’s been like this for a while now, about a month, I don’t know what it is, but I just have this feeling. Or rather, it’s not that I have a feeling, but there’s a feeling around, everywhere…
I can’t even begin to explain on how glad I am to be moving from the country; however I cannot say the same for Jay. We were both 13 and we considered ourselves explorers, but that was our downfall. I had lived in the country for about two months in this little town and had…
This curious item once belonged to the English theatre actor James Fontaine. He was best known for playing the role of Hop-Frog, a jester character from the stage adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s story of the same name. It was during one particular performance in 1922 that he lost his life to a freak onstage…
Did you ever look a loved one in the eyes and not recognize what you see? The face is the same, but there’s something…else. Something that wasn’t there before. Something that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up, but you don’t know why. When my wife came home from the hospital,…
The phone rang. Phoebe looked at Heather confused, “Um, are you going to answer that?” “Nah, don’t bother.” responded Heather, “It’s just going to be that annoying creep again.” “Huh?” asked Phoebe, even more confused, “What creep?” “Wait, I never told you about this guy?” She noticed the blank look on her friend’s face, which…
Related: Poisoned Oak Bassa was not unlike many of his neighbors in Glevum, a town in the Roman province of Britannia; men who were originally brought to this land by conquest, and who were now settling down to a new life as farmers. The town of Glevum had once been a Roman fort, but over…
I barely noticed as a fiery sky descended into oblivion consisting of twinkling, miniscule suns and as the sounds of the hospital dimmed to the ticks of clocks and the beeps of machines. I just lay in that bed, trying to make sense of my thoughts. As the drugs to numb the pain pump through…
When you look out over the desert, the sand lifts from the parched earth. Gently spinning in tiny cyclones, before settling again, as if the heat is too much for even the dried particles to have the energy to keep going. The wind is hot, blowing from the south-west, and as you keep your gaze…
When I was a child, I lived in Radnorshire, one of seven children and the youngest of six girls. As my parents had six other girls and an infant boy to take care of, they left me to myself, and I ran about like a wild thing. Not that they didn’t love me, but they…
Down around fourteenth and ninth, there’s an alley between a parkade and a small office building. Unlike many downtown alleys, this one is clear of parking and transients. In fact, there never seems to be anyone in it at all. There’s never a car cutting through to avoid traffic, never any teenagers looking for somewhere…
Cora ran home from school that day with a knapsack full of half-nibbled biscuits and more questions than her mother had answers. It had started with a music lesson- she took piano from Mrs. Morris, twice weekly and once on Sundays after church. Old lady Morris was given to flights of fancy and known to…