“Shhhh shhhh, it’s okay baby, I’m here now.” She coos into my ear, stroking my feverish cheek as I sit still in her gentle embrace. She hums a soft tune I’ve never heard before. I can’t believe it’s already been a whole hour since I first woke up, and I’m still shaking. I had opened…
‘SLEEPY TROVE.’ How well do you trust the exits and turnoffs that dot your local interstate highway? I tell this story to make you reconsider taking such detours. While driving through heavy rain on the Ohio turnpike last year, I caught sight of a plain looking sign during an upward battle with my eyelids to…
I. When I dream of a void, I dream of an unending chasm. White shadows whisper, and they eat into my mind. I hear the smells of sacrificial flesh, and see the tastes of foreign meat. But these are only nightmares. I loathe my place in life. I want to escape, but I cannot. The…
Daniel Warrington leapt to his feet. The fire roared and crackled in the hearth and the wind gusted outside and for a second he doubted whether he had really heard it – a second, heavier crash, like a great clap of thunder swiftly relieved him of such foolish notions. He rushed across the drawing room,…
I tried not to notice it. I pretended it wasn’t there. I wore long sleeve shirts, and I never looked down. If I didn’t think about it, I hoped, it would cease to exist. But I couldn’t forget it. At night my arm would throb in bed like the stain in the Scottish play. Spots…
This is Reagan Myers again, I realize that this update is very late, and I apologize for that. At this very moment, I’m sitting in a dark bunker with a few others, and I wouldn’t dare venture outside, not after what I’ve just been through. In some ways, I wish I’d never left my own…
Rollercoasters. I hated them. I always did. When it came to school trips to the local theme parks, I always sat them out. I could enjoy the lazy rapids or the log flumes, the tilt-a-whirls or the space wheels; anything with a bit of height to feel the light breeze on my face or the…
“We’re going down!” Captain Raul Santana yelled over the intercom. “Everybody, brace for impact!” Hazard lights blinked a pulsing symphony of angry red while alarms bleated in terror. The plane’s nose tore through the final layer of thin white clouds as the island rushed up to catch the doomed airliner. The 747 shook violently. Screams…
This pasta is yet another entry in The Holders series, a loose grouping of stories by countless different authors based on a specific premise. If this series is new to you, you may wish to visit this website dedicated specifically to archiving Holders stories; although we have a tag for the series and have posted…
“I will not cry.” That was my silent mantra as I sat, staring straight ahead, doing my best to show no reaction in response to the bitter hatred pouring from their mouths. This can’t be right. I must be in the wrong place, or wrong time, or something. How can the people who are supposed…
You awaken with a high pitched ringing in your ears. Gradually, the sound becomes softer, like the humming from your refrigerator, and eventually, it stops completely. Even after a peaceful night’s rest, your eyes are not ready to open. Your instincts urge you to KEEP THEM CLOSED, but you find no reason not to open…
There was a time when I believed running might help; if I could pack up my few belongings and burn the rest under cover of darkness and flee, I could start over somewhere new. But in this bleak frostbitten place, I admit to myself, truly, that I cannot outrun him, that I can never escape…
A gunshot shatters your blissful state of slumber. Blood stains your sheets and crimson runs from the walls and ceiling, and you notice from the blurred vagueness that is your peripheral vision, a body slumped over the foot of your bed. Somebody has been murdered in your room. Despite the early hour, and the shock…
If you ever find yourself in LA’s Old China town, head into the square, past the statue of sun Yat-sen, past the hip, ultramod toy store called “Munky King” and look for an import store next to what used to be a wishing fountain. Go into this store ad head all the way straight back,…
I am awake. I don’t recall falling asleep and am not real sure how I got into bed, but I am awake now. There is a very distant ringing in my ears, sort of like the aftermath of a concussive blast that makes you deaf, only this ringing seems far off inside my head. Must…
There are things in the dark and ancient corners of this world that nature should never have allowed to exist. In spite of the decay of millennia they live on, the last remnants of the world that should have been forgotten. There was much that I sacrificed to learn that firsthand. Every day for the…
THE DEATH OF WILLIAM MCLOUGHLIN “It’s like something out of The X-Files,” I said, aghast. It was close to midnight and to my horror I’d been called out to investigate the death of a child, a seven-year-old boy by the name of William McLoughlin. The boy’s father, Patrick, had discovered the body after his son…
When I was eight, I decided that I wanted to be a ghost hunter. At that tender age, I was torn between the terrifying excitement of being alone in a haunted house at night, and the soothing reality that there was probably nothing to be afraid of. My mother always told me spooky stories of…
Alice is telling the guys she doesn’t know that she wants to see the end of the world. They aren’t talking to her. No one is talking to her. The party happens around her without touching her, as if she is hermetically sealed. Outside, it’s snowing. She pauses for a second on the patio, next…
Lately I have been questioning the reality of things around me. I can sure identify where it started, and where it came from, but I just can’t get it out. An idea cannot be killed; you may try to not think about it or distract yourself, but it is there, and it will always be…
In 1990, a small meteorite was sighted in the night sky by the Hubble telescope. It appeared to be on a collision course with earth, but calculations showed that it was far too small and moving far too slowly to be a threat to our home planet. In 1997, the long-forgotten meteorite entered the atmosphere….
When I was in college, I heard a rumor about a man in a bar that was making deals, very Special deals. Now I am no fool, I have heard of Faust and his tragedy, and I knew of Midas and his touch and many other stories warning ‘Be careful what you wish for’, so…
With his new bride in his arms, Gavin stepped across the threshold of their new home. He set her down carefully on her feet and steadied her balance. Between her puffy wedding gown, the three inch heels she wore, and all the champagne she had drunk, Gavin figured his new wife could use his support….
Damasu was sitting atop his bike, peddling home on this unusually pleasant day. It was late autumn, and one would expect it to be far colder. But this morning, when Damasu awoke, the sun was shining brightly, and the air was warm. So, he decided to ride his bike to and from work. He probably…