This is popular Japanese story is about a poem called “Tomino’s Hell.” They say that you should only read with your mind, and never out loud. If you were to read it out loud, then you must take responsibility for your actions.”Tomino’s Hell” (トミノの地獄) is written by Yomota Inuhiko (四方田 犬彦) in a book called “The Heart is…
“Youth is wasted on the young.” – George Bernard Shaw The old, hate-filled woman had been staring at the bathtub for a whole 15 minutes until she was entirely satisfied that it was dead. Taking her gangrenous black foot from the back of its head, it rose slowly to the surface of the calm, cold…
Somewhere in New York City there is an old homeless man missing both his legs from the knees down, whose spot along the streets is the corner of Lexington and East 21st, near Granmercy Park. Approach him after nightfall, give him some change (NO pennies, NO dimes) and ask him, “What did you see on…
“Stephen, I noticed you haven’t put out any Halloween decorations this year,” said Eve, my nosy neighbor and head of our townhome association. I was in a rush and didn’t want to get into it with her. “Yes, I’m well aware, Eve. We’re working on it,” I replied, trying to maintain my composure. “Thanks for…
“We knew we were scouting for caves, but didn’t have an exact search location. The Sarge had us pair off and reconnoiter in all four directions. Bradley and Jones were the first ones to lose audio contact, although we could still track their movements on our grids.” “Munch and Green were next to go. Same…
It is so dark in here, so dreadfully dark. I have come to hate this darkness for it comes much too frequently. My body is still, as if numbed. The motion I can sense, as I am being carried away, is quick paced and very rough. Where I am is unknown but I do know…
The Airborne Gift An Account of the Winston Bombing The movie was fucking horrible. Sadly, the best part about it was the overpriced Dr. Pepper I bought beforehand. I wish I could say that the worst parts were the sappy Christmas scenes and the shitty bathrooms, but no, the worst was yet to come. Nonetheless,…
Array 1- Channel 4. Ursa Minor once had six stars. So did Cygnus. I know most of you don’t believe me. In fact it’s possible that none of you do. But I swear on the graves of my family that it’s true. Every word. They’ve been here ever since the early 80s. They hide in…
Thump. The girl jerked awake. She glanced at the window, afraid of what she would see, yet it revealed nothing but the dark night. They’re back, she thought anxiously. A week ago, the girl awoke to find that somebody had spray painted loops and scribbles of blue and red on their garage door. Mom thought…
Traveling on into that sunless region known as the Land of the Blest, the good Knight Alexander of Macedon, accompanied by 40 friends, 100 slaves, and 1,200 reliable soldiers, found a misty waste uncrossed by any path or track, and decided that there the tents should be pitched. On the following day he took a…
The frigid November air entering through the window contrasted sharply with the humid heat under my mask, caused by my rapid and uneven breathing. My hands fidgeted with a button on my coat sleeve, while my leg made a rhythmic thumping sound as it jutted up and down from the floor to the table above…
Sometimes, you really can’t understand what someone is going through. You have to go through the same. Live through the same. Face the same disasters and torments they have. I haven’t seen her in a while. It’s been almost 8 years. Of course, I would’ve visited her sooner, but I have a job, a life…
Hi. I’m Caitlin and I’m eleven years old. I think. I may have been here for ten minutes or ten years. Every second in this place feels very long. Who I am isn’t really important, but if you must know, I’m a girl who loved school, cartoons, and pop music. I’m floating in a big…
Professor Salik Scientific Ethics Class 3rd Grade, 5th Period Salik ambles to his desk, tapping the holographic display. “Alright class settle down, settle down.” He taps on his desk again and the display changes to show the galaxy. “As you’ve learned in your previous class space is relatively flat.” “For years we puzzled over the…
The train is leaving in two minutes. The young girl hurries along the platform. Evening travellers pack the station. She is small and can wriggle her way between the briefcases and linen jackets. A heavy carriage door swings open. A dash to the step, she hikes up her short denim skirt and climbs in, squeezes…
I had been in the apartment about 6 months when I started to see them. They should’ve scared me but they didn’t. The only thing I felt at first, as I recall, was fascination. To me it seemed as though it were happening to someone else. It was as if I were watching them on…
When I was fourteen, my mother and father were divorced, and I went to live with my mother and a man she supposedly fell in love with several years ago. We searched for a house for all three of us to live in, and eventually found the perfect house. A few months later, after finding…
10:30 PM. Late in the Summer Season. It’s storming outside. My favorite time of year and my favorite kind of weather. Whenever it storms I just have to smile. Storms are beautiful, or at least I used to think so. Almost all the lights in the apartment were off, and I’m just talking to some…
You lie on your bed, huddled under the covers with a fresh book from the library. Your eyes feel somewhat droopy but you are reluctant to put it down, the story too enticing to pause so you can sleep. It’s nearing the end anyway, you reason silently; not even thirty pages to go. Might as…
Rumor has it that every Halloween during the hours of 2am and 5am, there exists a void. You must stand in front of a mirror in a pitch black room with your gaze fixated on the mirror. If you remain in the room when the moment arrives, you will feel a chill seize your body….
Funny how things can change, isn’t it? I’m a careless person. I leave things for weeks at a time, and sometimes never come back to them at all. There are things I’ve lost in my own bedroom that I gave up searching for years ago. It’s not that my bedroom is particularly big or messy,…
They say your dreams can take you to all sorts of places, but what if those places actually existed? We know so little about our world, our universe, and ourselves. Many of us cannot even control where we’re going in this life. Although most of us dream freely and even awaken to find that we…
“Getting laid is overrated anyways. My first time was the quintessential fantasy. An older quirky party girl who would show me the ropes. It was awkward and fumbling and we kept clacking our teeth together. You know what I got out of it? HPV,” my friend Eduardo said with a rousing laugh that drew the…
“They came from the east”, he said. A pot of malt ersatz coffee stood steaming on the table between us. We both took it black. “Fearsome warriors on horseback they were, a fierce barbarian horde, the most lethal mercenary tribe to plunder and pillage Europe for centuries. They fought for the Russian Czars against the…