It’s a writer’s worst nightmare. The moment when you just couldn’t come up with anything, absolutely nothing, when the well of creativity dries up. It’s frustrating. Us writers call this menace writer’s block, it preys on us from the dark reaches of our minds; it is the killer of imagination. […]
During the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, I had a job at the local cinema. I’m 26 years old now and well on my way to other, more important things in my life, but this is the first time I’ve told this story. Mind you,
Turn back now, before your past is dug up like old bones and your soul is consumed in fire. I blinked once, watching the faded trees, like twisted, gnarled fingers reaching up to caress the sky, roll by the carriage window. I rubbed my forehead; the thought must have come
The scratching of graphite on paper. The short, whispered phrases. The gentle, distant ticking of a muffled old grand-father clock. These are my recollections of my time talking to Thomas Berkley in January, 1980. I was called in to see Mr Berkley at short notice. My time in Boston was
There are two main routes that one can use to get from Napa to San Francisco. The first curves around through Emeryville, crosses over the Bay Bridge, and eventually arrives in the Financial District. Every mile of the journey is well-lit, populated, and dotted by familiar signs of civilization. The
Four years in the army, and not once did I hear an order from anyone ranked above a Major(O4). Now I’ve been at the Dalton Power Station for two months, and I’ve already received three phone calls from James Mattis, the US secretary of defense. It seemed like a mundane
Sunset had fallen on the countryside, and the warmth of the day was fading with each passing moment. Vespers of an autumn breeze whispered through the fields, setting the amber stalks of corn into a somber dance… yet with each swaying step, two interlopers were revealed, standing stark and defiant
Mad. We were all called that by the “normal” people who lived outside our white padded walls. Believe me, none of us chose this life. It was almost as if we were looking through a mirror and that image of ourselves was moving on its own. We couldn’t stop it,
A Shadow of My Former Self Read More »
For William, it all started out as nothing more than a strange way of impressing a pretty girl, and he certainly wouldn’t have been the first in the long history of men who defied all semblance of logic in the name of simple courtship. Jen was not the sort of
The First of the Three Read More »
My mom died and I could not accept it for nine years afterward. Declared a suicide. Went mad looking for what happened, until one day I resigned to it and decided what happened happened. I let my mind rest in this house, away from all the possibilities that I could’ve
I’m Where I Should Be Read More »
The glare of the computer screen was the only light shining throughout the dimly lit room. Besides the sounds of quick, mechanical, keyboard clicking and an occasional finger tapping on a hardwood desk, the room was silent. A boy sat alone in the center of the room, running his hand
Tappy Crow: The Calling of the Crows Read More »
Entry 1 I cannot describe the determination it has taken to get this accomplished, but I finally have control. I must thank this one body for allowing me to touch the world and deliver this message. Given the situation, I will be brief with my messages until I am stronger.
I. The sign from above doesn’t come in time to stop the man’s finger from squeezing the trigger, and I don’t think it’s intended to, but it does come in time — in that last moment, that last tenth of a second when the bullet tears a gap through the
The following was dictated to me by my niece, who is currently eight years old. To the best of my knowledge, all of the events took place as described, although the names of the people involved have been changed to protect their privacy. Mr. Scant was there when Grammy died.
My name is Edward Thubbard and I recently killed my father. Now, before I am plagued with judgements of self-righteous proclivities allow me to first explain the circumstances surrounding my actions and in exchange I will permit you solicited judgements. I lived in a small town called Thusdale with my
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One breath and then another. He could feel his heart slow within his chest, just the way it always did when that feeling drew closer. Soon that voice would enter his mind, the one that he knew haunted more than only him. All he had to do was lay there
Okay. Let’s get this straight. I never wanted any of this to happen. I’m not who you all think I am. I promise that all those things he did – that was never intentional. Not on my part, anyway. He’s just… just a coward. A damn coward. He thinks of
No one knows why fireflies glow. There are of course a few theories, but there are good arguments for and against each. The first is the idea that the glow is a warning to other animals. A way of saying, “Nothing tasty here, stay away unless you want a nasty
“Have you heard about the tracks to nowhere?” That’s what George Lovely asked me that morning at school over our brightly-colored, sugary cereals. I replied that I hadn’t, allowing him to proceed with his story that we didn’t believe. If we had known that he was going to prove himself
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The rental house exceeded my expectations. You may think $400 per month rent for a three bedroom, two bath, furnished house four miles from a state university suspicious, but having grown up in the foothills, I knew how rent in the mountains worked. Four-hundred dollars wouldn’t pay for a weekend
We Thought You Knew Read More »
Part 1 When I was about ten years old, my family moved. We ventured to a semi-suburban part of Georgia, where my parents opted for one of the older neighborhoods rather than the newer clusters of uniform homes. The neighborhood we selected—Ivy Cascades—possessed a haphazard layout, with the homes and
I swear on my dead father, this is an honest-to-God real story. It happened when I was 13. I remember the night clearly: It was cold, and it chilled me to the bone, and I will never forget it. I had run away again, and this time I was faced
The Laundromat Encounter Read More »
