The bitter cold gusts ripped through the thermal underwear he wore underneath his camouflage, biting into his very bones. He had climbed into his tree stand about thirty feet up a yellow-leaved cottonwood and had huddled with his knees to his chest to fight the freeze. As he scanned the […]
Staring at the clock, Brandon heaved a sigh as the digital numbers switched once again, marking the death of yet another minute as he sat outside the Sun Theater waiting for his girlfriend to get off her shift at the Flying Saucers bar. The gently humming engine of the older
It sounded like footsteps. When she was three, staring after the retreating back of a woman with a once-familiar smell, her young brain snapped at attention at a feeble noise behind her. She had turned then, getting even more tangled in the warm heavy blanket draped around her slender body,
This is not meant to scare anyone. Calling it a creepy story would be a bit of an insult, because it isn’t one. This is an expression of gratitude toward a friend, a friend who was always there for me. He watched over me as I was growing up and
I awoke to find myself in a darkened passageway. As I sat up from the dusty floor and rubbed my head, I realized I had no memory of who I was or how I got to this strange place. No matter how I got here, I felt I needed to
The Screaming Flail Read More »
In the town of Bisden, nobody leaves their home after dark. As soon as the sun begins to set — shutters are drawn shut, candles are snuffed out, and doors are locked tight. Before the moon is fully risen, the entire town appears deserted, and silence reigns supreme. “Did you
Children of the Moon Read More »
It’s been happening for about a month now. Whenever I stand in front of a reflective surface I see it behind me briefly before it disappears from view. I have no idea what it is, but it always manages to evade me whenever I look for it. When I first
Forgive me, as I am never sure where to begin telling a story. I never was a storyteller. I tend to include useless information and jump around. So I will do my best to do this story justice, considering it happened to me and the ones I love, changing us
Over the hill and through the moor, the candle man comes walking, up to your door. He lights up a candle and walks to your bed, leaves the candle in the window, and leaves with your head. That’s the nursery rhyme my grandma used to tell me when I was
I always get a little uncomfortable when the topic of the paranormal comes up, particularly when some people seem to be so adamant that ghosts simply can’t exist. I don’t attempt to convince them otherwise. As a matter of fact, I don’t share my experiences with them at all. This
My last memory was that of surviving a deadly Nazi airstrike. My head was groggy, still ringing from the shrapnel blast. I thank whatever god is out there that my helmet managed to deflect the hit. Shaking of the sensation, I got up on my feet and picked up my
Have you ever felt wanted, but by something you seriously did not want to be desired by? Perhaps someone is attracted to you, and you can’t get them to acknowledge your lack of interest. Maybe there’s someone at work that you don’t care for, but they always talk to you.
The Harbinger always went for the freaks. They were its favorite. It wanted ones that would fight back, and ones that wouldn’t be afraid at first; or, even better, ones that believed they could win. Those rare humans with bravado and confidence so great that they actually believed they could
Someone was in my kitchen last night. I moved to this apartment about a year ago, and I swear that I haven’t gotten a single good night’s sleep since then. Every day, it’s been the same: get up, shove some cheap crap down my throat, go to school or work,
Something Was in My Kitchen Last Night Read More »
You hear a lot of stories when you work in a truck shop. Sometimes it’s your fellow mechanics. They talk about that idiot driver who rolled in with half his brake chambers just dangling from their airlines, or the time they started a truck that had been sitting for a
The moment I stepped out of my house, I knew I had made a mistake. I could hear my mother crying on the other side of my front door, and the frigid air that filled the cold, October night felt particularly painful on my exposed skin. I had just decided
You Left Your Lights On Read More »
It started when I was nine. I had always had an active imagination, making up stories to get attention. One time when I was five I had been playing outside and I ran in and told my dad that a man had pulled up and asked me to get in
I never really liked my sister. I mean, of course, I love her, but we’ve never quite gotten along. It’s more than just that “sister rivalry” thing. Even as I stand here now on her front lawn, I guess I’m where I’ve always been with Madeline- torn, caught between two
I’m Not the Only Me Read More »
A girl named Philhandria with hair black and blue, and pretty eyes sparkling in the darkened sky’s hue, walked down a dirty road last night at quarter past ten, when a thing stumbled up and watched where she’d been. It sat by the roadside and leaned on a sign, rasping
Philhandria’s Follower Read More »
Back when we were six, my brother developed a notorious sleepwalking habit among his various other disorders. So much so that dad child proofed the doors to our room and closet (after an unfortunate pissing incident involving a soiled pile of clothes) so that when we were awake, we could
No Rhyme, No Reason, No Explanation Read More »
It was late October when my father told me that I would be going out hunting with him. I was thirteen, and this would be the first time I was allowed to join my father on one of his expeditions. Recently, some of our cows disappeared from our farm. A
There was once a very well behaved eight-year-old boy named Miles. He did all the things that good children are supposed to do, nearly all the time. He ate all his vegetables, unless they were carrots. He completed all of his school assignments, except for that one time he forgot
The Perfectly Behaved Boy Read More »
I was nine when it happened. I grew up in a small town of about 800 people, along the south side of the Rocky Mountains. Our town was surrounded by forest, and during the summer it was the location for our greatest adventures as children. The older kids would accompany
I got called out to Seal Cove on the coast about a year ago for duty. Small town on the coast, you know how it is. Maybe 700 people, tops. That’s including the ones who aren’t on paper. They told me I’d have a quiet eight months. Not much happens
