One last crimson heart. That’s all there was. John stood in the storage closet-like room, barely breathing. The only light was a sliver from the hallway and a flickering incandescent bulb strung up in the center of the room. Directly under the fleeting yellow light sat a green box atop […]
One Last Crimson Heart Read More »
I can’t fall asleep. Not for the reason you may think. This isn’t “I ate too much before bed, and now I can’t stop trying to try to fall asleep”- no. I am incapable of sleep. I have chosen to reject sleep. This is not my life spiraling into chaos.
An Open Letter to Those Deprived of Sleep Read More »
When Matt originally proposed the idea, I thought he was joking. Crash a wedding? Like in the movies? Pull a Vince Vaughn? I loved the idea, but the thought of actually sneaking into a random wedding to pick up chicks, well… it just wasn’t possible. Someone would realize we didn’t
Time, everything was taking too much time. Cassius crushed the elevator button into the wall, continuing to press it repeatedly. His eyes stayed glued to the numbers above the doors. Despite the abuse he inflicted to the button, the numbers lit up at a snail’s pace from each number to
Sitting in what might have been a graveyard, Tom was buried deep inside his head, playing the keys of his laptop. The uptown café saw less than a handful of customers the past few hours; not many people went out for late night coffee during a storm. Tom had to
The stillness wakes me. Not that pleasant quiet after a winter snow, or the comfortable silence of a sleeping house, but a heavy blanket of non-sound, as if even the air was afraid to stir. I lay in bed, barely breathing, straining to catch even the slightest movement. Nothing. Slowly
Face Mask Required Read More »
In light of recent events, I think it is my public duty to share what I know about this case and the person it pertains to, patient confidentiality be damned. My name is Doctor Ian Liang. I am a psychiatrist at the St. Christina Institute for the Mentally Disturbed in
“Did you see that?” “Hmm?” “There’s an animal in the lake,” I took off my sunglasses and sat up, looking at where she pointed at to see small ripples breaking the water’s calm surface. “What did it look like?” I asked Rosalba. “It looked like a crocodile’s head,” “It must
Paradisal Sequence Read More »
For as long as I could remember, my Uncle Chet was always a strange fellow. I can still imagine him clearly, even after all these years. He was a gaunt, chestnut-haired saturnine man with features that spoke of late nights and childhood malnourishment. He was spacey, spoke very little unless
Fear is only as deep as the mind allows, was my mother’s favorite idiom. Growing up, she never hesitated to use it against my childish fits, whether I was upset about sleeping alone in my bed or trying to convince her there was an Oni in the closet. It was
Where the Caterpillars Die Read More »
In my youth, I found myself fascinated by my father’s line of work. I would jump up when I saw him arrive home with his bag, and sprint to him with boyish excitement, begging and bargaining for the right to watch him. He never said yes, of course, because no
The Taxidermist’s Son Read More »
They’ve killed you three times now, but you’re still standing. The first one was an annoying butcher who planted his cleaver in your skull. He came creeping up from behind, and before you knew it, a blade was deeply embedded in your brain. Within the hour, you were stumbling around
The crowd roared from behind the barricades. Slips of paper and bank notes waving about in their greasy hands. Little flags of fortune that would either be raised or burnt. Many were laughing and drinking from unlabeled bottles, others were shouting encouragement or insults, whilst some were stubbing their cheap
Nothing bad could possibly happen to me today. I got the job I wanted and now I’m sending you some of that good luck. Whoever you are, you could probably use it. I’ve got a busy day ahead of me and not a lot of time to chat but from
A few years back, I worked as a nurse in the geriatric unit of the hospital in my hometown. There was one old woman there with pale blue eyes whose mind was still fantastically sharp, and her desire to socialize and make new friends set her apart from most others
No Eyes, No Tongue, No Fingertips Read More »
There was nothing strange about Amber. She wasn’t too tall or too short. She was of average height and weight. She wasn’t ugly but she wasn’t pretty either and her grades, although passing, were never top marks. She lived in an average house, with an average family, in an average
I usually like to watch TV with my little sister, Kimberly. She was only five, so of course, she watched all the cutesy kids’ shows. I didn’t really mind, though. They made her happy and I liked spending time with her. She watched shows like Dora, Blue’s Clues, and Arthur.
Officer Sparrow walked down Jenkins street in a stride of confidence, though was trying to hide her strong authority beneath a mask of indifference. She was wearing her casual clothes and a thin face of makeup, fit for a Saturday night raver, or a particularly plain Sunday night hooker. Her
I started working as a morgue attendant the same September that most of my friends entered college. I’d applied to a few public schools, but I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and the thought of sitting in a classroom made my knees bounce with
Watching TV has always been one of our favorite things to do. In the early years, this proved difficult. Remus, being the stronger of our halves, would pull me until the remote was always within reach of his arm and out of that of mine. I didn’t usually mind, though,
The Two-Headed Boy Read More »
My first love was Misty from Pokémon. Those legs, that sass, she was absolutely perfect. No one else could ever compare. When I played the games, I’d hang around her gym and pretend that we were on a date. I built my team to be strong against her weaknesses so I could always protect her. I used to fantasize that she’d become intrigued by me when I had beaten her. That she’d become obsessed and fallen head over heels in love with me. It was just a silly fantasy, but I enjoyed it when I was younger.
It had been six months since the accident. I remember because Elizabeth was helping me sign my name in our daughter Jenny’s birthday card. Slowly she guided by hand, helping me create some legible signature rather than the scribbles of a child in kindergarten, the best that I was able
He hoped the tape recorder would still work. It was one of those small portable ones often used in schools or libraries. Teddy didn’t even realize the irony of his action. Angie was, in fact, the one who had bought it for him.
The rain had barely relented. Jon looked out the sixth story window again, away from his TV flickering a save screen. Between the raindrops streaking the window, Jon could still see the guy that lived in front of his apartment building. The man’s name was Ted, and he seemed like
