When I joined the case at 47 County Street, I didn’t know what to expect. As a social worker, I see all kinds of screwed up things from child abuse, to children abusing their parents. Yet, when I got the reports from that household, I wasn’t expecting much. The initial letters we received were from …
âHoly shit! Is that what I think it is?â Brandonâs eyes widened into saucers and, despite being filled with an unabated rage towards his older brother just a few hours ago, Michael couldnât help but smile and nod at the expected reaction. Even with everything that had happened earlier in the day, he still hadnât …
Everyone has heard of the boogeyman. A creature, tall and dark who comes out at night and prays on fearful children. The story is a classic tale, one that every kid and their neighbor like to scare each other with during sleepovers. People have come up with several different versions of the story â like …
âNo, Mama! Mama, no! Please, Mama, donât let them take me! Iâll be good, I swear!â the girl screamed. Tears flowed from her eyes as she thrashed against the two-adult woman dressed in black. They held her arms firm and pulled her deliberately up a small set of stairs. âNow, now, young one, donât fret …
The top half of Councilman Jonesâ body hung by a steel cable looped around his neck and tied off to an old oak tree on one end. It was still dripping blood, bones and veins and torn bits of intestines dangling down where the legs should start. The cable was stretched through the air, over to an ash tree ten yards away from where the other half of the body was hanging by the legs.
âDonde Esta Santa Clausâ was blaring on the radio as Gary crossed over state lines into…somewhere. He lost track of where he was hours ago. Somewhere… midwesty. He was driving back East for Christmas. Too cheap to fly, he thought heâd take the opportunity to get to see America, the REAL America. Turns out, most …
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 didnât really mind, though. They made her happy and I liked spending time with her. She watched shows like Dora, Blueâs Clues, and Arthur. We often had a lot …
Writing never had been of any interest to Patric. Throughout his life, it was his older brother, Sean, who had been the creative and artistic one, while Patric quietly had assumed the role of the unknown introvert. But for years now thoughts and ideas had been filling Patricâs head in a constant war against his …
Erica hated the lack of hygiene. Erica absolutely despised unhygienic people. Just thinking about the slightest chance of her physically touching a âdirtyâ person chilled her spine. She refused to drink from another personâs cup. She avoided sharing food with others. She would be utterly disgusted by people who talk loudly, whilst sprinkles of food …
He turns the steering wheel in different directions, taking different roads when he needs to. He needs to go through the woods to get to his destination. Heâs confused, but not about that. What confuses him is why his sister is being so silent as she sits in the backseat. The time is currently 6:36, …
When I was twelve, I came to the conclusion that everyone in the world, including my own family, was against me. I was never a problem child, but my parents sure treated me like one. For example, I used to need to be home by 5:00 pm every day. This clearly restricted my amount of …
I was raised Evangelical. Miraculous healing, speaking in tongues, Godâs voice speaking through people, Jesus Camps, and Christian School. Yep. Christian School. My. Whole. Life. These were all realities to me- and my faith never wavered. You know what? That is a lie, and I cannot write that in good faith… no pun intended. My …
It started with three light knocks on our door. Tap, tap, tap. We seldom had visitors to our small apartment, especially not at this hour. âAre we expecting someone?â my wife asked. âNo,â I said as I got up from our living room couch. I walked a few feet to our front door and looked through …
If a Child With Black Eyes Comes to Your Door Do Not Let Them In Read More »
It was nothing new. Just a normal trip to the lake. My friends and I had gone to lake Thunderbird many times on weekends, it was our favorite retreat from college and family and everything else that stressed us. I was 19 at the time, fresh into college and fresh out of a bad place; …
Wednesday, July 12th, 2017 The dynamic of memory has confounded me for my entire life. Memory is itself a living being, eternally aging until it decays and fades away. Each memory lives through its life cycle. Full of vitality in birth and hollow and weak in death. Like the people in our lives, the existence …
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 didnât usually mind, though, and eventually, Mum saved up …
We were having another lockdown drill when I found out about Holly Reyes. I was in Social Studies, third period, when Principal Westonâs muffled voice spat at us from the ceiling. We all sighed and ducked under the long tables, limbs shoving aside plastic chairs as we army-crawled into tucked positions. Mrs. Loew shut the …
My name isnât really important, but for now, Iâll go by Monty. A little backstory, I grew up in a small town just outside of Hartford, Connecticut. Real nice place where everyone knew everyone, you never locked your doors, had a real charm to it. Nicest bunch of folks you could ever meet, really. We …
âCan we go on the roller coaster?â âSure we can,â Kent assured his son, whose eyes brimmed with hope and enthusiasm. Little Brian ran ahead towards the ride as his father walked quickly behind. It was one of those old, rickety coasters that wonât keep you from falling out unless you hold on for dear …
He hoped the tape recorder would still work. It was one of those small portable ones often used in schools or libraries. Teddy didnât even realize the irony of his action. Angie was, in fact, the one who had bought it for him.
You know those people who you tell the time of events to 15 minutes early because you know they would be late? The ones who would be late to their own funerals, as the saying goes? Well, that’s me. Prepare as I might. I can never seem to get anywhere on time. It’s the most …
Here is the journal I kept during my time at The Ash House. At times I was unable to write, so some entries are recorded by memory. At the time of this journal, I had just been dropped off to the Ash House by my old parents. This journal spans somewhere between 2002 and 2003 …
It was cold. Cold and dark. Thatâs all I could feel when I stared into the black abyss, that made up its eyes. There was a tingling sensation in my feet, that slowly rose up in my body like panic trapped inside of me. I felt changed. I donât know what he was doing to …
The spring flu had been going around the school like usual, but some people were sicker than normal. They didnât just have fever and headache â their faces were blotchy, their eyes bulged, and they all wheezed like theyâd just run up ten flights of stairs without stopping. Cara McCormack was the first one who …
