I put on my running shoes with springs, designed to cushion the impact on the ground. It was my nightly ritual, something I did every single day without fail: running to the neighboring town, keeping my body busy and my mind free of thoughts. It was almost five o’clock, and […]
The blood dripped down the chest of the woman, her body limp in my arms. My teeth released her neck, leaving behind two dots of red. I let her fall to the ground, her thick clothes muffling the thud. The life I had taken now reverberated within my sterile veins.
All the Legends Say So Read More »
Mike and his mother Sarah lived in a sharply white two-story house about eight miles from the city and half a mile away from a red diner which worked throughout the week and the weekend. The house was adjacent to naught else but the road and the forest. Mike was
The Man in the Attic Read More »
When I first moved out on my own, my mom handed me a small, weathered recipe book. Its cover was cracked and faded, the pages yellowed with age. She held it out to me with both hands, her expression soft and serious. “Take care of this,” she said, her voice
I remember the day I found it as if it were yesterday. The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows across the flea market on the outskirts of our quaint little town. It was the kind of day where everything seemed still, the heat lingering, pressing
The Blood Moon Rising Read More »
My eight-year-old daughter’s screams pierce the quiet night as I check the time on my watch; it reads 10:12 pm. Anxious, I make my way to her bedroom and push the door open, flicking on the light switch. There she is, sitting up in bed, tears streaming down her face.
Mr. Chickenhead Man Read More »
It didn’t look fun. It looked like quite the opposite. Standing in front of me was a large funhouse. Chipped and faded paint coloured it’s exterior. I had lost my friends in the endless stream of people walking around the Halloween festival. The smell of candy corn and other sweets
Reflection of The Senses Read More »
Ten people. Ten people in ten different places doing ten different things, but all sharing one single thought… “What if it really works?” You see, in our little town of Sawnhurst, California, there was an age old tradition tied to a myth so old that is origins were not remembered
My parents died in a car crash on their way home from dropping me off my freshman year at Stanford. I never got the chance to call and tell them I was all settled in. They lay bleeding out in the street, while I was decorating my room in crimson.
The Things We Do for Family Read More »
It was the last thing I remembered before my dad’s passing. The first time I saw it. I was eight years old at the time. It was dark outside my bedroom window and my eyes had a familiar burn. Tears dampened my young cheeks. My breath stuttered as it visited
The Puppet Theater in My Attic Read More »
I was eighteen at the time. I’d just graduated high school, and what was probably a really exciting and memorable time for most people was a stressful race against time for me. You see, my dad was very traditional; if I were going to be living in his house after
Memories of the Graveyard Shift Read More »
Liam looked down, shaking as he glared at the blood encrusted on his hands. It was not his own. The infernos of the destruction before him were nailed into his brain. He felt lost and confused. He did not mean to do it; he was just tired of the pain
My friend Sam has always been troubled… the sort of kid you knew would go down the wrong path and wind up in the news. I remember when the story about Daniel Petric came out. He was that teen who, back in 2007, took his father’s gun from a safe
My best friend boasted it’s easy to get away with murder.… Read More »
As I write this, I’m sobering up from the bender to end all benders. It would be safe to say that I’ve finally hit rock bottom. For so many years I’ve attempted to drown my sorrows with alcohol, drugs and one-night stands, but finally I’ve realised that I can’t escape
I grew up in a small town with a bizarre annual ritual Read More »
The YouTube narrator leaned forward in his computer chair and opened a new email submission from a listener. It read; Hello, my name’s Gina. The following events took place when I was a sheriff’s deputy many years ago, living in a small Texan town on the border with Mexico. I
When you’re asked to rate a person, irrespective of how crass that request is, you expect to be rating an individual who, though they can be offended or hurt by your assessment, will move on from the exchange relatively unscathed. Especially when you’re still in college, you never expect any
The night was suffused with a bone-chilling mist that clung to the abandoned streets of Crestwood. Detective Ryan Brooks stepped out of his car, his breath forming wispy clouds in the frigid air. The disappearances from the morgue had confounded the entire town—bodies vanishing without a trace, leaving only unanswered
The head in the wall was crusted and decayed, mummified in its plastic shroud, the withered face open-mouthed in a scream—or maybe the jaw had loosened as the muscles decayed. The plastic is what held in the smell, though I do vaguely remember sometimes an odor permeating, especially during steamy
The Children in my House’s Walls Read More »
I remember well when I came across the strange sequence of events in the odd case of the cellar underneath the Winemaker’s shop. The things I saw that night, I fear I will never forget, nor come to peace with. However, with the strength of my faith and my understanding
The Copper, the Collar, and the Glimmering Blade Read More »
My hand was resting on my thigh, nervously caressing a little box tucked away neatly in a corner of my pocket. My date for the evening was sitting on the other end of the table and was animatedly talking on the phone. Well, not my date exactly – Chloe and
I stumbled into a gang initiation, and now I about to become their victim Read More »
The cool autumn air filled the lungs of Detective Josh Gaines as he exited his patrol car and walked to the front entrance of the Buckingham Funeral Home. Gaines was a 17-year veteran of the Helmer County police department and a lifelong resident of the small Indiana town of Darby.
The Mystery in Darby Read More »
As Tabitha stalked down the sidewalk on her way home, she scanned her path intently. Not only was she diligently avoiding stepping on the cracks in the concrete – her older brother, Tommy, had told her several times that would bring bad luck – but she was on the lookout.It
“You know, it wasn’t always like this, Clarice.” “Who’s Clarice?” she asked delicately. “And how is it different now, Seth?” “Well, it used to be— used to be a lot quieter.” Seth turned his head and stared through her face. “Remember? Before the owls, Clarice.” She smiled. “Seth, I’ve told
People kept going missing from my town over the last couple of years. Their mangled remains were all that were ever found of them (if anything was found at all), and many thought that some sort of large predator was to blame. I guess that in the end, they weren’t
