The scene was gruesome. As if I had walked not inside an apartment in Pune, but a Hollywood horror movie set. The plain white floor tiles were drenched in blood, and the peach walls streaked with red. Shards of broken mirror lay dispersed on the floor intermixed with round dull […]
It’s been about a month now that Kenny’s been gone. Three weeks and five days to be exact. He left in his pirogue one night just after sunset to go frogging and never came back. Man just up and disappeared like a fart in the wind. Now, it’s just me
I live alone in a houseboat on the bayou. Something’s been tapping at the hull at night. Read More »
The moon hung low over the sleepy town of RidgeWater Creek, its faint glow barely penetrating the dense forest on the outskirts. As I stepped out of my car, my boots crunched against the gravel road, carrying me toward the cordoned-off crime scene. The red and blue strobes of police
I’m a Cop, and My Town Is Dying in Ways No Autopsy Can Explain Read More »
As a kid, it took everything I had not to paint the inside of my family’s car with a wave of vomit. My carsickness was the bane of our long road trips. We tried dozens of tricks to minimize the Jackson Pollocks I created on our car windows. Books, movies,
I Made Him Up For Company on Long Car Rides, Now He Follows Me Everywhere Read More »
“Hi!” I walked into the room and waved at the beautiful dark-haired woman sitting in front of me. Her pale features stood out starkly against her dark brown dress and the maroon wall behind her. She looked up, and a smile instantly spread across her face, revealing dimples on both
The sun was slowly setting behind us, painting the sky in dull shades of gray and yellow, as the cold wind blew. Teresa walked with her head down, silent, right behind me. Mathias Santiago walked beside me, holding his AK-47 as if it were an extension of his own body.
WHERE IS my daughter? I need her to come and say goodbye. Cancer isn’t the only thing eating me alive. My son-in-law John is standing next to me, as are my granddaughters Chandra and Kendra, but where on earth is Cheryl? She should be here, but I don’t see her.
1 – The Train I can’t say why I was chosen to ride the shadowlands express. Why me, and not the countless others who have sinned during their mortal lives? Perhaps all will be forced to face their demons in the end – I can’t say for sure. But clearly
The Shadowlands Express Read More »
When Jacob Housley turned up dead, it didn’t take long for me to hear about it. Just about everyone knew everyone, back in the old town, and I was more than familiar with the Housleys. Well, I used to be, anyway. Jacob was one of my fathers closest friends–almost an
Phil had excellent hearing. He could, for example, hear Mrs. Polsgrove’s cat clawing at discarded tuna cans in her recycling bin two streets away. He heard Lisa’s feet tromping off mud and rocks. He recognized the jerky swish and scrape of a carryall being emptied of evidence. Phil heard many
The Rose and the Open Window Read More »
WHAT IF you think your sibling is trying to kill you? Let me explain. I’m Chandra Edwards, sixteen years old, birthday May 28, high school sophomore, identical twin. I live in Montrose, the dullest small town that ever existed. My parents are realtors, the successful founders and owners of Homes
When the ocean called to my mother, I had just turned 17. A month later, when life became too excruciating for him to go through without her, my estranged father turned to the comforts of booze to soothe his sorrows. I thought our relationship couldn’t get worse. He was a
The following are journal excerpts taken from four in-resident counselors working a summer camp in coastal Georgia (c.2012). All entries are transcribed wholly and completely unfiltered. * James – 7/1/2012 This is a log of repeated occurrences from Tortoise Cabin (location—across the estuary from counselor quarters). Desc. For many, many
Having something you can’t control is difficult. That’s what I was thinking the other day when a coworker asked me if I had any experience sitting kids. I do. On top of being a full-time babysitter most of my teenage years, I had to put up with the shenanigans of
One need not be a chamber to be haunted, One need not be a house; The brain has corridors surpassing Material place. ― Emily Dickinson What does a madman’s mind look like from the inside? Does it look like an empty house with vandalized masonry, broken gates, cracked cement pathways
The Nevada heat rippled off the asphalt, distorting the long, empty road ahead. I wiped sweat from my brow and adjusted the camera strap around my neck, squinting at the horizon. No sign of the fox. No sign of anything, really. I should’ve been writing a real story—something that actually
If You Ever Stop in Ashbrook, Don’t Ask About the Children Read More »
Every flashlight in Moreau Bay scoured the forest for my missing wife, Jemma. All except his. His light pointed to the open water and lit a path to his strange little island about a kilometer from the coast. Two weeks passed with no signs of her and all I thought
I Went Undercover to a Body Farm Read More »
The Advertisement“Lookout wanted. For more information, call 1-800-200-2230” My eyes scanned the sentence thoroughly. The ad intrigued me, I never was one meant for city life. However, for the past four years that’s exactly what my life had been. Just another cog in the machine, wasting away at a desk
When I was ten years old, my brother came home to die on a frigid day in January. Purple lesions ravaged the skin that barely covered his bones. He looked an awful lot like a skeleton, unlike the friendly visitor I had come to know over my short lifetime. My
People Don’t Die. They Hide. Read More »
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 »
