Jonathan Lynch’s Skype session with his mother was in five minutes. He had to admit he missed her; he hadn’t been able to visit his tiny hometown in years. In fact, he missed contact with anyone, seeing as his current city had been under lockdown for fourteen consecutive months. Fortunately, …
Normally, I don’t pick up hitchhikers. By rule I don’t think it’s worth worth the risk when, if someone truly needs a ride, they can call an Uber or Lyft and be off in ten minutes. However, while on a quick snack run last month, I made the mistake of …
It’s been an hour now and she hasn’t found a thing. She’s heard so many rumors about this old factory and all the things that have happened here since it closed down. She’s still intrigued about why it closed, or more specifically, the lack of reason. Apparently one day the …
My years of school have finally come to an end. With that in mind, I wanted to enjoy myself as much as I could before coming to grips with the rigors of adult life. After all, I did bust my ass within those four years just to earn a worthless …
Read part one here Read part two here Read part three here Read part four here Sometimes, you have time to introspect in life or death situations. Most of the time, however, your mind blanks and your body moves without thinking. I screamed and surged forward, but before I …
Day 1 Alright, this is day one of seclusion for me. My therapist recommended that I get away for at least a week to try and get my shit together. He also suggested that I keep a journal of my time in voluntary isolation to keep track of my progress. …
Read part one here Read part two here Read part three here “I want to stay here.” Salem’s announcement was met with silence from everyone settled around York’s small dining room table. There wasn’t enough room for all of us, so Dallas and Violet were perched on bar stools …
Every other weekend I make it a habit of mine to visit Janine’s Mercantile, an indoor flea market located on the outskirts of the town I have called home my whole life. Summershore, Wyoming. Whoever named this town must’ve had a great sense of humor, too bad it doesn’t keep …
Read part one here Read part two here He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know. He couldn’t know… Right? I have always thought that, when faced with a killer, I would confront them. I would attempt to incapacitate such a monster and turn them into the police to ensure they …
The days all started with the briefing room—a wall-to-wall palette of aged pastels and stark, hospital grayness. In the center of our little room, an oval-shaped table dominated the space with every seat filled with a tired nurse. From one of the windows, a bar of morning light often slipped …
Read part one here Cold. It comes on quickly at first, but slowly creeps over your entire body until an agonizingly comfortable numbness spreads over you, and finally you freeze to death. Sometimes, however, it is the only thing that keeps you from passing out in sheer panic. My lungs …
I’ve often heard that the hardest part of every journey is the first step. When you are trying to find the motivation to write your story, staring into an endless white void that demands to be filled, that is definitely the case. That paralyzing feeling was exactly what I felt …
I’ve been writing stories for as long as I can remember. Ever since I first learned to write, I would always have a notebook and a pencil by my side. It still surprises me nowadays when I walk past a bookstore and I see my own novel in the window. …
The night was quiet. The cool breeze came and went, like the breath of a sleeping child. But I was not peacefully asleep, as the murmur had begun again. It had been going on for a few months now. We had moved in to our new home last year, and …
The most worrying part of the whole experience was that this isn’t something that happened in a strange place. It wasn’t too dark outside; it certainly wasn’t cold. Everything was normal, ALMOST everything… Our flat in East London was surprisingly big, given our budget and the reputation of the area. …
Hello Grandma, I am currently writing to you because I’m afraid that you are the last of my relatives who I believe will be willing to hear my story. You are the only one who will believe me, and right now, you are the only one who can help me. …
If like me you identify as an introvert and consider yourself as something of a misanthropist, you’ve probably dreamt at one point or another of escaping to a deserted island somewhere and living in peace and solitude, free from the stresses of the modern world. The fantasy of running off …
‘I am an Irish Ghost Hunter. My last investigation almost cost me everything.’ Read More »
A couple weeks ago I ran into a cousin I haven’t seen in years. He is much older than me, and closer to my dad’s age than my own, but I remember seeing him often when growing up. Melvin was the black sheep of the family, he had a couple …
Coffee Man is the only one who says he can see them. Other inmates have stayed up dead into the night, pressing their ears to the concrete of the floor or the walls, slipping their hands through the bars and waiting for something to touch them in the darkness, and …
Everybody loves the woods, until they follow you home. When my father came back from the military, we bought our first house—a boxy, two-story affair on the woodsy outskirts part of town. I was twelve, going on thirteen then. Our neighborhood was a little off the beaten path, nestled somewhere …
I failed and, now, I don’t know what to do. To clarify, I write about and, sometimes, perform popular rituals I find online. Yeah, it’s kind of a stupid hobby, but I thought it was fun. I even made money from recording some of them and posting them on YouTube. …
My brother shut the door of our apartment with a long, exaggerated sigh. He walked right to the fridge to grab two tall Bud Lights from the fridge: one for him and one for me. “Tough day at work?” I said. “Same as every day.” He drank half of his …
In a small town, nestled in an old quiet neighborhood, there is a house. On the front lawn stands a white sign with metal stakes. The words painted on it announce to the few cars that pass by that the house will soon be for sale. Many of the properties …
The first time I caught the night bus was pure chance. I’d heard the legends of course, we all had. Urban legends are a big thing where I live. I suspect its partly because I hail from an unremarkable and frankly dull provincial city that has little else going for …
