It was a rainy Saturday morning, and I could hear the rain tapping against my window. I looked up from my laptop and let out a soft sigh. The sound was somewhat annoying, yet also oddly soothing, and I thought it might help me focus on the history essay I […]
Isabella walked to the front of her grandmother’s casket. Her grandmother looked peaceful in her repose, wearing her favorite dress. Isabella guessed that she just didn’t understand what had happened. It felt as if she had just visited her grandma for afternoon tea not long ago, and then days later
The Brooks Brother’s Hardware store stood alone on its main street block. Chipped layers of white-washed paint contrasted the darkness inside the tall narrow windows. Faded posters advertising Case knives and hand tools hung in the ground level windows, but the only thing in the second story windows, was a
Brooks Brother’s Hardware Store Read More »
I learned very early that people are softer than they pretend. Not emotionally—physically. Socially. A human being is a structure held together by habits and assumptions, and habits collapse under pressure. Mine just happened to be… efficient. Skin-to-skin contact. That’s all it ever took. A handshake held a second too
I didn’t choose the dead minute. It chose me.The first time it happened, I was twelve, hiding in my bedroom while my parents screamed downstairs. Plates shattered. Something heavy hit the wall hard enough to shake dust from the ceiling. I remember staring at the clock, begging time to move
The month I had to spend every summer at a children’s camp was the most loathed period of the year for me. A place where children were supposed to rest, laugh, and socialize with their peers was, for me and the other wards of Clover Camp, hard labor. A tour
About one shift at Clover Camp Read More »
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin The road narrowed until it was no road at all, just mud and ruts that might have been paths once. The GPS had given up hours ago, but I kept
Where Trespassers Fade Read More »
“Why does a writer write? Because they must.” -Anton Richards These words have been repeating in my head for the last week. They pound in my brain like a jackhammer. They prevent my mind from resting and keep me awake at night. That is why I am here at 3am.
The Curse Of Imagination Read More »
We moved in right after Thanksgiving. It was right after my recently divorced Mom finally got her job promotion at work. It had been a long time coming but finally it was here. I was so deeply proud of her! It’s not easy for a single mom out there to
The Bells On Christmas Eve Read More »
The Tuscan villa was a postcard come to life, a sprawling stone residence nestled among rolling hills thick with cypress trees and the silvery-green olive groves. For Tom and Linda Patterson, a middle school teacher and an office manager, and their friends Mark and Jennifer Walsh, a retail manager and
My doctor gave me this journal to tell my story, since it’s easier to write it than to speak it. Dr. Henley says the act of writing might help me process what happened, might help me find some semblance of peace in this sterile white hell they call treatment. And
Lady Vermella’s piano was large and black. It was covered in a thick, feathery layer of dust. Its keys were turning yellow. It pounded out a strange, haunting melody every night under Lady Vermella’s fingers.Lady Vermella lived in an ancient manor on the top of a hill above the town
I haven’t slept properly in half a year.Not since the night they carried Mrs. Ellery’s body out of her apartment in a zipped black bag. She lived alone.She was quiet.Sometimes she baked too much bread and left warm slices at my door.And sometimes, late at night, she screamed. Everyone in
My Neighbour Keeps Screaming At Night. She’s Been Dead for 6 Months. Read More »
My name is Aaron Evans, and some time ago I was the reason twenty people lost their lives. I am writing this in part to confess to the world what I’ve done and to describe to everyone the horrific yet eye-opening experience that brought me to this point. Let me
1 I’ve never been the most sensible person. My mother would always tell me that I was “the dumbest smart person she knew”. I always figured that was just classic mom razzing, something that happened to every kid when they made some silly mistake that was easily avoidable. I recently
There were rules in our house that no one ever had to say out loud. Don’t speak when he’s drinking.Don’t look at her when she’s disappointed.Don’t cry where anyone can hear you.Don’t be noticed. Don’t be loud. Don’t be a problem. Silence kept us alive. It was the kind of
He Said He Would Protect Me Read More »
I’m just a college student who has come to Croftmire for anything but fun. So, why’d I come all the way from Montana here? Consider it a way to honor my friend from childhood; and as a way to get my head out of the pity I felt since my
If you’re reading this, you know what sorry state you have found me in. I pass on my condolences for whatever trauma I may have predisposed upon you, and it is with my deepest sympathies; for it is a fate that we shall undoubtedly come to share in kindred. However,
The Astronomer’s Painting Read More »
Kai couldn’t remember the last time he’d caught himself feeling truly frightened. He had watched all of the scariest movies he could find, devoured countless ancient tales of mystery and macabre, and even researched real-world accounts of ghostly sightings and unexplainable encounters. All of it bored him. Of course, he
I like to drive past spooky places.You can find them anywhere, if you know what to look for. An abandoned building, a mist covered field, a quickly darkening forest at sunset. It was one of my favorite pastimes as a teenager. The town I grew up in was a short
It all started last Monday. I received a call from his basketball coach. My son, Riley, had been acting more strangely than usual. He said my son had seemed to intentionally pop two basketballs alone in the locker room. I made my son play for the church league after school.
My son can’t stop humming the same tune and it’s starting to freak me out Read More »
My grandmother died at 3:33 AM on a Tuesday, and her TV wouldn’t turn off. Not wouldn’t—couldn’t. We unplugged it. We cut the power to her room. We even took a hammer to the screen, but it kept playing, the jagged cracks creating a kaleidoscope of images that shouldn’t exist.
I always thought the old TV in my grandmother’s attic was broken. It would never receive channels, only emit a hiss of static when you tried turning the dial. But last December, I discovered it wasn’t broken after all. The first time I ever laid eyes on him, I figured
I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my
