It’s been about seven months since I signed my year long lease for this shithole apartment. I don’t think I’ll be making it another five months. I’m not sure if I’ll even make it another night. My cheapness might’ve cost me my life. I was going to make this a […]
I Found an Extra Light Switch in My Apartment Read More »
My name is Joseph. I’m a 25-year-old living in Wisconsin. Around three years ago, when I was about to turn 22, I had a free evening after work and texted my two best friends, Ben and Max, to see if they wanted to play something. We started pretty late, around
Something is Imitating My Friends Read More »
According to the official police reports, there was never a rescue team searching Blackridge Forest the night my friends disappeared. No park rangers. No volunteers. No emergency dispatch calls. Nothing. But something found us out there. And it knew exactly how humans were supposed to look. My name is Jason
I Followed the Wrong Rescue Team in Blackridge Forest Read More »
They call her the queen of mischief at King City High School—a title she earned with little effort. No one matched her audacious, rule-breaking nature. Fear held everyone back, for good reason. She didn’t dread getting caught, being exposed, or facing what terrified others. The absence of fear was what
Don’t Trust the Ones Who Protect You Read More »
I — THE GREAT AWAKENING HAS ARRIVED “Where do you live, man?” I asked, reaching out to grab the Skol can left by the window. “Cuiabá.” “Man… that’s a beautiful city.” “You’ve been there?” “Yeah. Made a lot of deliveries in the capital.” “So why do you want to go
I am certain that my fascination with the gone and forgotten stems from my own fear of impermanence. Leaving something behind when I am gone is of utmost importance to me, so I have dedicated my life to preserving and sharing the legacies and lives of others who have passed.
Mr Conrad’s Final Tale Read More »
The highway above groaned with morning traffic, and Greg woke to it the way most people wake to an alarm, grudgingly and with his whole body fighting the process. His tent was a single-person backpacking model with a broken zipper, held shut with a braid of zip ties he’d threaded
A Needle In The Vein Read More »
I have been lucky enough to have lived a relatively full life. I have travelled far and wide – from the rainy cobbled streets of London to the jagged peaks of northern Thailand. Along the way, I made many friends and enjoyed careless flings with temporary lovers before they all
I Found My Friend in the Woods Read More »
The fluorescent hum was the first thing to burrow into John’s skull. It wasn’t just a sound; it was a physical sensation, a microscopic vibration against the membrane of his eardrum that signaled the end of a fourteen-hour shift. The Sterling-Hallows Financial Tower was a monolith of glass and steel,
The Concrete Helix Read More »
It was summer 1997 when I moved to Evansville, Colorado. It was supposed to be a pit stop, a cheap place along my route, hopefully to make some money to take me the rest of the way to California. I had some friends living in San Francisco that I’d planned
I had not known initially what to make of the pile of mucus and flesh that befell my doorstep as winter arrived. Snow had yet to begin, but cutting gusts of frigid air whalloped my front door to be let in, only allowed to when the mail went too long
The chirping of a blue bird woke Robert out of his blank eyed stare. His eyes refocused, as his old hands went to rub them back into reality. Their disappointed scowl still staring bluntly ahead. Robert found himself sitting on his porch. He was fatter and older than he ever
My aunt left me her place on Hensel Lake when she died last September. I had visited once as a boy and remembered almost nothing about it, so I drove up alone on a Friday afternoon to see what I had inherited. The road in was a dirt track with
The dying rays of evening bleed across the horizon, leaving behind fleeting kisses as the sun departs until the morrow. In its absence, a vast congregation of trees gathers around us, casting long shadows in their wake-offering a fragile refuge where predator and prey wait in silence. “Mommy? Are we
The camera didn’t look like something that should still work. Didn’t feel right from the start. When my sister handed me that box on my birthday, I could tell it’d be a pile of garbage. She’d always been a cheapskate, the woman can’t walk past a yard sale without stopping.
Followers of the Flaming Hand Read More »
The day was edging toward dusk, the sun casting long shadows across the backyard. I remember the cicadas’ hum filling the air, marking the middle of summer, a relentless reminder of what should have been carefree days. I am posting this because I need help, and someone else might have
Looking to Kill a Dog Read More »
Entry 1: Phonemes There is something peculiar about Phillip, one of my 9th graders. He used to be exceptional at English. I am an English as a foreign language teacher in Germany and I taught the same class last year, and that means I already know him well. But after
The Language that spreads Read More »
DIVICORE TECHNOLOGIESInternal Maintenance & Operations SystemDocument Type: Maintenance LogAccess Level: Internal Use Only – MAINTENANCE LOG 0216Date: 02-23-2026Time: 16:42Department ID: SI-PNW-04Employee: Boris MorozovEmployee Number: 4471Division: Server InfrastructureRank: Senior Maintenance TechnicianLog Type: Incident Report Today’s failure rate for RAM units across the floor has doubled compared to the daily average. I
A Fire In The Server Read More »
Zoe had not left her apartment in almost four months. The last time had been a Thursday, a trip to her primary physician to check up on a worrying rash that was developing on her calf. Her father had given her a ride. She had to stare at the patterns
A Frog In The Terrarium Read More »
ASYNC INTERNAL DOCUMENT Interview & Field Report — Case File 23-DELTA Prepared by: Senior Archivist T. CaldwellSubject: Wanderer Designation WD-041 (“Carla”)Status: Recovered / Stable / CooperativeClassification: LEVEL 2 — RESTRICTED CIRCULATION**Date of Report Compilation: [REDACTED] — PREAMBLE This document consolidates findings from three separate interview sessions conducted over the course
Case File 23-DELTA (leaked) Read More »
Most of my childhood was spent in the same 20 square miles of forest, somewhere in the Appalachian wilderness. I lived there with my mom in this cabin she claims to have built with her own two hands. I believed her for a while, though now, I’m fairly certain she
I Wasn’t Allowed to See My Face Read More »
No one ever talks about the sounds. They talk about the body.They talk about the wire.They talk about the eyes.But no one talks about the sounds.Because if they did… they’d understand it wasn’t just a killing.It was a sermon. Before the cornfield…Before the crows learned his name…There was a man
The Last Sermon of Malachi Read More »
Detective Flynn entered the building and was instantly met by fellow detective Terry. “What’s the situation?” Flynn asked him as they walked briskly. “Still refusing to talk… said he won’t talk to anyone about it,” Terry answered. They got to the interrogation room and Terry opened the door. There were
My father committed suicide when I was six years old. When you’re that young, you don’t really understand much beyond the fact that Daddy is never coming back home. And that mommy will never be the same again. She was always a drinker, but when Dad died, it increased tenfold.
The House I Squatted In Never Existed Read More »
