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 »
I felt it that day, something in the air wasn’t right. The morning heat was setting in, and the bugs were eating us alive. The men were tense as the sun rose on another godforsaken day. We had been up on nightwatch and hadn’t had a moment of proper rest
Things Best Left Buried Read More »
On March 1st, 1992, a co‑worker at a health insurance office in Sydney brought something into work that none of us had ever seen before. He came in early, before most of the staff arrived, and sat down in the break room with his personal photo book in his hands.
People have always said that I was good. Not nice, not kind, just good. Like it was just something they told me even before I could talk. People trusted me way too fast. It doesn’t even make sense how fast it happens. They look at me and something just clicks
People Say I’m Good Read More »
We moved into the flat above the butcher’s two months ago. It was a step down from our old place; John lost his good job and we had to make adjustments. The place wasn’t exactly the Ritz, but it functioned. The wallpaper popped and flaked when you scraped a nail
The Floor is Sticky Read More »
I was born on a small cabbage farm just outside of Racine, Wisconsin on April 14, 1900. The lone son of two God-fearing German immigrants, I was raised on hard work, religious reverence, and teetotalism.My parents first moved to the United States in August of 1898 with the hopes of
Jason watched the hands of the clock ticking. The hour hand was moving to nine o’clock. The hour he dreaded so much. His eyes darted around the room. In the corner his blue lava lamp cast fleeting shadows that resembled dogs, silhouettes and long-fingered hands, prancing and clawing up and
The Eyes of the Angel Read More »
The first time I dreamed of Rose, I didn’t think it mattered. I’m not the kind of person who reads into dreams. I’m practical, tired, the sort of man who forgets to eat and forgets to water plants until they die quietly. I don’t believe in signs. I believe in
It was October 1st of 1967, and the campus of Montauk University sat quiet and still in the new morning hours. The sky was dark, street lamps bright, and all students living on campus were asleep. Except, of course, for two figures who sauntered down the sidewalk towards the campus
Year after year, after year. Resolutions are made and broken in moments. “I’ll start tomorrow.” “I have plenty of time to finish.”“Oh well, I’ve already failed. Might as well try again next year.” It’s the same every single time. People make their resolutions or their “goals” for the New Year.
Breaking Resolutions Read More »
Most people think of the dark when they imagine where monsters hide. They fear the shadows, the closets, the space beneath the bed where the sun doesn’t reach. They are wrong. The worst things don’t hide in the dark. They hide in the light. Specifically, they hide in the refraction.
DO YOU KNOW what nitrogen hypoxia is? It’s how I’ve chosen to die. Our state is the sixth to adopt this method, behind Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. Some human rights advocates and medical experts consider it cruel and unusual punishment tantamount to torture. However, haven’t they said as
I Lead a Death Cult Read More »
I still remember the night it happened. I was nine. We were driving home from my grandma’s house late, rain pounding the windshield so hard the wipers couldn’t keep up. Dad was humming along to the radio, Mom was half-asleep in the passenger seat. Then the truck came out of
It seemed as if I were awakening from a dream when I snapped to in the middle of the sidewalk, stopping in my tracks while people behind me yelled as they bumped into me. The cold winter air brushed my cheeks, yet that was the only thing that seemed familiar.
The air was foggy, so much so I was barely able to see my hand before my eyes. The mist surrounding me was dense and the heat added to my pleasurable experience. I took the highest seat, my favorite and I was alone. The solitude was thoroughly enjoyable, something I
My wife had been on me about my weight for a while. Said I needed to start taking my health seriously — “for our children,” whatever that means. I didn’t argue. I just started going to the gym after work. Seemed easier than fighting about it. She was so happy
My Watch Thinks I’m Nameless Read More »
The woman arrived precisely at four in the afternoon. By then, the wind had been hammering the inn for hours, long enough that I’d actually considered calling it a day, asking James to cover the rest of my shift, and fleeing before the weather got any worse. My wife was
I sipped the fruity wine, hoping it would help to calm my nerves. It had been a long time since I had last been on a date, and I didn’t want it to be too obvious. I let my eyes wander the room of the small pub, taking in the
It’s What’s Inside That Counts Read More »
Lucy was good at hide-and-seek. Maybe even the best. Other children were always hiding in the most obvious places—a closet, under the car, behind the sofa. But Lucy knew better spots. She hid in the shadows, almost in plain sight, where the seekers’ eyes simply failed to deliver the message
1 – The Rosebud I wake up to sunlight.A heavy, warm stripe of it is lying across my face, the kind that comes through high windows in the late afternoon. It is bright enough that it forces my eyes open, and for a moment I don’t know where I am.
She stopped as her legs ached from hours of walking. She had come far. Very far. The day and night seemed to intertwine; never being distinct if there could be said to be a circadian movement in the subtly shifting grey above at all. There did seem to be very
In the darkest parts of man’s subconscious lies the understanding that existence is two phased. What most don’t recognize is the space between being and not. Between the spaces of life exists a world where the veil has been skewed to the point of dissolution. Every time that something goes
The Ignorant Canary Read More »
The house is bigger than I expected. I knew they’d be posh, or they couldn’t afford a nanny in the first place. But they have fancy agencies for that sort of thing now; someone with this sort of money doesn’t need to advertise on a Facebook group. I fold the
12th June Marie picked up the last of her stuff today. I’d hoped that some of the tension would have dissolved with time apart, but she wouldn’t even look at me. Just dropped her key in the bowl by the door and checked I had the right bank details to
The Hand That Feeds You Read More »
