They don’t want me to win. If they wanted me to win they wouldn’t have fired me. If they wanted me to win they wouldn’t have sent me back out on the streets. They wouldn’t have taken away my girlfriend. They wouldn’t have taken away my fucking job. Now I
The roaring twenties became a different time for all of America as the economy took a massive plummet. The depression sank about every industry like a stone and families of every class felt the impact. Throughout the Hoovervilles set up around Riverbend, there was one man who seemed prosperous despite
The Legend of Carter Bale Read More »
It’s a simple tradition: for every night you receive a gift throughout the week of the fall equinox, you must leave a wildflower in exchange. This is what my sister, Kate, told me when I came to visit her in late September. She’d been living in a small town in
I found something I shouldn’t have, or maybe I should, I don’t know. I was helping my parents move out of their old house and into mine. Their house was about ten miles from the nearest town and even farther from a hospital. This scared me ever since the doctors
Tales From Port-land Read More »
The house sat empty at the top of the hill. Its security lights were a beacon in the night, like a lighthouse alone in the mist, warning ships away from the kiss of sharp shores. The closest neighbor was further away than a man could throw a rock, a fact
Salt in the Dark River Read More »
I left the university campus behind to do fieldwork in the Deep South. I was studying folk songs from southern states that had neither a time or place of origin nor a known composer. Those old songs that just seem to rise out of cultural folklore and evangelical mysticism like
He turns the steering wheel in different directions, taking different roads when he needs to. He needs to go through the woods to get to his destination. He’s confused, but not about that. What confuses him is why his sister is being so silent as she sits in the backseat.
This story happened when I was about 13 years old. It was a hot summer afternoon and my buddy and I were bored and looking for something to do. For the purposes of this story, I will refer to my friend as Hank. Hank’s older brother heard us talking about
The Spirit of Devil’s Curb Read More »
It started with three light knocks on our door. Tap, tap, tap. We seldom had visitors to our small apartment, especially not at this hour. “Are we expecting someone?” my wife asked. “No,” I said as I got up from our living room couch. I walked a few feet to our
If a Child With Black Eyes Comes to Your Door Do Not Let Them In Read More »
My name is Erika Stanton. You need to understand why I am posting this. The following are replicas of two posts that a friend of mine by the name of Alex Garvey made on a comics forum we both spent time on together. The posts were made in one of
I’m writing this tonight in desperation. I need help. I need answers. I have seen her for as long as I can remember. My earliest memory is even of her. I was gazing out of my classroom window and that’s when I saw her, standing towards the back of the
Mayuko’s Gameboy suddenly turned off. She rolled her eyes and let out a loud sigh: the stupid thing ran out of batteries, again. Mayuko shoved it inside her backpack and looked around. Surprisingly enough, the wagon was completely empty, aside from herself. Usually, the train would be full of exhausted
I’m going to tell you about a town—a town you should never go to. For your protection, I won’t tell you the name or location. But I’ll tell you this: if you ever think you might be in this town, get the hell out of there and don’t look back.
It had been six months since the accident. I remember because Elizabeth was helping me sign my name in our daughter Jenny’s birthday card. Slowly she guided by hand, helping me create some legible signature rather than the scribbles of a child in kindergarten, the best that I was able
We were having another lockdown drill when I found out about Holly Reyes. I was in Social Studies, third period, when Principal Weston’s muffled voice spat at us from the ceiling. We all sighed and ducked under the long tables, limbs shoving aside plastic chairs as we army-crawled into tucked
Every summer for a week, my grandparents would visit my family in New Orleans from Haiti. Making the nine-hour flight and thirty-minute drive from the airport to Norco. I loved seeing my grandfather. He told the scariest stories and my grandmother cooked the best food for everyone. My parents always
If You Can’t See It Read More »
My mother never let me look at the family photo albums. I never knew why. Whenever I asked, she would tell me that they were old and fragile, and would break if we got them down from the shelf. They were so high that I could never reach them as
I Found a Disturbing Photo in My Family Photo Album Read More »
Part One The plodding stench of dilapidated wood and animal urine brings the young Taylor Jenkins to consciousness. His eyes open and adjust to a dark interior, the sparse chandelier sparkling precariously above his head. The splintered wood creaks and digs into his back as he tries to move, but
Saturday This sounds absolutely idiotic. I know you’ve all heard this kind of thing before – someone thinks her house is haunted, everyone else assures her that she’s just paranoid, and all kinds of terror and gore follows. It’s the stuff of every campy, B-list horror movie. But I swear
There’s a Dead Girl in My Mirror Read More »
You know those people who you tell the time of events to 15 minutes early because you know they would be late? The ones who would be late to their own funerals, as the saying goes? Well, that’s me. Prepare as I might. I can never seem to get anywhere
Never Stop At Roadside Memorials Read More »
I was sitting in an AA meeting when I found the tooth in my pocket. This was two and a half weeks ago. I always hit the Saturday night meeting in the city – it’s fifteen minutes from the apartment I share with my girlfriend, but mostly I like the
I Found a Human Tooth in My Pocket Read More »
Mark is not my real name. I’m changing the names for others’ privacy too. I’ll tell you why I can’t sleep. You’ll find this a bit strange but I swear it’s all true. I’m friends with a guy, call him Bill, I worked with at the Crab House back in
The Shimmering Statue Read More »
“Man, that shift sucks!” I hear it all the time. I can understand why people say it; I used to think the same thing. I still do some days. I’m one of the lucky people that go to work while everybody else is sleeping soundly in their nice warm bed.
The Problem with the Drains Read More »
Ever since grade three, my friends and I could make Derek Zimmer believe anything. Anything. From Pop-Rocks and Coke will make your stomach explode; to earwigs actually burrow in your ears (and one’s on your shoulder right now!); to the typical urban legend of the babysitter and the killer upstairs
