It was my fifth day in Gloaming, Nevada – an unincorporated township skirted on all sides by scorched barrenness. I had never been this far west before, and so the craggy, acacia-dotted desert was dazzling to my senses. I remember wishing that I could extend my stay, but also knew […]
You wake up to a text one morning. It is 7:03—you blink, sleepily. It’s from your best friend, Tom. The message reads, hey! do you wanna hang out some time today?? i’m free whenever You blink at your phone and then send him a response. yeah, I can be there
The man walked quickly to his destination, boots crunching on the old snow. It was covered in dirt and dog piss. No one had bothered to shovel for a few days so the heaps of ice and snow were getting hard to handle. But he walked confidently, slamming his feet
I spent almost four months looking for Otto. He went missing shortly after the old chocolate factory began operating again. Allegedly – according to the reports, at least – there was an “incident” during a tour of the factory he went on. He fell into a stream of highly viscous
It was the first day back to school and I was absolutely tense about it. Wracked with anxiety, and plagued by nightmares, I’d barely gotten any sleep for the past week. The night before the big day, I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, watching as the light
I Almost Died on My First Day Back to School Read More »
It was your typical college setting. A lecture hall with fifty students, maybe more. One moment a guy in the front row was answering a question from the professor, and the next, a big black sphere was hanging in the air where his head used to be. Now that was
When I was twenty four, my older brother died. At the time, I was working as a customer support guy at a major internet service provider on the Canadian West Coast. That was my stand-by job while I tried to figure out what I really wanted to do with myself. At the
My local internet cafe is not much of a sight to behold. I think that’s what may have contributed to it shutting down for a couple of months back in June. The exterior was reminiscent of an abandoned shack with its dilapidated appearance and broken windows. However, after they cleaned
I Found a Laptop Connected to the Deep Web Read More »
“How did you hear about this place?” My voice broke the long-established silence, a silence that had been building since we snuck out of our houses. It was almost like Marty thought his mother would still be able to hear him despite the hour of walking we put between us.
Let’s All Go To the Carnival Read More »
For as long as I can remember, there has been a man in my bedroom window. It seems strange to say, I know, but it is true. From the earliest, fuzziest memories I have all the way up to now, he’s been there. Looking at me. In my first memories
The Man In My Bedroom Window Read More »
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I Bought a Voodoo Doll on Ebay Read More »
GHOST HUNTERS WANTED. NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED. That was what sucked me into all this, that stupid ad. They even used the Ghostbusters logo. Totally illegal, sure, but it’s a Facebook ad and who cares, right? The familiar logo caught my eye, the text made me laugh, and I thought, “Sure, why not?” And I clicked their stupid ad.
I Was a Ghost Hunter For Just One Day Read More »
It’s been a week since the program started. A program that I thought would be the easiest way to make fifty grand within a week, but things turned to shit on the third day of a project called The Second Coming. Eighteen people were involved in the project. Eight of
The top half of Councilman Jones’ body hung by a steel cable looped around his neck and tied off to an old oak tree on one end. It was still dripping blood, bones and veins and torn bits of intestines dangling down where the legs should start. The cable was stretched through the air, over to an ash tree ten yards away from where the other half of the body was hanging by the legs.
I Found a Mask in the Basement Read More »
My husband is dying. Despite his good prognosis after the accident, he gets weaker every day. When he became unable to even say my name, I got desperate. I posted details of his condition on every forum I could find. Medical, accident survivors… I even posted it on a sketchy
My Local Costco Has a Secret Basement Read More »
Shawn took one last drag of his cigarette. He didn’t smoke regularly, but this occasion nearly called for one. It had been years since his last job interview, and it was all he could do to stop his hands from shaking. He looked at the cigarette and remembered the time
The following is a brief report outlining the tragic events that transpired in western Toronto on the evening of Tuesday, June 13th, 2017. Court proceedings are quietly underway and much of the public view has been diverted in a direction I feel doesn’t properly represent what truly took place that
Evil Within the Institution Read More »
The Commuter, dressed in a business suit and carrying a briefcase, commutes to the office each morning on the Tube. He enters Baker Street station at around 7am every weekday, and catches the southbound train towards Canary Wharf on the Jubilee Line. The station is generally not very busy at
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100% Real Human Hair Read More »
I was supposed to be at my friend’s wedding this weekend. And the thing is, maybe I was there? Only I’m pretty sure it was canceled. I went to the bride’s funeral. But—let me back up. I knew both Aldin and Petra from college. They met in Intro to Shakespeare sophomore year and hit it off immediately. They were both dramatic types, so their relationship was pretty entertaining for all of us. You know the type I mean, right? Nothing was ever middle of the road. Things were always either fantastic or ruined. Nothing in between.
I Went To a Funeral That Was Supposed To Be a Wedding Read More »
It was an overcast and dull Saturday afternoon when I was attacked. I was twelve years old at the time and despite the threat of rain, we took to the streets as my friends usually did on the weekends. The neighborhood always seemed safe and, looking back, it was a
Late last year, I suffered a stroke. The doctors tell me that I was lucky, by which they mean I survived. On the whole, I’m not certain that counts as luck. The left side of my body was all but paralyzed. I can manage to move my leg by swinging it like a club, but all dexterity is gone. My hand is useless, its feeble movements too erratic to even hold a book. My speech is slurred into incoherence, and I have a hard time making the words I want come out, anyway. Children point and whisper when I’m out in public. I can’t blame them. Half of my face hangs slack, the muscles drooping until I look like a wax figure left out in the sun.
I’m Not Myself These Days Read More »
I’ve had this problem for as long as I can remember. In preschool, I remember being confused when they told us there were seven days in a week, because I could only ever count six. I’ve never told anyone this, not even my wife, so I’ve never really been able
I Don’t Experience Thursdays Read More »
The anniversary of Layne’s death wasn’t for another three days, but when “Cochise” came on the radio as I approached that curve, I took it as a sign. Layne’s favorite song. I pressed the gas and shifted gears as Chris Cornell began to wail. The needle on the odometer crept
