As teenagers, we always looked for new and different things to do. Years pass us by and we build up stories we can tell to our children, perhaps even grandchildren. We learn through various events and gain knowledge through tragedy. When I was younger I decided that when I’m nothing
My name is Emily, as in Dickinson, who is my mother’s favorite poet. My brothers are Lennon, as in John, and Eliot, as in T.S. My sister is Layla, after the Eric Clapton song. When we, the Spivey quadruplets, were finally conceived after years of in vitro fertilization, my mother
You remember the feeling, don’t you? The feeling that you’re being watched, that if you make the slightest movement, you’re dead. Everybody had that fear as a child… You wake up in the night, can’t get back to sleep, shuffling back and forth from one uncomfortable position to the next,
Every Child’s Fear Read More »
I had this habit of listening to music through earphones while I work. I think a lot of people do. It even made me sort of enjoy studying, which was a valuable asset to me as a pre-med major. You may have noticed the past tense and wondering why I
Keep Your Earphones In Read More »
I was hardly known as being a particularly brave man. So you could imagine my surprise when my master, who I was currently working under for a fair amount of wage, stood up from his black leather couch and announced to the whole room. “Grab your things, Charles! We shall
We ended up going to a place I knew. John had no idea if the bars he used to frequent were still cool, or even open. The cold air shocked him back to his senses, some, and as we stumbled through a labyrinth of back streets you could tell he
Throughout my years of reading people’s stories of this nature, I have noticed that many of them speak from the perspective of a child. This is entirely apt: we’ve all been children, we’ve all had the strange and unexplainable experiences before we “grew up” and convinced ourselves we’d figured out
I got a message in my inbox a few weeks ago. I run a paranormal side-blog on tumblr but it is a small one. I barely have a following. It is mostly just the friends I have who happen to care about that sort of stuff (it isn’t many). When
My boss is an absolute dipshit. Sorry, I hate to be so blunt but that’s just the way it is. My name is Sarah Collins and I work as a personal assistant for a private law firm. It’s probably safer for you if I don’t mention where. Anyway, back to
The realm was beauteous and plentiful, its people more so. No plague touched its borders, no famine its lands. War was seldom seen in this kingdom, whose peaceful lords ran their fortified estates in harmony with one another. The only problem was that peasants were treated harshly, scraping to live
I could say I was having a pretty peaceful life. I just graduated high school and is about to enter college in a week, to which my mom is really proud of because I decided to pursue something great for my life instead of just applying for McDonalds or something.
Ralph sat in bed listening to the house talk. Ralph liked to listen to the house talk, it talked to him most nights; and when it did he always listened with equal parts excitement and reverential discomfort. Listening hard, Ralph leaned forwards; letting the bedclothes fall away from him he
You’ve never liked the silence. Ever. At first you thought it was just something you were scared of. For no reason. But as you grew older, you realized that there was a reason. There had always been a reason. You’ve always slept with your creaky ceiling fan running. No matter
I am astonished that this reached you. Keep reading. You have found this because you must read it. This will be difficult to accept, but you have been preparing yourself. Without knowing. Your interest in unusual stories was no accident. That trait was woven in to the fabric of your
A Message in a Bottle Read More »
This really did happen to me, and although I’m not haunted by the memory, it still freaks me out and I’m pretty much out of rational explanations. I don’t know if this is going to be freaky to any of you, but I can tell you that my irrational paranoia
The Frozen Lady on my Bed Read More »
This is a true story, a quite disturbing occurrence I had the misfortune to experience when I was at the impressionable – and, mind you, easily frightened – age of 7. The entire spectacle is centered around a road trip. This I must explain to you immediately, so that I
We Should’ve Checked the CarFax Read More »
For as long as I can remember, my sister Ivory was always the creative one of us two siblings. She even made a career out of it. While I was working the typical office job, she made a name for herself teaching an intermediate art class. With her program being
My Sister, The Artist Read More »
I don’t like telling this story and most people don’t believe it when I do. It brings back too many painful memories, memories that I’ve been running away from since I was a ten year old boy. I’d been called a devil, a murderer, a child just desperate for attention.
The Birds Are Singing Read More »
As a child, I was always fascinated with the woods. While the beautiful pines scattered the land, captivating me with their size and showing me a picture of strength and resilience, the dark brush intrigued me with the unknown happenings of its solemn, mysterious, and unrevealing insides. I had been
What Waits in the Woods Read More »
I am falling. I have been falling for. . . oh, I don’t even know any more. A few million years? It doesn’t even matter; time is meaningless in the infinite. There’s really not much of a story to tell. I was just sitting at home, there was a pain
Nobody knew when, or how, they came to inhabit this world. It could have been a solar wind or a meteor shower but I won’t drone on any further with possible permutations, my time is limited, and one thing is certain, they were already here. Patient Zero was one of
My name is Ingrid Ramirez, and today on this frozen, storming January day, I was standing before the coffin that contained my son, Alfie Ramirez. The coffin had a wooden, polished finish with flowers placed on top of the lid, like it would help hide the truth on why my
“Cheryl! That’s great news. I didn’t even know you were psychic!” exclaimed Marian, her face alight with excitement. “I’m not psychic, Marian.” “Oh, of course not. That was silly of me. You can just read the future in the stars,” the last syllable trailed off, a hint of mysticism in
Written in the Stars Read More »
My older brother is a cop. Naturally, he has a protective instinct over me, his little, only, sister. The cop factor does not help. I was always babied by my family, but me and Greg, my brother, always had a closer bond. Whenever one of my other brothers picked on
