3:30 p.m., 1-September: One three-person party entered the Rio Grande National Forest in Hinsdale County, Colorado. They consisted of Trevor Nyson (37 years old) and Matilda Nyson (33 years old), a married couple, and Benny Nyson (8 years old), their only son. 5:31 p.m., 1-September: Trevor and Matilda, highly distraught, encountered a Forest Service ranger …
Just the concept alone was enough to draw me in. âAn internet underneath the internet. The dark web,â is how my old friend Kyle described it to me. It wouldnât be until he gave me a list of links that I would truly understand just why people referred to it as âdark.â Months …
Need a crime scene clean-up? How about a crime scene clean-up up in a hoarderâs house? Well, free-market problems get free-market solutions. It only makes sense I ended up with Cesar. I guess you could call me the President and Cesar the VP but those are pretty prestigious titles considering the nature of our business. …
Recently my great-grandfather died and me and my family inherited his house. We didnât actually need it, since it was in another state, so we decided to sell it and use that money for something else. But before that we decided that we should clean the house out and get rid of all the stuff …
âHoly shit! Is that what I think it is?â Brandonâs eyes widened into saucers and, despite being filled with an unabated rage towards his older brother just a few hours ago, Michael couldnât help but smile and nod at the expected reaction. Even with everything that had happened earlier in the day, he still hadnât …
As I hurriedly stumbled down from the back of the troop transport, I fell on all fours onto the hard desert ground. The sun had just finished setting in the desolate canyon, and it was pitch black. I pulled on my night vision goggles and yanked on the straps to adjust them to better fit …
Dark, cold and eerie. Those are the only words I can come up with to describe the house in which I had lived with my family for the majority of my life. Mostly dark, blistering cold during the winter, and always eerie. Sometimes there would be strange noises coming from the cellar, too. It had …
As a code enforcement officer, Iâm not well-liked by the citizens of Winter Garden, Florida. Most of the time people tend to get upset when you tell them something about their property violates the standards of the City. Iâve only been doing this job about six months now, while most of the citizens have lived …
Everyone has heard of the boogeyman. A creature, tall and dark who comes out at night and prays on fearful children. The story is a classic tale, one that every kid and their neighbor like to scare each other with during sleepovers. People have come up with several different versions of the story â like …
My name is Julien Serrault. It is the 7th of January, 1882. I am an innkeeper outside the mountain town of Briancon, at the base of the French Alps. The inn does not do much trade, and in the winter months I am sometimes alone for days at a time. In recent times I have …
âNo, Mama! Mama, no! Please, Mama, donât let them take me! Iâll be good, I swear!â the girl screamed. Tears flowed from her eyes as she thrashed against the two-adult woman dressed in black. They held her arms firm and pulled her deliberately up a small set of stairs. âNow, now, young one, donât fret …
The top half of Councilman Jonesâ 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.
âDonde Esta Santa Clausâ was blaring on the radio as Gary crossed over state lines into…somewhere. He lost track of where he was hours ago. Somewhere… midwesty. He was driving back East for Christmas. Too cheap to fly, he thought heâd take the opportunity to get to see America, the REAL America. Turns out, most …
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. Heâs confused, but not about that. What confuses him is why his sister is being so silent as she sits in the backseat. The time is currently 6:36, …
Officer Sparrow walked down Jenkins street in a stride of confidence, though was trying to hide her strong authority beneath a mask of indifference. She was wearing her casual clothes and a thin face of makeup, fit for a Saturday night raver, or a particularly plain Sunday night hooker. Her firearm and badge were hidden …
Mayukoâs 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 businessmen, annoying teenagers and girls …
It was nothing new. Just a normal trip to the lake. My friends and I had gone to lake Thunderbird many times on weekends, it was our favorite retreat from college and family and everything else that stressed us. I was 19 at the time, fresh into college and fresh out of a bad place; …
I remember Alice. It was the summer of 2004 when the two of us first met. Iâd just started at university. I was a dorky, somewhat awkward-looking girl, too skinny, too flat-chested and with hair that was basically uncontrollable. I was neither particularly athletic or the first one to come up with something witty to …
My first love was Misty from PokĂ©mon. Those legs, that sass, she was absolutely perfect. No one else could ever compare. When I played the games, Iâd hang around her gym and pretend that we were on a date. I built my team to be strong against her weaknesses so I could always protect her. I used to fantasize that sheâd become intrigued by me when I had beaten her. That sheâd become obsessed and fallen head over heels in love with me. It was just a silly fantasy, but I enjoyed it when I was younger.
It had been six months since the accident. I remember because Elizabeth was helping me sign my name in our daughter Jennyâs 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 to manage with such little …
We were having another lockdown drill when I found out about Holly Reyes. I was in Social Studies, third period, when Principal Westonâs 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 positions. Mrs. Loew shut the …
âCan we go on the roller coaster?â âSure we can,â Kent assured his son, whose eyes brimmed with hope and enthusiasm. Little Brian ran ahead towards the ride as his father walked quickly behind. It was one of those old, rickety coasters that wonât keep you from falling out unless you hold on for dear …
It was cold. Cold and dark. Thatâs all I could feel when I stared into the black abyss, that made up its eyes. There was a tingling sensation in my feet, that slowly rose up in my body like panic trapped inside of me. I felt changed. I donât know what he was doing to …
Some people call me a hero. I canât disagree with them, because itâs actually kind of true. Believe it or not, Iâve saved a drowning man, pulled a girl from a burning building, and I even saved a dog from being swept away by a nasty flood. My friends thought I was crazy, but I …
