The sun was slowly setting behind us, painting the sky in dull shades of gray and yellow, as the cold wind blew. Teresa walked with her head down, silent, right behind me. Mathias Santiago walked beside me, holding his AK-47 as if it were an extension of his own body. […]
I put on my running shoes with springs, designed to cushion the impact on the ground. It was my nightly ritual, something I did every single day without fail: running to the neighboring town, keeping my body busy and my mind free of thoughts. It was almost five o’clock, and
When I first saw the stranger, he was standing in front of Lester McCreed’s house. The stranger was dressed simply enough—overalls, a plaid shirt, a brown cap, and one of those surgical masks you see everywhere nowadays. I couldn’t see his hands on account of the thick, rawhide gloves he
When a Rooster Crows Read More »
Who the hell needs a Private Investigator during quarantine? I was obviously grateful to have contact from any client while social distancing, even one that would probably turn out to be some kind of scam. Staying indoors had me going insane. As Steve McCroskey once said, I picked the wrong
The Case of the Kid With COVID Read More »
I’d only been gone for about fifteen minutes, sneaking in a coffee break in the early morning hours. By the time I returned, panic had spread through the office like wildfire. “James, what’s going on?” I asked, more confused than worried. He didn’t have to answer. Instead, he just pointed
The next time you are sick, ill, weak… When your mind is foggy and your bed feels like the only place you can be; beware the Collector. It comes in the dark, in the silence. It comes for the decrepit, the unsound of mind, and the weak of body. I’ve
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.
The spring flu had been going around the school like usual, but some people were sicker than normal. They didn’t just have fever and headache – their faces were blotchy, their eyes bulged, and they all wheezed like they’d just run up ten flights of stairs without stopping. Cara McCormack
Dad said a man was coming from the city to photograph us tomorrow. I never had a photograph taken of me before. My parents had one taken with James when he was a baby. Eliza and I weren’t born yet. The picture sits over our mantle, embroidered in a gold
The Awful Thing We Did to Eliza Read More »
It’s been three days since I last used an app called Forbidden Fruits and I’ve become weak to the point to where I can hardly stand for over five minutes. I’m coughing up blood, and I know that I have no choice but to open this goddamn app and make a new
An App Called Forbidden Fruits Gave Me More Than Good Food Read More »
“Are you absolutely positive you locked the door when you left?” Denise’s voice was too desperate for her words to be an accusation. More like a plea. I adjusted the phone in my hand and the collar of my shirt. “Yes. Absolutely. I went back up and checked.” The latter
My Roommate Got Sick After Returning from Africa Read More »
