This is a dream. The room swirled misshapen around me; the vague contour of belongings I knew to be mine — my bed and dresser, the clothes piled in the hamper alongside them, all sat in a foreign arrangement. Askew and twisted against walls seated in...
Part I The final echoes of children’s laughter faded down the street, blending with the rustling of dry autumn leaves as Simon stood on his porch, surveying the quiet neighborhood. The air was crisp, the scent of dying leaves and faint smoke from distant bonfires carried...
“Think they’re gonna hear us c-c-c-coming?” “You’re the loudest of us all, Joe, dragging that bum leg of yours.” Joe tried to keep the volume down — it seemed deafening in the quiet night air -– but he continued to kick up gravel as he hobbled down...
Part I The storm arrived faster than anyone expected. Six-year-old Evelina McIntyre sat cross-legged on the carpet in her bedroom, a small, cozy space nestled on the lower level of her family’s home in Georgia. The room, with its pastel green walls and neatly arranged shelves...
Chernobog Station was but a hollow reminder of the grim reality of what the Arctic Circle could do in a single night. Hoarfrost and harsh winds tore apart equipment, covering everything in a slick sheet of icy gray and black. It gave the impression of a...
I think the most extraordinary event which I can recall took place about five years ago. I was then still feeling my way; I had declared for business, and attended regularly at my office, but I had not succeeded in establishing a really profitable connection,...
The submarine mess hall was total chaos. It rang with clanging trays, raised voices and general hubbub. Even so, Nathan’s head snapped up when the first rivet pinged free. The sharp fracturing of metal was followed immediately by a second report as the massive pressure...
He woke up, wiping the sleep from his little eyes. He squinted, straining his vision back into clarity. Morning? he wondered. He shuffled from the bundle of raggedy cushions he'd been sleeping on. He peeked through the blinds at the world outside. In doing so, he...
Part I If you think playing Twister with a ghost is strange, you’re right. But that’s not even the strangest part of what happened. It’s what happened after that really made me question what I’d done. I guess I should start by explaining how I ended up...
May 3rd It’s been months since I’ve written in this journal. I’ve been preoccupied with applying to medical schools, and now I’ve been accepted to the program of my first choice. I’ve gone on at length about this university and its merits, so I’ll restrain myself...
Troy Davis, a stalwart of the mines for over three decades, lived a life shaped by the grit and grind of the subterranean world. However, one ominous morning, the very mines that defined his existence became a perilous trap. A reckless explosion had reverberated through...
Working for the defense industry has always been a trip. I started out in the late 90’s, working out of Yuma, AZ, engineering the next wave of unmanned surveillance drones for the U.S. military. Technology had come so far by this point…nothing seemed off-limits, and...
Part I James Walker pulled up to the curb of their new duplex, letting out a slow exhale. The move to the town of Ridgewood had taken longer than expected, and the sun was already starting to dip below the horizon. This was supposed to feel...
The Owl Witch On a Wednesday shortly after 3 PM, a taxi pulled up to an old house in Rosevine, Texas, an unincorporated community in northwestern Sabine County in Texas. Thiago Angel Martinez, a stocky fifty-year-old man with a bald head, large mustache, and covered in...
Part I I remember everything about that day at Lake Newell. The way the sun gleamed off the water, the shouts of laughter echoing through the park, and the bright colors of picnic blankets sprawled across the grass. It was supposed to be a perfect day—the...
Go, Light Your Torches A thin cloud of red dust whips outside the airlock window. I press my forearm against the glass and lose myself in the soft hiss of sand moving against the hull. Wind. The thought almost makes me laugh. I always thought it was...
As long as Paula and I have been married, there hasn’t been a chance for us to slow down. Not to say that is a bad thing, of course; it’s just that after seven years of work, school and taking care of aging parents, we really,...
Part I The soft glow of the bedside lamp bathed Terrance’s room in a warm, comforting light. The familiar scent of fresh laundry clung to the blankets as Abby tucked them around her son, smoothing the edges and making sure he was snug. It was part...
It was the sort of bizarre incident that would forever haunt a small town such as ours. The Catsup Massacre, we called it, though it wasn’t exactly a massacre in the traditional sense. No one could quite agree on how or when it had happened,...
1 Timmy stood close to the shiny champagne-colored box, his hands trembling as they cautiously gripped the smooth rounded edge. His eyes wide-open with shock, his lips clamped tightly, fighting every urge he could muster to keep from squealing out in horror. He knew what he’d...
