Everybody loves the woods, until they follow you home. When my father came back from the military, we bought our first house—a boxy, two-story affair on the woodsy outskirts part of town. I was twelve going on thirteen then. Our neighborhood was a little off the beaten...
In early April of 2016, a study was conducted on the psychological effects of solitary confinement under the influence of lights. The following is an account of that study. For privacy and at the request of individuals involved, names and identifying details have been omitted...
It wakes you. Not the moan of a withered hag or the fleeting voice of a dead man, but the low trill of wind slipping past your window. Air being pressed into a hushed breath. The shadows meld themselves back into your bedroom. You blink. The blurred, hazy...
THIS IS THE SECOND PART OF A TWO-PART STORY. FOR THE FIRST PART OF THIS STORY, CLICK HERE. It was gearing up to be a long night. The place was packed two-deep with thirsty patrons, and our barback was nowhere in sight. I wouldn’t know it until...
I arrived at the Kotirc Outpost at approximately 3:30 in the afternoon alongside three senior officers from HQ. We had been told nothing about the facility’s state or its staff, simply that we had lost all communication with them about three days before our arrival. Russell, the...
I know we’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but Braden Kelly was a monster. I can say that now, after years of therapy with someone who specializes in treating trauma and abuse. But, if you’d asked me about him even two or three...
Flashes of lightning illuminated torrents of rain as they ran down our bedroom window like tiny waterfalls, lulling my wife Meryl and I into a contented slumber. We always seemed to sleep our best during the muffled maelstrom of a Florida storm. But no amount...
“Are we there yet?” Nicole asked sleepily, her eyes still closed. The car bumped along the unlit two-lane country road, its motion answering her question before Corso could reply. “Welcome back to the land of the living,” he teased gently. “Thought I might have to carry...
When the blood moon rises, the beasts of the forest will gather. They will scream when he breaks the barrier from his world to ours; all that is near will burn in his wake. “That’s good, Tommy.” I squeezed my son’s shoulder gently. His picture was...
I’ve lived in Michigan my entire life. It’s a beautiful place with endless wonder on land and in the depths beneath the water. I live in a small town, and I’ve never for a second considered leaving. I never honestly understood that phase people growing...
At one point in time, it was said Putt Putt Mini-Golf and Used Cars was among the top hotspots in Splittail. At some point in time, Sheriff Ron Ball figured, each of us gets a chance to be our very best. Now, however, seemed uniquely...
There’s a seam in everything. Seven years ago, I met the girl who could find them. “You’ve got to see what Dani can do.” I let myself be dragged across the park, past the swings to the big oak tree, where a girl with long black hair sat...
“Tell me how it ends.” Again, the demand. Into the cherished sanctuary of her small ivy-covered cottage had come this monstrous trio, breaking through the door — locks and laws be damned! — clad in costumes of pantyhose masks and black outfits, bringing mean eyes, the...
My name is John Gray. I was once chief evidence analyst with the Oregon State Police. A half-hour past sunset on September 7th of 2013, a volunteer at the visitor’s center inside the Qualls Nature Education Park on the edge of the Columbia River Gorge...
“This doesn’t look safe.” I looked into the cave that cut into the side of the massive round hill. Above it, a tree had grown roots downward trying to fill up the void, but it had instead simply created a fanciful framing, like something out...
My friend Josh was my polar opposite. He was a young, successful entrepreneur and, frankly said, filthy rich. On the other hand, I was a perpetual failure who lived in a small one-room apartment, always looking to make it to the end of the month. While Josh...
Jerold was sitting in the same chair, at the same window, staring outside, waiting. The first snow was falling, and he remembered the time when he’d played out there with the neighborhood kids all those years ago. He remembered it so vividly that afternoon. The sun had...
I hated Ms. Granger’s collection from the moment I laid eyes on it. The old lady was the latest in my long line of patients. I’m a caregiver, the live-in type. I’d been working in the field for a decade when I got to know Ms. Granger. She...
Do you ever wonder why children see the world so differently? Why can they be so enchanted by the simplest and most mundane of things? I never bothered with things like this. Childhood was a thing of the past, and all its incredible sights had been...
If I could’ve said one thing to covid-19, had one opportunity to deliver a message that the virus could understand, it would’ve been: please don’t destroy my life. No posturing, no tough-guy stuff from me. Just a plea. Not that I think it would have...
