“I need to see the Wizard King,” I told the wraith who guarded the King’s tower. The entity observed me, standing motionless near the door it guarded. The human elements were wrapped in gray cloth that seemed to sway as though floating in water, tugged at...
Mind-numbing white light from simultaneous shell bursts scattered the men, some dead before they hit the ground others screaming for a medic. The soldier flinched and involuntarily turned his head away, using his hands to shield his eyes. Beneath him, the earth rumbled and shook....
I do not remember the exact date I started noticing the changes. At first, they were small, a missing pen, a strange fob on my key ring, a TV left on a station we never watched, and other weird stuff. The first time I mentioned...
“Forty years with the same company. That’s a long time.” Robert Harris shrugged as he pushed the soggy salad around the paper plate with a flimsy plastic fork. He looked at the young intern sitting across from him. “Time goes fast, Thomas. It didn’t feel like...
It would just be for the summer, they said. Just until they ‘worked some things out’, they said. As the TV screen turned to static again, Eli was starting to think that summer might as well be forever. “Grandma! The TV’s broken again!” Eli heard the clacking of...
She left me. Of course, she did; I’d have left me, too. I stared woefully with bloodshot eyes at my reflection in my rearview mirror, the cragged cracks of age as plain as the fireball red nose on my face as I drove through the back...
Holidays can be one of the busiest times of year for mental health services; but especially so for suicide hotlines. This was my first year on duty; as last year they gave me the day off. We didn’t have that option this year, too short-staffed....
Bill was carrying all of his wife’s baggage after their Sunday at the mall when she decided to have another meltdown. Something triggered her. Nothing major, something small. It may have been the tone in Bill’s voice when he absently remarked about… something. It may...
There’s one hard and fast rule about me. If there’s a new chick at school and she be hot, she’s mine. It’s not a matter of if I’m making it all the way with her. It’s a matter of when. And no, I don’t mean getting...
It was about this time last year when the first skin washed up on the shores of Lake Bidai. Death on the water was nothing new to Cliff Marten, who oversaw maintenance on the Lake Bidai Dam. It was a reservoir lake, formed back in the...
He turned away from the group and went quickly down the road and on into the woods. A voice called Bradley behind him, but he paid it no heed. He began to move faster and faster until he was almost running full-tilt through the trees,...
I cannot deny that my chosen profession is one of great fascination and—truth be told—amusement for myself. I am sure the same does not always hold true for the clients I serve, but that is of no consequence of concern for yours truly. I am...
He’s talking again. Why is he talking? Jesus Christ. And my tie. Feels so goddamn tight. Like I’m being choked to death. Maybe if I just stick my finger in there, pull it out more. Get some fucking relief. But I already did that. God...
No coverage, not even one bar. The battery was dead anyway. It was still daytime, but it was overcast, and the sky had a perfectly even dullness so there was no way to tell what time of day it was, much less which direction was...
I found the place one night after an especially heated argument with my ex. Now, I’ve never actually been the type for guns, but something about the venue interested me when I passed it by. I think it was the privacy. Open 24 hours, the bright glimmering...
“Summer homes are for rich people, Allen.” I’ve been known to spend money on things that I don’t need. Sometimes it can be hard to determine which products are necessities and which are simply desires. My wife Brittany is usually the one who keeps my head on straight,...
“Imagine you were alive in the 1980s, and you were told that computers would soon control everything related to life. From shopping to dating, to even supercomputers in the palm of your hand or an international invisible network that connected you to literally anyone on...
Technology is changing at a rapid pace, so fast that some even say it’s frightening. I got a chance to experience this nightmare firsthand just a few weeks back when I was given the opportunity to test out a new autonomous vehicle for my company. At first,...
Would you believe that three simple gold tokens changed my life? They clattered to the bottom of the arcade machine, and the screen in front of me turned from dark blue to a splash of pixelated orange and yellow. Rhythmic sounds beat out from the speakers on...
“Dr. Annelise Fowler,” “Annie, no one calls me Annelise.” “Alright then, Annie.” “You can call me Dr. Fowler.” Agent Romero slips a cigarette out of his pack, “You mind if I smoke, Doctor? Would you like one?” “I would mind, and no, I would not like a cigarette. Let’s just...
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