Jonah Harvester was the golden-haired, angel-faced picture of innocence that every parent envisions their little boy as. He had a cherub’s wry smile and a natural charisma to him that was impossible to deny. You just couldn't say no to that face, and no one...
I was awaiting an interview with a dying man, sitting in an uncomfortable chair, watching an ancient television set mounted high in the corner of the hospital waiting room that flashed riot scenes. Placards waving, black faces crying into cameras, the capitol was burning and...
You know when I was a kid, I used to love indoor playgrounds. I’m sure I’m not the only one. You go to some unsuspecting building in the middle of some strip mall and inside is no mere store or restaurant. It’s a kingdom that’s only...
My brother Sean was ten years older than me. We lived with our parents in a place called Garland, Virginia which is 40 miles southwest of Washington, DC. When Sean was in his teens, he and my parents didn’t get along at all, and after...
“When you're Dead…you live in a box, and it's always dark, but you're not ever afraid.” – Kelly Link, “The Specialist’s Hat” When Ellen and Juliya were 4 and 6 years old, Dad would leave out the most gruesome parts of the story of the Drognar. But...
West of Arkham the hills rise wild, and there are valleys with deep woods that no axe has ever cut. There are dark narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically, and where thin brooklets trickle without ever having caught the glint of sunlight. On the...
Garbage lined the quiet street with dirty papers, bottles, and cans. One trash bin tipped on its side with a wretched smell of old beer and cigarettes from behind a bar that overlooked a small alley. A slight breeze blew down the run-down alleyway of...
A gunshot went off seemingly from nowhere, but it was from one of the officers at the young girl’s site, me. Mr. Whimpley’s head lay at his daughter’s feet, brains lying across her feet and up her muddy legs. Her body was thin, and she looked...
Three years ago, I was in a class of highly respected magicians. Every sleight of the hand, trick of the lightning I have seen and replicated. I once even won a large sum of money on one of those television programs as a runner up. I...
I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all the hurt I caused. I’m sorry I lied to you Barbara about who I was. I’m sorry, Jack and Mary. Your dear old dad let you down. I know you thought your daddy was perfect and could do no...
My father only hit me one time. Open palm across my jaw when I was 7. Once in my life. Been 40 years, but I can still feel it. The sound of the slap, the sting and the shock. I’m sitting now right where it happened. At the...
His voice was like silk. It could move you through the confines of your world without even trying. Every breath, every sigh was like a longing that came from a faraway place. His hypnotic, serene, and at times erotic overtones crooned across the audience moaning and...
I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more. Penniless, and at the end of my supply of the drug which alone makes life endurable, I can bear the torture no longer; and shall cast myself from...
The lore behind Porkrind Gulch is as old and dusty as the desert it sits in. A relic from the Old West, Porkrind Gulch’s economy revolved around, as the name implies, porcine products. Anything swine had to offer, from the meat to the hooves to even...
So, like I was saying, genetics aren’t very kind. They either go all into your brain or all into your body. The latest Facebook quiz told me that I’m the reincarnation of Stephen Hawking. I could have told you that. Why else would I have gotten...
That which is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil. —Friedrich Nietzsche These weren’t like the old days, Jerfastilhak mused. No. In this black age nothing like that peace could be found. They had pain-birds now, killing-birds. Great screaming, swooping demons that raked the...
Just over a 100km north of Inverness, Scotland in the small village of Braemar, on the Berriedale River, lived a Gaelic-speaking people of approximately 800. Raising cattle, farming and being good neighbors was the village’s primary mission statement. Winters remained dark and bitter but pints...
“Damn it, Jess, you told me this place was abandoned! I’m out,” I cursed as I turned my back to the stately, well-kept house that was very obviously not abandoned, making me lose whatever nerve I thought I had. Jess and I were what you...
Cherise’s high heeled boots clicked more heavily than usual against the marble tile of the Avalon View Luxury Apartments’ lobby, as she was weighted down by several bags of groceries. She wasn’t accustomed to doing her own food shopping, but the service she normally used...
Every neighborhood has one. That creepy, old house that nobody wants to go near. They’re usually surrounded by overgrown trees and bushes. Parts of the siding have fallen to the ground due to neglect from whoever lives there. Dusty, old windows around the house only...
