Part One: The Beginning I’m calling it Black Vein Blues. It makes sense if you think about it. About a month ago it started, slow and quiet. I had just come home from school to find my father prodding at the corpse of a gator that washed...
I died for the first time on the 18th of August, 2006. It wasn’t a particularly pleasant death, nor was it one that I expected. It was simply the random act of violence that destroyed my life...
ENTRY 1 My name is Jason. I live in the suburbs of a small city on the east coast. I’m not sure I want to say where exactly. Something is happening and I think it’s important for me to write this down. I live alone in...
The bones arrived on a Friday, in a pine crate the size of a steamer trunk. “Is that it, Mr. Evans?” Eliot asked, his tone lacking awe. The rest of the earth science class conversed in whispers or stared out the row of bay windows overlooking...
Mortality is a weird thing. It hits you like a bag of bricks once you make it to your late twenties or early thirties. It’s about the time when your family starts getting diagnosed with all kinds of disease, heart attacks, strokes, cancer… For me, facing...
I watched as my son splashed around in the waves, the sun reflecting off the cool green water. Sean laughed as the waves crashed around his ankles and chased him up the shore. The ocean then pulled away, leaving trembling patches of sea foam that...
Once your time on this Earth ends, Death will greet you like an old friend. Whether you embrace it with fear, hatred, or acceptance, is a question that cannot be answered before you stand at its door. I can’t tell you what comes next, nor can...
Hello. If you’re listening to this then I’ve been found, and there will be questions. Oh yes, questions aplenty. I’m sure the first of which will be ‘Why?’ And that is a great one to start with but it’s also the one which doesn’t have an answer....
I lie on my bed, staring at my sliding glass door. It was late, probably well past midnight. I couldn’t sleep. That seemed to be a recurring issue ever since I moved into my new apartment two weeks ago. It was a small studio apartment,...
“All you have to do is submit,” he says, while taking another calm sip from that damn coffee cup while crossing his legs. It’s steaming, but he makes no expression of discomfort while taking a generous swig from the shining porcelain. There isn’t a straight...
“Hey, Red. Bum a smoke?” She was standing by the vending machines, so still I almost walked right past her without noticing. Blame it on highway hypnosis; I’d been driving for hours with nothing to focus on except miles of cornfields and the pavement ahead of...
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I reached for it, only half-listening to the sales meeting I was in. My boss was rattling on, stressing about how we needed to push numbers, increase our revenue, the usual slog. The other eight salesmen around the table...
Is this thing on? I see the light blinking, so I guess I’m good. My name is Roy Harrison, and I was Sheriff of Bush County, Texas for nearly forty years. I suppose I’ve got a story to tell. A story about a city named Ashwood...
When I was a kid, my mom thought the world was a very dangerous place. It wasn’t just her, either – all parents seemed afflicted with this strange mania that made them believe around every dark corner, in any shadow lurked something unspeakable ready to...
Dear Sir, I won’t pretend to feel anything other than a deep dread at the receipt of your letter. How you came by my name and of my involvement in the mentioned incident causes me a great deal of consternation, considering the effort I have made over the years to hide my presence at the event. I have heard...
At thirteen, I stood in the South Dakota Badlands and gazed upon the majesty of a night sky uncorrupted by civilization and city lights. It was without a doubt the most breathtaking sight I have seen in my lifetime. It is also something I hope...
Dear whoever finds this, My name is Stephen. I’m 25 years old and, well, if you’re reading this then I’m afraid that I’m long gone. Where, you ask? Your guess is as good as mine, dead, alive, or something much worse, I cannot tell you. I’m currently...
“Maybe the world would be better off without you.” These were words I never expected to hear from my therapist. Up to that point, she had always been on my side, despite the many flaws that made up my character. I had fleeting thoughts of suicide,...
I was in a room. It looked like the ground floor of an office building. There was a desk with a receptionist, tapping away at a keyboard, and stairs leading up to the next floor. But the design...
I was referred by a temp agency. I had no idea who I would be working for, or what the job would entail. I only knew that the pay was good. A week-long excursion at $725 a night. More than enough to pay off a...
