While exploring the shadowy streets of Old Arkham, an arcane scholar stumbles upon a bookshop filled with forgotten tomes and ancient secrets. Among the crumbling shelves lies a peculiar book with a title that seems to shift and shimmer in the light. Drawn by an...
The air in the Andrews household was tense, rife with the particular brand of anxiety that crept in around the holidays, when expenses piled up and paychecks seemed to shrink. Jim Andrews sat at the head of the table, staring down at the stack of...
When Rick is awakened by his son’s midnight cries, he dismisses them as the product of an overactive imagination. But in the dim light of Desmond’s bedroom, he finds something far stranger—a massive, unnatural wasp nest that seems to have appeared overnight. As Rick and...
After moving to a quiet mining town, young Emmett finds himself in a school where rules are enforced with terrifying precision. The punishment for stepping out of line? A trip to the mysterious Goodness Room, a place whispered about in fear but never questioned aloud....
When Peter first notices the cryptic graffiti—“People Knob” and a phone number—etched into a grimy bathroom wall, he dismisses it as another oddity of city life. But when the same phrase begins appearing everywhere he goes, curiosity gets the better of him. A single phone...
Mike Gilbert paused before driving under the deer skull. Carved vines twisted along the arch at the entrance to Undergrove Salvage, with the bone-white skull centered at the top. He flicked a cigarette butt onto the road, then stepped on the gas. His Ford F-150...
Martin Finch leaned back in his worn leather chair, the familiar creak echoing softly in the quiet of his antique shop. At 55, Martin was a man of routine. Every morning, he arrived precisely at eight, unlocking the shop’s heavy wooden door to welcome the...
The Peddler Man, The Peddler Man Could Bring You Delights or an Old Tin Can There Will Be Nothing to Lack When the Peddler Man Opens His Sack My grandfather was the first to encounter The Peddler Man. He would often tell us stories of sitting on his porch,...
“This thing is malfunctioning again!” shouted Eric, pounding the controls of the neurostimulator. Little by little, the youth’s limbic system lumbered into action, and the physiological markers of anger started to manifest themselves: increases in heart rate, arterial tension, and testosterone production. However, the silicone...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
The night was heavy with silence as Amy pulled into the driveway of her small, single-story ranch home. The glow of the streetlights barely reached the edges of her property, leaving the surrounding trees shrouded in darkness. After another grueling twelve-hour shift at the hospital,...
The sun was setting, casting long shadows through the trees on Harold’s rural property. It was an evening like any other, the kind Harold had grown accustomed to since his wife, Henrietta, passed away twelve years ago. These walks had become a routine, a way...
In a dilapidated house at the edge of a small, quiet town, where the shadows danced and the wind whispered secrets, was what was supposed to be my wife and I’s paradise. Our once-grand home now stood as a decrepit monument to the relentless march...
“That one is very special,” said the old man running the antique shop. Emily looked up from her phone to see a large baroque mirror with a gilded frame of carved flowers. The late afternoon sunlight that shone through the storefront glittered over the frame, making...
Too often, throughout history, what we can’t explain we label a religion. Religion is the bait and switch that gets us on our knees. But when it comes to evil, it’s a more subtle religion, one we pray against. On the big screen, Peggy Carter tells...
“We’re gonna make this a tradition,” Jerry said confidently. The others in the back of the van could barely hear him over the music. “Arbor Day getaway.” “We’re not, Jer,” said Sarah. Jerry gave her a wounded look, and she reached over and put a hand...
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