Part I Henry Ashford sat alone in his small, dimly lit apartment, staring blankly at the television, though he hadn’t registered anything on the screen in hours. The dull, relentless whine in his ears drowned out any hope of following the plot of whatever movie he’d...
Darren was a little weird, but I didn’t realize how weird until it was too late. He came to our school at the beginning of fourth grade. The minute I met him, I knew he was going to have it tough in school. He always wore a...
Part I Alright, let me start with this: I’m not here to rant about technology or preach about privacy or whatever. I’m not even here to convince you not to download DreamShare—I know most of you probably already have it. But if you haven’t…well, you might want...
646 – Kingdom of Silla Queen Seondeok stood at her window and watched the night sky while considering the betrayal of Kim Bidam, chairman of the council of nobles. “Emperor Taizong is behind this! I know it!” Gim Chun-Chu, her normally composed diplomatic nephew, yelled while angrily...
Part I Nick sat in the cockpit of the small Cessna, his fingers curling around the yoke as the plane vibrated with the steady hum of the engine. It was his seventh lesson with Colton, and despite the growing familiarity with the controls, his pulse quickened...
From the filthy and obscure lodging, situated, I verily believe, in one of the foulest slums of Clerkenwell, I indite this history of a life which, daily threatened, cannot last for very much longer. Every day, nay, every hour, I know too well my enemies...
This is a dream. The room swirled misshapen around me; the vague contour of belongings I knew to be mine — my bed and dresser, the clothes piled in the hamper alongside them, all sat in a foreign arrangement. Askew and twisted against walls seated in...
Part I The final echoes of children’s laughter faded down the street, blending with the rustling of dry autumn leaves as Simon stood on his porch, surveying the quiet neighborhood. The air was crisp, the scent of dying leaves and faint smoke from distant bonfires carried...
May 3rd It’s been months since I’ve written in this journal. I’ve been preoccupied with applying to medical schools, and now I’ve been accepted to the program of my first choice. I’ve gone on at length about this university and its merits, so I’ll restrain myself...
It was the sort of bizarre incident that would forever haunt a small town such as ours. The Catsup Massacre, we called it, though it wasn’t exactly a massacre in the traditional sense. No one could quite agree on how or when it had happened,...
1 Timmy stood close to the shiny champagne-colored box, his hands trembling as they cautiously gripped the smooth rounded edge. His eyes wide-open with shock, his lips clamped tightly, fighting every urge he could muster to keep from squealing out in horror. He knew what he’d...
I can’t explain it, but he’s been here the whole time. No one believed me; my wife thought I was insane, but he’s been here the whole time. My son, Dale, was five when he went missing. We were at the park by our flat when it happened....
The winter winds howled through the trees surrounding Whispering Pines, a small, isolated town known more for its exceptional cold than for anything that would draw outsiders. The town was built on the edge of a large, deep body of water that locals called Blackwater...
There’s an irony about life in a small community. When most people think of it, they imagine a quiet life, much more peaceful than the clamour and bustle of the city. In one sense that is true, there is less noise, and people generally don’t...
“Come on, Sienna, hurry up! I’m gonna get drenched if I stay out here!” Even with the threat of getting soaked in ice-cold rain, I did not want to get out of the car. I didn’t even want to go out tonight, my plans were to...
STATEMENT OF RYAN MILLS, SUSPECT IN THE CUTE KITTY CLUB KILLINGS “They don’t always feel like sweets.” Daddy told me that for the first time when I was seven. I guess you could say he was planning ahead. Then again, I guess you could say he was...
Milton was making his rounds through the old facility, which housed the lunatics and those who were deemed too dangerous or unstable for the community. In this psychiatric hospital, this lunatic asylum, this mental institution or, as others endearingly called it, ‘the sanitarium,’ Milton was...
Winning an all-expenses paid trip without any catches is quite rare from my experience. There is something unfamiliar with awards, triumphs, and real success for most adults. Take winning the lottery, for instance; how much money does a person sink into that abyss of no...
One might say they hear the wind, but I argue the wind is silent. So, what is it that one hears? I make the claim it is the sounds of what the wind carries with it in its invisible torrent. One hears the roaring, the...
I am barricaded by self-design. I have enclosed myself, shut off from the world except for takeaways, home deliveries. The ugliness of sound, reverberations, noises, vibrations are a tormentor of my every nerve. Much to my annoyance, I have been unable thus far to escape...
