“Hey, Derek! Come here! Plissken’s got a new video!” From his cubicle, Sean Bannister watched as Derek rolled his chair down the aisle to Jacob’s desk, and even though the day was late, most of the senior staff had gone home, and there wasn’t a whole...
In early April of 2016, a study was conducted on the psychological effects of solitary confinement under the influence of lights. The following is an account of that study. For privacy and at the request of individuals involved, names and identifying details have been omitted...
THIS IS THE SECOND PART OF A TWO-PART STORY. FOR THE FIRST PART OF THIS STORY, CLICK HERE. It was gearing up to be a long night. The place was packed two-deep with thirsty patrons, and our barback was nowhere in sight. I wouldn’t know it until...
“Tell me how it ends.” Again, the demand. Into the cherished sanctuary of her small ivy-covered cottage had come this monstrous trio, breaking through the door — locks and laws be damned! — clad in costumes of pantyhose masks and black outfits, bringing mean eyes, the...
My friend Josh was my polar opposite. He was a young, successful entrepreneur and, frankly said, filthy rich. On the other hand, I was a perpetual failure who lived in a small one-room apartment, always looking to make it to the end of the month. While Josh...
Do you ever wonder why children see the world so differently? Why can they be so enchanted by the simplest and most mundane of things? I never bothered with things like this. Childhood was a thing of the past, and all its incredible sights had been...
“Atlas, scan Paradise Station and give me a radio lock. Prepare for broadcast.” The ship’s computer acknowledged my command with a couple blinks of light and then chirped when the com opened up. “Paradise, this is the captain of the heavy cruiser, Atlas. We currently have...
I was twenty the first time I entered the Valley of Shadows. It is a place that ruins what it touches. Madness, desolation, violence, mayhem, they’re not words of description, but words of definition. These are not the things which describe the valley. They are...
Kraken class meteor miners were top of the line one hundred and twenty years ago when they were first launched into space. The tech was good enough that all of them were still in service. They’d had upgrades over the years and all of the...
The man found himself in complete darkness, but that’s not what concerned him. He wasn’t alone in the darkness either, but that was also of no concern to him. The others were captives, like himself, presumably bound with silk cords to a bolted-down chair, like...
The Somber Starlight Roadhouse didn’t seem like a creepy motel when I pulled into it. Quite the contrary, in fact. I thought it was nice, or at least, far from the worst place I had ever stayed in. It had an adjacent gas station & convenience...
After several days and hundreds of miles of traveling by stagecoach, Thorogood had finally arrived at his long-dreaded destination of Fogs Dwelling. It was a drab, inauspicious little frontier town built upon the very edges of the Howling Woods, a fabled old-growth forest that had...
The world was small, like a tiny blue and white marble whirling on a sheet of black glass. Peppering it like glitter were thousands of stars. Lunar Module Pilot Marcus Windthrope witnessed it all from the exterior of the International Space station. Sweat beaded his...
“Hey, you’ve reached Aaron and Katie. We aren’t home right now but leave us a message, and we will get back to you! Thanks!” “Katie, this is your mother. You didn’t call last night and missed lunch with us today. I am getting very worried. Please...
My name is Daniel Burgess. I’m the photography coordinator for a public relations and marketing agency in Chicago. At least, that’s what it says on my business card. I’m not so sure what I am, anymore. Just before dawn, I dragged myself out of my apartment...
Ugh, my head. I know bad hangovers. I know hangovers so bad, no cold shower or energy drink can fix them. I know what taking a punch feels like. I was seventeen when my coach thought me ready to step into the ring. Half an hour later,...
“And I looked, and beheld a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.” – Book of Revelation 6:8 “Alert: traffic ahead. Estimated travel time has increased by 15 minutes.” Simon sighed and drummed his fingers on his steering wheel....
The days all started with the briefing room—a wall-to-wall palette of aged pastels and stark, hospital grayness. In the center of our little room, an oval-shaped table dominated the space with every seat filled with a tired nurse. From one of the windows, a bar of morning...
I moved to a new town about a year ago. I was offered a job and was at a point in my life where I felt restless and eager all at once. A new job in a new town was exactly what I had been...
Two days ago, I drove up to northern Vermont to do a little hiking. I needed to get away from it all: my job, social responsibilities, the world. I didn’t want to have to talk to anyone all weekend, so I picked a ten-mile trail...
