Something is wrong with Sleigh Town—Roni knew that much about it. During the pre-covid era of twenty-eighteen, I was hired as a night security guard for a park in our town, right on the cusp of December. Since its grand-opening in the seventies, the acres were established...
This whole thing started with a Rubik’s Cube. Once I learned the algorithm and figured it out, I was able to solve it in record time. I competed in a tournament or two, but eventually, I started to get bored. It became too easy for...
Eight months ago, my life changed forever. I couldn’t tell you what the weather was like that day, what I had for breakfast, or even the first song I heard on the radio before I left the house. In fact, I can’t honestly remember any...
Staring out the apartment window I saw them. This sent a tingle down my spine as I watched them go about their malicious activities. I turned to my companion and glared. “So, you think you have all the answers?” “Never said I did.” “On the contrary, you’ve...
The rank aroma of something rotted, like maggot-infested roadkill underneath the blistering summer sun, slams into his nostrils. No, it smells like the spoiled packages of hamburger he discovered in the refrigerator after his mother’s death. Stifling the gag reflex, he waves his arms to...
For the first time in his short life, Tommy had seen – no – Tommy had been given a magical gift -a miracle. The items themselves weren’t that special – two quarters and a piece of bubble gum - it was the fact of them,...
The poster was simple. Someone had done their best with it, but their best wasn’t very good. MONSTIR HUNTIRS WANTED, read the boldly misspelled words at the top. Below that was a drawing straight out of a child’s imagination. It showed a hunched creature with big,...
Shorty Small, a man neither short nor small, slept fitfully. With the covers thrown off, perspiration continued to soak his pillow and sheets. The woman who slept next to him grew concerned and gently shook his shoulder. “Shorty, wake up.” Disoriented, he mumbled something unintelligible and his...
Fog shrouded the old suspension footbridge crossing the ravine. Visibility stretched only twenty feet in any direction magnifying the isolation Dakota Storm already felt. The muffled sound of water rushing over rocks and boulders seventy-five feet below could be heard. Otherwise, the world remained silent. He...
American Journal of Russian History Volume XXI Issue 3 Dead Letters: Imperial Russian Army Correspondence from the Eastern Front in World War I Written and Translated by Oksana Volkov, PhD As soon as Imperial Russia entered World War I, the “Provisional regulations on military censorship” law was imposed on...
1 Shad Hankins pushed the tavern’s shutters open, and stepped through, leaving them swinging behind, as he stopped just inside. His dirty off-white canvas riding coat hung nearly to the floor, dripping rainwater from the cold wet storm he’d been riding in. While his eyes adjusted...
The meteorite that hit Southdale wasn't especially spectacular. In the middle of one spring evening, it lit up the sky for a brief moment. It didn't turn night into day by any means. It merely streaked across the horizon and settled with a distant popping...
There’s a story that you won’t read in history books. It’s a truth that you only hear in my village. The Pendle witches were innocent, but there is a real witch in the Forest of Bowland. My name’s Thomas, and I grew up in Barley, which is...
Excluding some tropical species, such as coconut and banana trees, no tree can survive long without branches. And yet, defying all explanation, I saw a pair of branchless oak trees in the summer of 2015. When I use the word “branchless”, I’m not referring to a...
For context, I am a middle-aged man who lives on the outskirts of Parbold, a small English village. My house is the only one on a long, winding country road, but it does have a bus stop. From my bedroom window, I can see it...
Nearly three years ago, when the pandemic began, I moved my family to a small hamlet in the Scottish Highlands. I won’t give you its name. I wouldn’t want you to find this place. That being said, I can no longer keep this secret to myself. Before...
Craving attention, sharply and peremptorily acting out. I have been disengaged from reality. I am in my own utopia, absorbed in thought, insanely agitated even with the least little distraction. A fan blowing the edges of my paper in a waving fashion makes me want...
No other couple on the planet had a larger dragon to slay than Henry and Anne. Maybe it was no dragon at all. Nothing was as sinister as what the couple had allowed to crawl in between them and separate them. First, this succubus came...
Manny “Rico” Esparragoza was a petty thief with big dreams and aspirations. He had never amounted to much. He was unable to hold down a steady job or otherwise. His luck with the women was the same. He had a tendency toward anger and violence. ...
As I wipe the mirror clean of the settled dust, the chaff, the ash, I, in fact, am erasing the last fingerprints known to exist of the one who only ever existed in my mind. It was real for me, though I am told, unconvincingly,...
