That which is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil. —Friedrich Nietzsche These weren’t like the old days, Jerfastilhak mused. No. In this black age nothing like that peace could be found. They had pain-birds now, killing-birds. Great screaming, swooping demons that raked the...
Just over a 100km north of Inverness, Scotland in the small village of Braemar, on the Berriedale River, lived a Gaelic-speaking people of approximately 800. Raising cattle, farming and being good neighbors was the village’s primary mission statement. Winters remained dark and bitter but pints...
“Damn it, Jess, you told me this place was abandoned! I’m out,” I cursed as I turned my back to the stately, well-kept house that was very obviously not abandoned, making me lose whatever nerve I thought I had. Jess and I were what you...
Cherise’s high heeled boots clicked more heavily than usual against the marble tile of the Avalon View Luxury Apartments’ lobby, as she was weighted down by several bags of groceries. She wasn’t accustomed to doing her own food shopping, but the service she normally used...
Every neighborhood has one. That creepy, old house that nobody wants to go near. They’re usually surrounded by overgrown trees and bushes. Parts of the siding have fallen to the ground due to neglect from whoever lives there. Dusty, old windows around the house only...
Every day on the bus ride to school through the country, I would see it: the Mommet. That’s what we all called it, but no one seemed to know who had called it that first. The Mommet was an old scarecrow, sitting atop the shallow...
I live in a small coal town on the Ohio river. Our community is pretty well crime free. Since we’re on the river, most disappearances are chalked up to people drowning and getting washed downstream. I want to keep track of my research, and this...
Nash paused for a moment to look up from the unlit, pothole-ridden street to the crumbling shell of an office building towering over him, just to make sure he’d really seen it. And there it was again; a flicker of white and grey light from a...
So, this one… this is the beginning of the most terrifying paranormal thing that ever happened to me. Technically, this should be titled “The Doll” since it spans several years, and several locations, and the central theme is a ventriloquist dummy I got as a...
I have an obsession with a woman. She’s a wild child. As unpredictable and dangerous as a boar. As potent as a viper. She’s the kind of woman kids and drunks made legends about. The kind that’ll promise curses to those who trespass against her....
My daughter Dharma is six. She’s rowdy and fearless. Dauntless, even. Since she’s been old enough to walk, she’s been drawn to the water. There’s one particular spot in the lake that she’s always been drawn to. We live in the woods on the edge...
The smoke in the air stung their eyes, but all eight men were fixated on the hulking figure at the head of the table. He seemed unaffected by the cigars’ haze, peering angrily through it at his subjects. All nine men held each other with...
Zaleski State Forest is a short jot from my place of business. I’ve been known to skip eating and use my lunch break to take short treks through the forest in every season. It’s been at least a weekly occurrence since I began the position...
Hey-o! What’s good everybody? This is Milton, with Milton’s Movie Reviews. Before we get into today’s crazy flick, I’d like to thank today’s sponsor, Raid: Shadow Legends - the free online RPG that’s sweeping our screens worldwide. You can campaign with your friends to embark...
It was a bright, clear morning, but the ground below boiled and seethed with high-strung energy. The chapel on the hilltop was the epicenter of a tumultuous crowd, the largest gathering of churchgoers it had seen since its first service. This observation was not lost...
I live in a small town in America’s heartland where nothing much ever happens. People go to work and go to church, and everyone pretty much knows everyone else. We all shop at the same stores send our kids to the same schools. There are...
There are some things that you struggle to bring into your life. Then there are the things that you do your damnedest to eradicate from your existence. My name is Miguel Ramirez. My friends call me Chico de la Perdición. You heard that right. “Doomguy.” As long...
The screams were the hardest part. Standing on the dust-covered hill looking down to the container in the darkness, the cries rose up through the air like a sea of Chinese lanterns ready to be extinguished. They did not bring light; only grief. For Larry, this...
About three years ago, a buddy named Will and I went kayaking and slough slogging (think a combination of hiking and swimming) in the Loxahatchee remnant of the Everglades. I had just gotten engaged to my girlfriend of seven years and he was celebrating three...
Brenna had been preparing for this fight for months. She had thought she was ready, convinced herself that she could handle it. Now, as the last few miles ticked by on her car’s odometer, the leaden weight sitting in her stomach told her otherwise. She thought...
