30 Jul Pinelawn
Iβve owned Pinelawn Cemetery, the cemetery that serves the small town in which we reside, for going on 11 years now. Our land is a good size, but due to the size of the town from which our cemetery draws its...
Iβve owned Pinelawn Cemetery, the cemetery that serves the small town in which we reside, for going on 11 years now. Our land is a good size, but due to the size of the town from which our cemetery draws its...
βAlright, class, we have a new student joining us today.β Everyone straightened their backs and perked up, intrigued by the prospect of someone new the way only children can be. Only Michael remained slouched, head on one arm and playing at indifference, but still, he looked...
I need your help.Β I donβt know who you are, or how many of you Iβm actually addressing.Β Thatβs the problem with doing something like this, when you donβt really know your audience.Β I just need to know if Iβm going insane, or if Iβve...
My girlfriend, Amber, shook several thick envelopes in my face as soon as I came through the front door. βDo you see these? Huh? Huh?β she snarled with her teeth bared and nose scrunched. βThey look like junk mail to me,β I said. βThey are junk mail! And...
My friend Shannon had been through quite a bit in the past few years, and that was the only reason that I didnβt immediately call the police when I stopped by her work and found her halfway through the process of climbing out of a...
My first love was Misty from PokΓ©mon. Those legs, that sass, she was absolutely perfect. No one else could ever compare. When I played the games, Iβd hang around her gym and pretend that we were on a date. I built my team to be...
Let me start my story by telling you something about me, the most important thing, in fact: I find things, and I fix them. Thatβs who I am. If you donβt know that, you donβt know me. Iβm a second-generation auto mechanic, born-and-bred. Iβve been repairing...
my dad taught me how to use the internet because sometimes he said he felt too lazy to scroll and he just wanted to sit and smoke cigarettes and drink beer and i would read out the answers in the threads he liked the sound...
Part One: Once a Butcher's Wife Calla Lily Cottage stood among the rose bushes and assorted potted plants atop of Willow Vale, basking in the mid-afternoon sun. White walls adorned with climbing ivy, a thick thatched roof, and aging lop-sided windows gave the building a distinct...
Some nights are worse than others. Some nights, I wake up alone in the dark with a cold chill settling upon me, seeping into my flesh. Other nights I toss and turn until I wake with a half-remembered image of my brother Aaronβs face. In...
Paige watched with wide eyes as her friend was ushered into a cage with iron bars jagged with rust. An iron arm swung the cage over the edge of the filthy fishing boat. Paige pressed her hands together, her eyes welling with panic. βNo, please!β she pleaded. βShe...
Sickness overcame Emily without warning. While we strode, arms linked, through downtown after a late movie, taking turns trashing itβEmily became silent, and stopped walking. I thought maybe sheβd stepped in gum, or forgot something at the theatre, but on her face grew an expression signaling...
My wife Vicky means more to me than my own life. Iβve consulted doctors after hours, anonymous clinical helplines, even a suicide hotline for Christβs sake. The only course of action that I have left is to release her into professional medical care. As weak...
Growing up, I never saw a single carved or smashed pumpkin. The only smashed pumpkin I ever saw was thrown down personally. It was years ago. I was still young. Maybe weβd gotten the idea from a story on the radio or a comic. A...
I live in a small, but lively town in Massachusetts. Its local legends have fueled my love affair with the paranormal. It's a subject that fascinates me to this day. Coupled with insomnia, this passion led me to spend many a late night at the...
The air filled with smoke, but to Texan farmer Don Murphy, it was all part of his daily routine. Unlike most men, Don lived for his workdays. Even at fifty-seven he never grew tired of the fragrant fog of burning wood, the vast blue skies, and...
When the quarantine began, I thought life couldnβt get any worse, but it only took a week of silent streets and empty lots for that to change. On the seventh night, sitting and staring across the block from the window of my apartment, I saw...
It had rained off and on that summer night, leaving the forest dark and humid. Pushing through the wet underbrush after his friend, Noah wiped his hands on his pants, gripped his flashlight tighter, and complained, βBut what if the ghost is real?β Crunching through the...
The day I accidentally witnessed my physics teacher die horribly, I didnβt know what to do. I went to my classes in a daze, sat there stunned for hours, and wondered if people would think I had something to do with it if I reported...
When I first saw him standing out there on the sidewalk, I thought nothing of it. I certainly didnβt think heβd still be out there come September. I lingered at the window for just a moment, decided that the night-bound silhouette across the street was...