It had started with a word. Ensorcell. Pollyanna had first overheard it when she was a child, playing with her Barbies in the spacious parlor as her mother prattled away on the phone to one pageant organizer or another. “She’ll absolutely ensorcell everybody, she’s a natural!”...
I was twelve years old when I went on my first hunting trip. It took a lot of brown-nosing and a lot of help from my grandfather, but eventually my father caved and allowed me to go. I was ecstatic. Every fall, my dad and grandpa...
James was an eight-year-old boy with the heart of a dog and the energy of a hummingbird. His mother died when he was only five, so he lived with his grandmother, Babcia. They were very poor: their house was a tiny, dilapidated thing, with a...
The boy hated the nights when his big brother snuck out. He would stare at the empty bed in the bedroom they shared, under the large open window in the eave. Through there, every now and again, he could hear the unmistakable metal thuds of...
My sister Heather meant the world to me. She always seemed to have everything growing up. She was the homecoming queen in our small town. She graduated valedictorian of her class. She was voted Most Likely to Succeed her senior year. She was captain of...
In my hometown, there is a unique shop of oddities called “HexWorks” that I frequent. It’s an old-world boutique that specializes in niche products that I’d describe as being vintage-style with a modern spin. Their items include cloaks, pocket watches, lapels, bizarre art prints, lavish...
Screw Marvin Jenkins. The luckiest bastard in the world. Let me start at the beginning. I was born and raised in Flagstaff, second-generation blue blood. I think I first held a gun at the age of five. I known my way around these parts probably even before...
Sometimes, you may see people on the news, or reality shows, or even social media, and think, “How the hell does someone live like that? How can they believe that?” As someone who grew up deep in the hornet’s nest, I can tell you. We are...
I write this piece with a great degree of trepidation, for the knowledge I now pass on to you has resided festering in my mind for many a month. A large proportion of us subscribe to the belief that the past should remain therein. However,...
Oh, looks like someone’s waking up a bit. That’s real good. I was getting a little worried that I might have given you a bit too much… oh, hey. No, no, no, don’t try to be sitting up. You’re far too… well, you just don’t...
Late one night, I found myself driving down what seemed like an endless stretch of road. I was on my way back from a week-long business trip, facing at least a twelve-hour drive home. Having always been afraid of flying, the monotonous trek was unavoidable....
Everyone probably knows a Hank Easley. You know those people you say you can look up a word in the dictionary and their name would be alongside the definition? For Hank, that word would be ‘slime-ball’. Greasy, sleazy and greedy, it was little surprise to anyone growing up...
I’ve never been good with people. It’s always just been easier to live my life alone, burying myself in fiction and living vicariously through the stories I read and watched. It was comforting to do that. My life could never have been as interesting as...
The day was bright; the Las Vegas sun is blistering, making me feel blinded just being outside. The ring of the gas-station bell goes off as my eyes search feverishly for the coolers, the craving for something cold to drink overriding everything else going on around...
At first, I didn’t think anything of it. My neighbor would stop to chat with me, leash in hand, and I would catch glimpses of the metal slider dangling from its belly. I assumed it was wearing a piece of pet clothing, or that perhaps...
The sleeping mind fascinates me, namely the nighttime hallucinations we call ‘dreams’. Because of this, I keep a journal to record every thought that passes through my brain at night. I set at least one alarm each day so that I’m able to wake up...
The far-off unfocused stare of a corpse is something that still unnerves me. Their gaze locked on to a spot somewhere out beyond the physical realm, the milky haze of the degrading cornea acting like a barrier between the living world and the endless black...
Today marks the twentieth anniversary of my father’s death, taken away by a single, senseless act. It just so happens that today is also my birthday. He’d been working late. As he often did, regardless of birthdays or holidays. I understood it was a painful memory...
Scratch scratch scratch scratch scratch “Hello?” Scratch scratch scratch scratch “Hello? Somebody? Anybody?!” Scratch scratch scratch scratch “Can anybody hear me?! Please! Please, get me out of here!” Casey stirred. He couldn’t see anything, but he could hear her loud and clear. “Dove? Is that you?” Of course it was. Her voice was...
The invasion began in 1985, or so we were told. The headlines immediately caught our attention, “Killer Bees Found on Southern Border!” These were the type of things that sparked the imagination of every child. It filled our heads with images of terrifying attacks and...
