It wasn’t like I was snooping. I was just out for an evening walk, and my neighbor Raul had his curtains wide open. There was light, there was movement, and I looked. Anyone would have. I wasn’t sticking my nose where it didn’t belong. Raul was...

My name is Duke. This is the story of what happened between me and Colin. We were business partners for a while; I won’t say exactly what kind of business, but yeah, it wasn’t legal, but we never killed anyone. For a while we made...

My Dearest, I hope this letter finds you doing well. I've found myself stuck in a morose languish. I hope writing to you will release its hold upon me incrementally as I've become unable to muster the energy to step outside this accursed hotel room. I...

If your child is afraid of monsters, keep it that way. I know that sounds cold, maybe even cruel, but the alternative can be far worse.Β  Your son or daughter will go through a phase where every closet has a creature in it, and evil specters...

You could be forgiven for thinking the greeting card industry is dying. You’d be wrong. The invention of email promised to kill the postal industry in total, but it was an empty threat.Β  The personal touch of pen and ink is one that just can’t be replaced....

I stood on the rain-slicked doorstep of a refurbished two-story house just outside of the city. I looked at the take-out order in my hand, then the app on my phone to make sure I was delivering it to the right location.Β  Through casual conversation, other...

The date had been awful. Their friends looked like they had fun, though. A quadruple date on a day as special as Valentine’s wasn’t anybody’s idea of romance at first, but David, being the talented salesperson he was, made quite convincing points on why it would...

My last name is Forcz, and people often ask about my nationality. I tell them I'm Romanian-Hungarian. Several years ago I became very interested in the history of my family, a phase a lot of people go through. I actually hired a genealogist to help...

It was just another hot day in The Cove. The Watcher was so still, if not for the sweat dripping down his brow, he could have been mistaken for a mannequin. Locals never paid any mind to individuals such as him, though. Outsiders are plenty around...

New Orleans is a city alive with death. Things have a way of coming back from beyond. There’s something about the city that gives everything an extra spark. That sort of force can interact with the world in strange ways. One of those ways was the...

My brother Marcus was already dead before I came to Odessa.Β  He was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer just six months ago, making him a walking corpse. When he got the news, it changed him.Β  He started to do crazier and crazier things, just to get...

Urban legends are the bread and butter of the American culture.Β  No matter where you go in this beautiful country, you will find whispers of these dark tales that often circulate around a campfire, and perhaps none as prevalent as the stories concerning crybaby bridges. A...

I sat at the ornately filled table with an involuntary smirk on my face as I absentmindedly fiddled with the discarded paper wrapper that had once contained my plastic straw, wasteful I know. My mind drifted to each member of the table, all family members...

The old man’s eyes were cobalt. Deep blue as the North Atlantic and just as stormy. Effortless would it be to imagine an old and proud 44 gunship skudding under topsails with the wind, Wandering Albatrosses gliding with ease above the ship’s wake, the great...

(This story is part of the Grey Michael series. For the first part in the series, entitled Grey Michael, click the preceding story's title) Let me set the scene for you. The room is dark, enclosed, underground. The floor is smooth stone, chalked with a dizzying array...

Skip to content