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...
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...
Andrew wasn’t sure what his dominant emotion was as he watched the news article unfolding on CNN, but he was pretty certain it was somewhere on the spectrum between hatred and hopelessness. Probably closer to hopelessness by this point, on account of the fact that...
The police cruiser rumbled down the long gravel driveway, trailing a moldering cloud of dust that’d hang there until they left. About halfway down there was a sign nailed to a tree that said: IF YOU CAN READ THIS, YOU’RE IN RANGE. Depicted below this...
They’d stopped on Winn Street, outside St. James. Ethan hadn’t broken his silence for a moment as he parked up by the church and Laura knew better than to challenge his decision. At the best of times, when Ethan needed silence, he needed silence, and...
If Yannick hadn’t been here before he wouldn’t have known what they were. The countryside that surrounded them was French; anyone could have guessed that. Flaxen fields of barely tillering wheat ran as far as the eye could see and stopped only, perhaps, where the rough...
I’ve lived in the Everglades all my life, most of it just south of Little Shark River on the west side of Oyster Bay. My place is right on the edge of the water, and my nearest neighbor is over a mile away. That’s how...
How do I even begin to tell you about the...
Certain houses, like certain persons, manage somehow to proclaim at once their character for evil. In the case of the latter, no particular feature need betray them; they may boast an open countenance and an ingenuous smile; and yet a little of their company leaves...
The bones arrived on a Friday, in a pine crate the size of a steamer trunk. “Is that it, Mr. Evans?” Eliot asked, his tone lacking awe. The rest of the earth science class conversed in whispers or stared out the row of bay windows overlooking...
I was referred by a temp agency. I had no idea who I would be working for, or what the job would entail. I only knew that the pay was good. A week-long excursion at $725 a night. More than enough to pay off a...
It had been wracking my brain for months. What exactly did he keep in there? Why was he being so secretive? Even when I was younger, my father was more than happy to share his work with me at the dinner table. I listened intently, fascinated...
The world came back into focus. She stood motionless at the edge of the bed, watching me from beneath the decaying black shroud that covered her head. Two white, reflective orbs passed over me. I could feel the pressure of her dread gaze as it seemed...
Part I How happy we are today The feeling will only escape No matter who we blame it on When the thrill is gone, it's gone, it's gone - Trifonic Warren Biggs thundered into the radio station that sat at the edge of town, the town itself sat at the edge...
The moon hung heavy overhead through a striated bank of clouds, and even though it was a weeknight, the Levine family was gathered on the front lawn, necks craning up and peering into the sky. The meteor shower was due to start at any minute...
I shouldn’t have gone. I didn’t want to go. Why did I go? Melanie… it’s all her fault. It was all her that we went. She told us about this app a while ago in Discord. Said it helped her see parts of our town we’d...
“If you’re counting sheep to help you sleep, don’t look them in the eye, For some will give you dreams to keep, and some will make you die.” The idea of counting sheep stretches back to a simpler time in our history. A time before all those...
My name is Frank Zauf, and I think my tarot deck is threatening me. It’s important to me that someone understands. I’ll make this all as quick as I can. Please let me explain. I bought the deck as a child. It was at a flea...
I’d just begun getting intimate with my wife, and we had gotten a good rhythm going when she suddenly froze. “Shh, Trevor, wait...
“Damn, Pete!” my newest employee Marlon exclaims as he nods his head across the bar. “That woman’s eyes are all over you. It’s that time again, huh?” I try to hide my devilish smirk as I give a nod of my own in agreement. I slide...
