Brent mowed him over just before practice started. The coaches were in the field house and other players were still suiting up, leaving the few witnesses available conveniently looking the other way. Scott wasn’t looking, he was down on one knee tying his shoes. That’s what the impending doom that was Brent did, taking his […]
Elise was sitting in the rear passenger seat of her parent\’s car, and her mother was driving. She was small enough that she was not allowed to sit in the front passenger seat. Her gaze turned from her mother’s right shoulder to the window to her left, where an endless field of emerald corn stalks […]
“There is love in me the likes of which you\’ve never seen. There is rage in me the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied in the one, I will indulge the other.” ― Mary Shelley, Frankenstein 1 Katie and Jason rolled their bikes through the thick forest. Their shoes crunched […]
We received a mundane call for a corpse found in the Downtown Wilson Apartments. Anne Elliot was found rotting in her living room after a foul smell was reported by a number of residents. As we ascended the stone steps in the quiet afternoon, my partner joked that we would be in and out in […]
It’s not looking good for the Angels. Top of the seventh, Game 6, series tied up at three a piece, and the Giants are leading 4-0, just ten outs away from winning it all. Francisco Rodríguez is struggling on the mound after allowing a home run from Barry Bonds in the top of the sixth, […]
His prey was close by, crouched and trembling among a dense thicket of blackberry bushes, its breath visible in the cold night air. He stalked through the underbrush, carefully lifting each huge paw and placing it down silently. The breeze brought the scent of the deer, and an insatiable hunger gnawed at his belly as […]
PART I – ON THE ROAD The first thing my wife says to them is: “No one is coming to help you. No one will ever come. Get that out of your head. The only person who can help you is yourself.” Her name is Marija, she is an M.D. psychiatrist and has been working […]
What I’m about to write won’t sound like your usual introduction to a collection of short stories, especially not someone’s first collection. For one thing, I’ve decided to write it myself instead of asking someone like Clive Barker, Stephen King (like either of them would say yes), or Hal Archibald. Don’t know that last name? […]
The first thing Ruby could sense was the man’s breath. The scent of a clove cigarette—with Caesar salad dressing. He stood behind her, breathing heavily, as though he had walked a long distance at an anxious pace. It was approaching that magical time of evening in the mall. Ruby watched the orange crush sunset give […]
The mouth jutting out of the pillow had the teeth of a piranha, snapping its jaws, dripping thick, gooey yellow saliva, and making tiny squeaks that echoed like distant screams. Squatting down in front of him, his father shook his head, the dark bags under his eyes deepening. Stephen had night terrors when he was […]