Just Another Day
The parking lot was empty.
Steve ignored the sharp headache that had suddenly come over him and the peculiar feeling that he had done this before.
As hard as he tried to keep his eyes on the video store’s entrance...
Topic
Short Stories
A collection of 93 features
Schrödinger's a Quack
Tragedy struck early in Stella’s childhood.
Her mother, Clara, was a brilliant professor of quantum physics at the local university. She was renowned for her sharp mind and tireless dedication to her work. Her father was snuffed out in an instant...
Bone Sour
The moment the waitress steps over to take my order, I sniff the scent of menstrual blood lingering beneath the stench of grill smoke and fryer grease. My mouth waters more for her than it does the plates of meatloaf and country fried pork making the rounds of the fifties-themed diner.
Constance
It was an accident when I saw Mom cry for the first time. I was cutting class and snuck home during lunch—freshman year, each day a unique disaster; I had been slighted by some former best friend and needed to get away—but when I tiptoed into the apartment, Mom’s racking sobs...
The Escort
Gretchen Ellison was a beautiful young woman, as many men (and a great many women) would attest. Though modest by nature, she wouldn’t disagree. She knew her face had a Madonna-like, cherubic innocence.
Water and Brimstone
It is a lonely thing, to die in a world that is not your own. That is the fate that my brother and I now face. It is even more cruel that the world we find ourselves in is so like our own in so many ways, yet so hostile at every turn.
The Cobwebs
Kevin grew up hearing stories about the spiders. There was always a spooky tale for campfires or sleepovers. Ben Watson told one at Tim Rollins’s house just before his dad came in to say lights out. Ben held a flashlight up under his nose in that time-honored tradition of spooky-tale-tellers.
The Allen Affair
Midnight Ferry With Vending Machines
The ticket blepped out the machine like a tongue. Laughing to himself, giddy with jetlag, Rory used both hands to take hold of it. One hand would be impolite in Japan. Written in English: Midnight Ferry with Vending Machines and onboard Entertainments.
Winter Trial
Guilhaume Barthélémy wiped his balding pate in consternation as he listened, the nursemaid’s thick Germanic accent now lilting lightly over the words. Her new fluency hardly registered, however...