“I thought she’d dozed off.” It was the excuse I’d been making all week. Tim was standing next to me, gazing at the body in the coffin. Above the fragrance of hothouse flowers rose a faint scent of mothballs, an… Continue Reading
The Christmas tree lights were twinkling. Just a minute, they’re not supposed to do that. Then the room was plunged into darkness. Somebody screamed. It was my niece, obviously. The phrase “we won’t make a drama out of a crisis”… Continue Reading
Sitting in his kitchen, the home he had managed to cling onto, staring at an envelope, and wondering how accurately he could guess what the letter said without opening it, Dan settled on something close to “I’m not going to… Continue Reading
Henry wished he had remembered to put on his wristwatch that morning. It was hell sitting in the hospital waiting room with no semblance of how much time had passed. A broken clock hung on the wall, ticking, though the… Continue Reading
My opponent had been sitting at the board for a good half hour, and still hadn’t moved. I shifted uneasily in my chair. There were only two or three moves from which he could sensibly choose, so what was he… Continue Reading
‘Bodmin Beast Body Count Reaches Fifty’. Charley had scrawled the potential headline in her notebook. It was a sensational headline, an alliterative headline, and fifty was a solid, attention-grabbing number. It was, in fact, the kind of headline that could… Continue Reading
Joey’s brave, I’m smart, and we’re leapfrogging pumpkins at midnight. Worse, a monster with a pitchfork is chasing us. We saw the bodies. He can’t let us get away. Hurdling a pumpkin patch, you need a good flashlight. My piece… Continue Reading
Camila was used to men trying to impress her on first dates so she wasn’t surprised when Ryan suggested they go to the most expensive Italian restaurant in town. They agreed to meet outside Graccina’s at 7 p.m. Even from… Continue Reading
The switch is flipped. Gears begin grinding. 5:00Rami wakes up an hour earlier than his alarm. The sun is peeking through the 40th story window. There’s a pounding outside; a construction crew is furiously drilling through the pavement. TutTutTut TutTutTut… Continue Reading
How I long for those smoky-blue mountains of Montana. Born and raised in the west, I have an almost visceral hunger for wide open places and the endless sky. I can think I’ve adjusted to the city, this agglomeration of… Continue Reading