The earth was flat, and you could commit suicide without worrying about being a nuisance. You could jump right off the edge, not so much dead as gone. No one had to fish out your body. Pat’s mother knocked on… Continue Reading
I paid a lot of money to a woman who cleared things up for me. Kelsey, a counsellor. Kelsey said: “You’re misreading his gestures.” “Oh?” I asked. “How so?” “You’re thinking that when Toby gets home and he empties the… Continue Reading
They told Nico he had to go to the picnic or there would be consequences. They told him to stay home, that it wouldn’t matter whether he got the medicine. The voices followed him into the bathroom, nagging him as… Continue Reading
People’s obsession with goals, mission statements, work objectives. I never got it. Me, I followed the path of least resistance. I went to the first college that took me and accepted the first job offer. At the office, I did… Continue Reading
In the Eighth Grade at a Catholic School in Columbus, Ohio as I neared the age of fourteen, I had a couple things going for me. One, I knew a lot of stuff, primarily anything that had nothing to do… Continue Reading
Leaves fell, and the ghosts came out. I was sitting on the porch of my friend Marsha’s house. Her parents were away for the Halloween weekend, and she was throwing a party. Some zombies roamed up, carrying beer. As they… Continue Reading
The end of the world, or more precisely the end of human civilisation as we know it, didn’t come with apocalyptic suddenness and all-consuming hellfire. It approached us far more insidiously. This is how it happened. I had always been… Continue Reading
Stella took a deep breath of crisp autumn air and thought about how little Halloween had changed in the neighborhood where she grew up. Bands of costumed children roamed the streets as the last of the natural light faded. The… Continue Reading
You’re securing the doors and windows while I field-strip the Winchester. Live long enough after the world ends and survival becomes a tired old routine. You sleep while I keep watch, I vomit as quietly as I can while you… Continue Reading
They planned to pick up their contribution to the Halloween party on the way. So, Jean and Maryann — dressed as Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz, not without some argument on who would be Ethel — stopped at the mall.… Continue Reading