I exited the funeral home. Outside, the summer sky was orange and blue. Cars honked every other minute, as they usually did downtown. The air smelled of gardenias, piss, and weed. A handful of my cousins were crouched behind bushes… Continue Reading
“THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD WILL RISE AND TAKE VENGEANCE.” The woman’s eyes glow green and stare into nothing. Her voice, though barely more than a whisper, fills the room, far deeper than it was a moment ago. “THEY AVENGE… Continue Reading
Snowcloud says you don’t begin a story except at the place where things start happening. But if I were to begin with the tyrannosaurus blasting through the front windows of the Delphine estate’s ballroom during their annual Gooseberry Cotillion, and… Continue Reading
Before daybreak, the rising tide breached the top steps as Manjula opened the basement door. Murky brown water lapped gently amongst schools of Legos and drowned Barbies. Her screams woke the household, whose night had been disturbed by the ravaging… Continue Reading
Your great-grandson Justin is coming over. You pull out the secret candy stash, hidden from your daughter who worries after your diabetes. Your hands creak and crack as you shuffle cards onto the spotless oak table Jack bought you. The… Continue Reading
She looked good in sundresses. But then again, what girl doesn’t? Z. was a woman of enormous appetites (for breakfast she took eggs Benedict with grapefruit and half a bottle of Gaston Chiquet) who lived in a garlanded townhome halfway… Continue Reading
His lashes are so dark against his skin. Unable to resist, I kiss him gently on his temple. He stirs, swallows, and rolls on his side away from me. I run a hand softly over his shoulder, down his side,… Continue Reading
At seven that morning, as she did every morning before work, Alma Day lit a candle for her husband and set it on the small altar she had made for him in her grief support group. Then she walked to… Continue Reading
From a distance the statue looks like a giant marine in full tac-armour, helmet on and faceplate engaged so you can’t tell gender. There’s a rifle, looks like a Xenon Mark Two, propped against one knee and they’re sat with… 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