Kyle crept down the staircase into the cellar. One step. Two steps. Three steps. He lowered his bare foot to the fourth step and held it there for a moment, glancing down at the wooden stair and his bare toes.… Continue Reading
One night, my husband slammed my body against our bed. When I woke up the next morning, I found that he’d left cocaine on the coffee table, and the door opened for a backpage Craigslist prostitute. Hours later, I was… Continue Reading
Caesar sat up, gasping, his shoulder hitting Calpurnia in the chin. The semi-familiar setting of his wife’s room made it more difficult to gain his bearings. And he still had a phantom pain in his chest and back from the… Continue Reading
The first time I drove the entire way up Emigration Canyon and realized the freeway connected to Park City and it was as though all the barriers I’d grown up with fell down. The first time I drove my car… Continue Reading
On the morning of her fortieth birthday, Lena took literal steps to reclaim her life. The weather had just begun to take notice of autumn, and a crisp breeze blew gray remnants of yesterday’s storms so that the sky was… Continue Reading
I repainted each detail for Milo, that first evening. I described the rock growing in my throat, the sudden sense that the supermarket was dangerously big. I described rushing back to the Honda with a jellied barrier between the biting… Continue Reading
I hadn’t seen much of Neil for several years. At the end of primary school he’d gone private and I’d gone comprehensive. I didn’t think of him often but a time came when my friends were being dicks, not bullying… Continue Reading
Fear is our most base instinct. Fear can be a good thing. In our days in the animal kingdom, fear kept early humans alive. Today fear can be a hell of a motivator; it can also be a hell of… Continue Reading
The door banged against the wall as I bounded in. Valerie stood frozen with her aluminum bat clenched tightly. My arms wrapped around her as I looked to the shadowy lump on the floor. Some neighbor’s kid? I flicked on… Continue Reading
There are no grizzly bears in Michigan. I used to tell myself this when I was out alone, bringing the horses in from the pasture. Sometimes, it helped. When the moon was bright, and the animals quiet, it helped. But… Continue Reading