Alice May greeted her friends on the porch of Castle Rock, a sprawling Virginia estate. Zoe, the taller of the two, held a pizza box, and Anna clutched a paper bag that clinked when the girls unloaded onto the kitchen… 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
Cass stood at the top of the steps and listened. Her mother and her sister were downstairs in the living room, watching the news. The news story drifted up the stairs like a cold draft. “…miraculous escape from the clutches… Continue Reading
OFFICIAL 9-1-1 TRANSCRIPT: OCTOBER 08, 1984 Dispatcher: 9-1-1. What’s your emergency? Caller: Lord… help… you gotta help. Dispatcher: Sir, please calm down. I need — Caller: She’s… I don’t know what. She was… she was down there. I put her… Continue Reading
Laura was on the phone with her boyfriend when the baby let out a sharp wail. She rushed down the hall, picked up her crying daughter from the crib, cooed “There, sweetie, it’s okay.” Then she saw blood dripping from… Continue Reading
You can say anything to babies, if you do it in the proper tone of voice. “Once upon a time,” and I put down Good Night Moon, “Grandma’s very bestest friend was a boy named Rickie. And he became a… Continue Reading
I peer into my drawer of glasses, deciding, and empty eyes stare back. Most people don’t notice the images pressed into the lenses, like the negatives of old photographs, but Daddy and I do. He keeps his glasses in the… Continue Reading