THE TRUE ECONOMICS OF HAUNTINGby John Kiste The sights and sounds around him were mostly fuzzy and distorted, and the infrequent moments of clarity and acoustical integrity meant something. They were important. He knew that during those brief interludes something…
NO REGRETSby Joe Manion What first got my wife Elsa upset is when I peed in my khakis without knowing it. I’d been losing it marble-by-marble for months. Poor Elsa—her game shows interrupted by neighbors returning me home from walking…
JUST A QUARTERby Melody E. McIntyre Adam shivered and shoved his hands into his pockets as a harsh wind sliced through his hoodie. He would have worn something warmer but wanted to look good in case that cute girl was…
BELOVEDby John Grover Not even the smell of bleach could erase the subtle medicinal stench or the awful memories Aaron would never forget. He’d cleaned the spare bedroom from top to bottom and it still wasn’t enough to wash the…
THE SCREENINGby Reed Beebe I can’t cook for shit, so I brought Popeyes to the screening. The FedEx guy leaving the elevator as I arrived got a whiff and looked at me enviously. I pressed the button and ascended. My…
THE GLUB WEEVILby David Wright 1986. It was the best of times; it was the… Nope. Not going to start that way. It’s been done before. Suffices to say, it should have been the best of times. I’d just graduated…
CORPSE FLIESby Preston Dennett The sound of dishes banging in the kitchen ceased and seconds later Geena appeared, waving her hands frantically. Stanley looked up from the TV. “What is it, honey?” “L-look!” She pointed to the dining room where…
DAMAGE DEPOSITby Matthew Pritt Hunter found the damage while investigating the flickering lights. The breaker box was offset from the frame, exposing the wood behind it. There it was, yet another problem with the rental house. “I think we have…
BIG EMPTYby Aria Braswell The Big Empty smelt like the color black. It sat out back behind the farmhouse and was deep as anything could go. Mama didn’t think it smelt like I thought it did. Still, I wasn’t allowed…
A NEW SAVIORby Kat Hutchson The smell of ammonia filled Ruth’s nostrils when she entered the room. She couldn’t quite make out if it was just urine or if there was something more to it. A sticky residue clung to…
8.06by Justin Rulton They come to talk to me. They tell me things I don’t want to hear. They bring me answers to questions I don’t want to ask. Uninvited. Like a sudden dull pain in your temple, or a…
HARBINGERby R. Michael A murder of crows spiraled overhead, cawing in the waning light just above the canopy of an aged, twisted forest. Fog rolled in from the northwest, blanketing the underwood save for a single oil lantern that gently…
