Hello! Welcome to the afterlife! What’s that? This isn’t what you were expecting? Yeah, we get that a lot here. No pearly gates, no streets of gold, no many named Peter with a list checking to see if you’re supposed to even be here? We’re still scratching our heads on that last one. What a… Continue reading How to Haunt Your Loved Ones
Author: singram1028
The Past Office
For fifteen years the letter sat beneath the antiquated mail sorter. A clumsy man named Clyde, who would retire three months later (and be buried fourteen days after that), had dropped it and it slid several feet beneath the bulky contraption with the silly name. He thought briefly about retrieving it, but his sciatica was… Continue reading The Past Office
Be Right Back
Oh, thank God. I remembered my inner atheist and cringed. But that was definitely a bus a few hundred yards away. I thought I might die out there, a slow, agonizing death of dehydration in a desert. Please don’t be a mirage. Please. My car had broken down several miles back. In Death Valley. That… Continue reading Be Right Back
A Knight Reflects
In my peripheral vision, I sense the table between us, the candle, the flittering moth, the book, and the other thing. Where am I? I don’t dare glance around for clues. Maybe this is a pub, and we are waiting for the girl to bring us our mead. The room is small, dimly lit, and… Continue reading A Knight Reflects
Ghost Dog
The frail woman pulls her coat shut, bunches her scarf, and shoves her hands deep into fur-lined pockets. In one of her hands, she imagines three plastic bags. Estelle knows the bags aren’t real. Just like she knows not to shout her dog’s name aloud in public. She knows he is no more. Tommy had… Continue reading Ghost Dog
The Low Probability Bike
I remember the first time Beckett showed me the prototype. I met him in the parking lot of a Starbucks on Parker. He unloaded the garish thing from the bed of his truck, and I helped him lower it to the pavement. A couple entering Starbucks pointed and laughed at us before the door closed… Continue reading The Low Probability Bike
Lizzy’s Brother
Until last night, this morning even, it was always Marcus’s responsibility to keep the coal bin loaded and to keep the fire stoked. He was the last of the boys. The last of my brothers. The last of my siblings. It was the pox that got Johnny. Then Billy, Bobby, and Rachael (my twin) all… Continue reading Lizzy’s Brother
Running Blind
“You think I don’t trust you? Unbelievable. I can’t believe you sometimes, Laura,” Liza says, dropping to her knees. She opens her fanny pack and fishes for something from its dark nylon depths. She stands up, holding the scarf. Oh no. Not this again. “Liza, the race is about to start. Can we put a… Continue reading Running Blind
Stella’s New Family
Sometimes, your family finds you. The tide is turning. I never remember if it is in or out. But the ocean noises change when the tide turns. I can’t remember who taught me that. Maybe my grandmother? I was named after my other grandmother, Stella. She had had six boys and never knew how to… Continue reading Stella’s New Family
Sisyphus on Vacation
The heat is stifling. Our footsteps are an endless string of dry crunches on the shoulder of California State Route 190. Whose idea was it to put a bed-and-breakfast in Death Valley? Something tugs at my consciousness. She looks at her phone again. She always looks at her phone at this point. I can’t remember… Continue reading Sisyphus on Vacation
In a Hospital Far Away
“It’s a nice room.” The voice is familiar, but I can’t place it. Am I sleeping? Dreaming? I hear a series of melodic beeps filling the air. They have their own distinctive pitch and period. But that can’t be right, I’m no longer…, “Wayne, he’s waking up,” a soft voice filters into my awareness. As… Continue reading In a Hospital Far Away
AHT Slaps
The stage is smaller than I was expecting. The spotlights feel hot on my skin and my eyes water from the white light. I begin my routine. I don’t have to wait long for my first buzzer. I stay focused and don’t pull my eyes off my model. I suspect it was Simone who buzzed… Continue reading AHT Slaps
Manila Folder
The Subaru screeches onto the top level of parking garage B-8. It pulls to the far end of the structure and parks near the elevators. The report slides to the far-right end of the dashboard. An Aldi’s flyer slides on top of the manila folder. The report enjoyed the slide but was perturbed to find… Continue reading Manila Folder
One Day (a poem)
One day I will let go. One day I might try again. These days, These days, I sit and wait, I self-medicate, Do what I can to distract myself from the pain. Someday. Someday I might try. I might stop waiting, For cessation, For distraction, Telling… Continue reading One Day (a poem)
Time to Go
The need to relieve myself finally pulls me from my dreams. I unwrap myself from the covers and make my way to the bathroom in the dark. The son is the father of the man. A line from a Wordsworth poem–I make a mental note to look it up tomorrow, knowing I will forget both… Continue reading Time to Go
On the Memory of Trees
(an essay) It wasn’t a big thing. It was a banal thing. A common everyday thing. Something seen by everyone on a regular basis. It was a tree. One I glanced at while walking in my neighborhood. A section of the bare tree trunk, foliage above, some more below, and, below that, a wooden fence.… Continue reading On the Memory of Trees
A Session with Doctor Palmer
Today is our third meeting. The couple sits huddled together on the client’s couch. They always shiver and ask me to turn up the heat. Leanne holds the white blanket bundle on her lap like a devotee might hold a sacred relic. I can’t get her to put it down. “So, what are you saying,… Continue reading A Session with Doctor Palmer
Is this Heaven?
That woman ahead looks so familiar. It’s a humid morning, Sweat drips down the side of my face. I’m carrying my backpack though, so I’m getting a bit of a workout during my walk. It took me ten minutes, but I finally overtook the woman walking the two dogs. She was tall and slender, wearing… Continue reading Is this Heaven?
After Johnny’s Funeral
Revenge is a dish best served perpetually. I drop my purse on the kitchen counter and exhale for the first time in what feels like a decade. I hope my tears were convincing. After the funeral, Helen hugged me tightly, then looked at me with a strange expression that made me wonder. The way her… Continue reading After Johnny’s Funeral
Wormhole
The exterminator wipes his brow, pockets his grease-stained handkerchief, and checks his tablet again. “Yeah. We don’t see a lot of these. If I’m honest, they told us about these in class, but I swore the instructor was pulling our legs. Pranking us. You know? That it was a joke to see which of us… Continue reading Wormhole
Stories by Shawn 