Now “Raise your right hand and repeat after me.” The bailiff, a shorter-than-average man, waits for my compliance before continuing. He is bald on top; a half circle of fine white hair hugs his pale, wrinkled head. A piece of toilet paper peeks out from his starched collar, a dot of blood in its center.… Continue reading Raise Your Right Hand
Category: supernatural
The Cask of Magnus
I step up and into the cabinet. Angela shuts the door behind me. She and my other three assistants spin the box. Slower, ladies. You want me to throw up in here? We rehearsed this trick hundreds of times. In rehearsal, it worked flawlessly. Naturally. This is our first live performance. If it goes as… Continue reading The Cask of Magnus
Kiki the Killer Kitten
Now The knife is so sharp I don’t feel it cut me as I reach it into the soapy water. I don’t notice the blood. Do it deeper. “What was that?” That’s odd. I thought I’d heard something. Kiki sits on the drying mat to my right, nestled between the inverted wok and wine glasses.… Continue reading Kiki the Killer Kitten
One Last Job
I reach the address and scan for any red flags. I hate aborting a job once I’ve started, but I don’t take unnecessary risks. Ever. No curtains move in any of the windows with sightlines on 1311 State Street. Everyone is watching TV or fucking. That or they’re not home. Either way, I’m good to… Continue reading One Last Job
Wave Buddy 1000
What’s this? ‘The Wave Buddy 1000?’” he reads from the empty box on the kitchen island. “Did you buy more stuff we don’t need?” he says. He picks up the gadget’s thin instruction manual and skims it. She’s rooting around in the refrigerator. The gadget is a bowl-shaped, metallic mesh grid; he assumes it must… Continue reading Wave Buddy 1000
What to Expect When You Can’t Remember a Meat
Drew warned me about the strange hunger pangs I’d have, but I didn’t think this was what she meant. She’d had three children. I only wanted one, but it looks like I’m getting two. It’s twins for me. Identical, at least that’s what they think. How can they know any of this? The sonogram faces… Continue reading What to Expect When You Can’t Remember a Meat
The Problem with Harry
Now. “Seven…seven…seven,” Jason said. He was unsure he was doing as Midge instructed. She had given him a three-minute crash course and stood over his right shoulder, whispering words of encouragement. Just go through the digits one-by-one; repeat them over and over in your head and see if any of them stick. Try to see… Continue reading The Problem with Harry
Louisa’s Story
I was worried about Stuart. Everyone says twins are supposed to be alike, but we were fraternal twins; while we were alike in many ways, we were also different. Stuart had been the sensitive one. I was worried about him. When I walked through the door, I had hoped to find Misses Clendenin talking to… Continue reading Louisa’s Story
Classroom
“I tell you, it’s today.” “You say that every day, Stuart,” Julia says. He does think a lot of days are the anniversary; maybe he feels guilty about Louisa. She was his twin. Perhaps he wishes he had gone with her. I study the light in the room. Stuart might be right. The room grows… Continue reading Classroom
Searchlight Needles
Joanna’s eyes slipped shut, and her chin dipped for just a second. She snapped her eyes open and jerked the steering wheel, causing the rental car to swerve dangerously on the wet mountain highway. “Not today, Mister,” she shouted. That had been one of Jill’s expressions, but who the man was Jill could never say.… Continue reading Searchlight Needles
How to Haunt Your Loved Ones
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
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
Muertos
Halloween 2043 I swallow four more ibuprofen. The sciatica is hurting today. “You almost ready?” I startle at the sound of her voice. I startle a lot these days. I was just putting the finishing touches on my Halloween getup. We must always dress the same. She was such a creature of habit. This is… Continue reading Muertos
Lou Cypher
June 2022 Flash Challenge, Day 12 The first thing I noticed about him was that he dressed impeccably in a black silk suit, the whitest shirt I’ve ever seen, and a red silk pocket square. His beard was salt and pepper but neatly maintained, and he carried himself with crazy confidence. His eyes were friendly… Continue reading Lou Cypher
Blythe
June 2022 Flash Challenge, Day 6 It is surprising how much misinformation the media and books have regarding monsters. The idea that the only way to kill a werewolf is with a silver bullet? Laughable nonsense. Or that vampires can’t go out in the sunlight? Silly and baseless. Most of them don’t like being in… Continue reading Blythe
My Dead Dad and I Talk Technology
I really ought to be able to explain this better. I used to be an engineer for chrissakes. But that was a long time ago. Since then, I migrated to computer programming. Now I’m no longer in the technology field at all. I’m a massage therapist. I can’t believe he’s here. He died in 92.… Continue reading My Dead Dad and I Talk Technology
A Tea Party in Hell
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 19 This is the third story in a series. Charlie Bennett SIRIRI The prince of the third level of hell preferred to hold his tea parties in a different place. That was why today, he was on the second level. The screaming and agonizing and endless complaints from the tortured made… Continue reading A Tea Party in Hell
Gerald
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 16 Dazed, Gerald exits his cabin by breaking the window in the loft then dropping into the snow. “It must have been Maude’s table that saved me, ugly battleship thing. Oh, and the table is no beauty either,” he cackles to himself. Maude was Gerald’s ex-mother-in-law. The table was… Continue reading Gerald
Asylum
30-Day Flash Challenge, Day 5 We were supposed to have four solid days of good weather. We got about twelve hours, then the snowstorm hit, and for two hours, we sat hunkering down in one of the shelters along the Appalachian Trail designed for the thru and section hikers. Taylor’s smartphone finally got… Continue reading Asylum
The Elders; A Creation Myth of String and Feathers
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 55 The elders had made the birds. They had traveled from inconceivably great distances through space and time to return to Gaia. With their careful plans and almost joyful, patient experimenting, they created the birds. Human creation myths consistently get that wrong. The evolutionists were and have always got… Continue reading The Elders; A Creation Myth of String and Feathers
Stories by Shawn 