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
Category: supernatural
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
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
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
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
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
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
Henry’s Heart
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 90 Again, the hooded figure beside me raises his right hand, spins his index finger furiously fast, and reality goes away for several seconds. I can feel myself sliding sideways through space and time. I am like Ebeneezer. But, unlike Dickens’s curmudgeon, my sin hadn’t been greed.… Continue reading Henry’s Heart
Frank
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 62 I loved my new studio; It had vaulted ceilings, a fireplace, and a freestanding wall that was open on both sides but created a pleasant sense of separation from the rest of the apartment. It also had a patio. It only looked out on the parking lot below… Continue reading Frank
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
My Shin-jury
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 48 “Hold still, you big baby, or I’ll spray it with alcohol,” Tammy says to me as she outlines my open wound with a sharpie marker. Her thinking, such that it is, is she can gauge if the infection is getting worse if it crosses the black line she’s… Continue reading My Shin-jury
Possession
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 45 It started with the damn tea! I’m sure of it. I’ve not felt the same since I drank the mysterious tea at the Chinese restaurant two weeks ago. Now maybe the two things are not causally related, but I seriously doubt it! I drink the strange tasting tea… Continue reading Possession
Brittany
Flash Fiction Challenge 100 – Day 34 My alarm goes off, but it’s different this morning. It’s not coming from my trusted android; it’s coming from an alarmingly bedazzled iPhone X with a Hello Kitty phone cover. Oh no, it’s happened again. I throw back the quilt, get to my feet. My body feels lighter,… Continue reading Brittany