In the end, the most surprising thing about the video was that no two people ever remembered it the same. It was a modern-day Rorschach test. It was only three minutes and twelve seconds long, but people saw different things when they recounted what they had watched. One thing everyone agreed on was the video… Continue reading Desert Highway (a dream)
Category: weird fiction
Wasp
MONDAY: I use the camera on my phone to see inside the bathroom vent. The buzzing sound has been a nuisance for weeks now, and I was investigating the source of the noise. I can hear it; a dry, scratchy rustling inside the walls. I’ve lived here less than a month. I’m still shocked by… Continue reading Wasp
Broken Toys
The limp line of people staggers out of the fog as if they had just woken up. None of them remembers what came before, none of them knows another. None of them knows what is in store for them. None of them have any inkling of what came before or the grand adventure that awaits.… Continue reading Broken Toys
Descartes’ Darkness
Darkness so complete it erases all memories of light. I grow anxious. Am I blind? I try opening my eyes. But something feels wrong. I reach to touch my face, and the unworldly otherness that results is so overwhelming that I forget all about touching my eyes. Am I paralyzed? And blind? Where am I?… Continue reading Descartes’ Darkness
Pause!
I’m such an easy mark for tech gear and apps, a true tech-addict. I never stood a chance with the PAUSE marketing hype. They loaded the ad with emotional hooks. Tired of feeling stressed? Tired of deadlines? Feel like you’ll never get ahead? . You need a break! Relax like a champion! . You need PAUSE. I… Continue reading Pause!
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
Gamer
I glanced at the poster. It hung on the front wall above the third of five large monitors. Each of the screens mirrored one of the five tournament player’s monitor in the room. I swiveled in my seat and saw three cameras. That’s weird. We were informed the tournament would not be televised. If it… Continue reading Gamer
The Ballroom Bubbleverse — Part 9
The Second Cycle. Bar East. I was very drunk by the time the end of the fourth hour loomed large before us. We all sat watching the stage from our table just inside Bar East. (We had equipped our ballroom with two bars, the other was Bar West, obviously.) Which was stupid. We forgot that… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse — Part 9
The Ballroom Bubbleverse — Part 8
I was sitting in my Jaguar, double-checking everything in my luggage. Doubts that I hadn’t anticipated were storming through my head. I never understood why or how I was invited to join Prospero Ballrooms, Inc. When I looked at the list of members, it was populated by people far wealthier than me. I was barely… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse — Part 8
The Ballroom Bubbleverse — Part 7
Chapter 2: Building a Bubbleverse. To understand the science behind bubbleverses, we must travel back in time to the year 2178. I can think of no better introduction than Schmidt’s article. An excerpt from that paper appears below. Frederick Smith, born Feb 28, 2117, died Sep 28, 2158. Smith’s main theory asserted that blood sacrifices unleashed… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse — Part 7
The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 6
–:–:– — / 0:28:10 BVST I grabbed Tommy by the sleeve and pulled him from the crowd. We made our way to the control room. I need to know. A desperate itch had landed, and I needed to see her. Tina had been in the ballroom before. I distinctly remembered it. Still, I wanted proof.… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 6
The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 5
–:–:– — / 0:24:57 BVST Maguire hurried toward the door. I jumped out and followed him out into the ballroom. A crowd had gathered by table 12. With the engineer gone, I felt I was the one in charge. Whatever that meant. “Coming through,” I said, injecting as much authority in my voice as I could… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 5
The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 4
–:–:– — / 0:03:19 BVST I put my head on the table and cried. The screams from the back were a wave of background music accompanying me. “Scott, have you seen the engineer?” Maguire’s voice jerked me back into the room. I rubbed my eyes and mentally replayed his question, demanding it to make sense.… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 4
The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 3
–:–:– — / 0:02:13 BVST I wanted to run out of the place, but then I remembered that alarming lack of anything at all beyond the windows. There’s nowhere to run! Frantic for some distraction, I picked up the envelope, ripped it open, and read. By that point, I’d put two and two together and… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 3
The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 2
11:52:58 PST / 0:00:00 BVST I forced my eyes from the stage. They landed on the place setting before me. I saw the envelope propped against my wineglass. She’d written just one word on it: my name. She always had the most beautiful cursive. My nausea doubled. Why would Tina write me a letter? I… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 2
The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 1
The shift happened sooner than we’d planned. I was sitting in the ballroom, and I’d just found the envelope, and that was when it happened. I wished I could unsee the letter. The love I’d had for Tina dissolved. In its wake, I was learning how to hate her. So, I closed my eyes and… Continue reading The Ballroom Bubbleverse – Part 1
The Mother of all Misaligned SI Joints
POP! What the hell was that? The older I got, the more I realized the importance of discipline. The son of lazy people, I grew up to be a lazy, undisciplined man. Are you surprised? Yeah, me neither. Three months before I began practicing discipline. In all areas of my life, I began rituals and… Continue reading The Mother of all Misaligned SI Joints
The Quiet Place
When at last, the manservant left me in my drab quarters, I sat on the one chair in the cabin and thought long. There was something peculiarly amiss about this place. It was more than the leaden skies overhead through which I was convinced the sun never shone on the estate my master wished me… Continue reading The Quiet Place
Ezekiel’s Stairs
I look down for brother’s blue and white ceramic teakettle, but it’s no longer in my hands. Then I think something that’s not quite a memory; it’s something more akin to an echo of a memory. I dropped the thing hours ago. Maybe it was only minutes past. Surely climbing the stairs to Ezekiel’s lofty… Continue reading Ezekiel’s Stairs
Penguins in the Penumbra
The heat from the parabolic space heater feels good on my bare legs. I’m wearing shorts while I meditate. The only problem is my mind is wandering. Are you surprised? Yeah, me neither. It happens. And what am I doing instead of following my breath? I’m thinking about the penguins on the far side of… Continue reading Penguins in the Penumbra
Stories by Shawn 