Bills are stacked so high in the room that they take the place of furniture. From under a pile crawls a man. He picks up one of the few letters without dollar signs. “I’m leaving you,” it says. He throws it with the rest of the junk. His cat has died facedown in its food… Continue reading Advertisement
Month: February 2015
Abridged
His main duty was to sweep the front porch every morning and every afternoon to keep out the fleas. Mary Lou bought several cases of lima beans. They ate nothing but for years. The children found a set of false teeth in the yard. No one ever found out whose they were, but they became… Continue reading Abridged
Vice
No one knew his secret, that he was the Vice President of the United States. Out fishing with the boys, sometimes the conversation would turn to foreign policy or federal interest rates. He had to bite his tongue. His wife suspected something. She came home one night and overheard part of a conversation about diplomatic… Continue reading Vice
Agreeable
As he sank to his knee, she felt sickness take over the rest of her personality. She’d known this was coming, as he had been giving hints all week. She’d hoped hers had been even less subtle, but he had gone on using future tenses, musing what their child would look like. He had asked… Continue reading Agreeable
Saint
The lady was nervous. She had not been to see him before, he was sure, because he knew all his parishioners down to the last detail. Though he could not see her face, he would have known her by her breath, or by her hesitation. Those he knew learned not to hesitate. When eventually she… Continue reading Saint
Celebrity
Though she had her collar pulled around her face and generic dark glasses over her eyes, glances accumulated as she emptied her cart onto the conveyor belt. Soon a normal would say something. “Is that Nancine?” “I think so!” She pretended not to hear. She had headphones on after all, giant 1980s style cans. How… Continue reading Celebrity
Hero
On the one-hundred-year anniversary of the great war that nearly destroyed them, the people of Naraquaua began to wonder how long their peace would last. Two hundred years ago, a despotic ruler came to power and asserted himself as a god. Three hundred years ago, a great evil poisoned the kingdom and all its people,… Continue reading Hero
Regular
Now that he was employed in a meaningful way, Douglas was fairly certain that he was supposed to find a bar to frequent. He wasn’t sure where the idea came from, as he didn’t much like the taste or associated sensations of alcohol, but he liked the bar concept. The young professional persona he had… Continue reading Regular
Tiny Dragons
His phone was ringing. Gerry didn’t mind calls, especially on a Friday night at home, but Fjorik’s nostrils flared, and it was best not to challenge Fjorik. Bjornhard and Thuumbrig were more agreeable, but Gerry doubted he would challenge them either. The phone rang again. Somehow it sounded more urgent this time. Gerry picked it… Continue reading Tiny Dragons
Edit
By the time she regained consciousness, she was already dead. She was sure of it. The transfer seemed to be a success, and as they had explained, the old mind would die as its last synapses copied over. Now she was new. She thought through her name, the date, the president, all of the amnesiac… Continue reading Edit
Post Modern Existential Horror 