Horror
Shiny Things
(Note: The changes in tense and elongated sentences are a deliberate, stylistic choice by the author.) You see the shiny thing, once heart-shaped and meaningful and worn by someone alive. At some point you would have considered the who and the what and the why, but giving a fuck is a luxury that has long-passed and the last thing you need is to indulge in nostalgia. You know that there will be more shiny things that will catch the dead world’s light and you know how little they all mean now.
By Phillip Mooney5 years ago in Fiction
Nocturne
Before the final nightfall there were all the others: thousands of irrelevant squandered dusks we’d all ignored, smug in our certainty that day would reassert itself the way it always had. Sunsets, we figured, were for special occasions: the drowsy tumble of the blood-red orb into the warm dark waves on some South Pacific island honeymoon, the garish spray of gold and violet against the bright slopes of a ski resort. A million obligations plucking at our psyches every instant, the kids and the coworkers and the spouses and the people with whom we were cheating on the spouses, the cryptocurrency and the foreclosures and the meal prep, the philanthropy and the high-intensity interval training and the end-of-life care for our aging parents, and we were supposed to indulge in such repetitive banalities as sunsets?
By Stephanie Pushaw5 years ago in Fiction
Senseless
Blood rushed through his ears. It was the quietest sound, yet crashed as if it was a roaring ocean. His hands gripped the rough cloth binding them tight enough to cause numbness, trying to get his mind off the pain of the bruises on his face. His tongue tasted only blood. He took a deep, racking breath, coughing as he did so at the scent of his filth. His eyes cried tears stained with blood, straining to see anything at all in his swirling vision.
By Mikayla Christensen5 years ago in Fiction
To Be Alive
Big blue pretty eyes. Big blue pretty eyes deadlocked in a vanity mirror blooming out of porcelain skin with rouged checks and supple lips, all framed by tussles of blond curls. Big blue pretty eyes staring, but in their stillness feverishly examining a slight distortion; a twitch. White teeth are revealed and then concealed again and again, a dozen times. There is something unsettlingly if not manic in this smile stretched to it’s limits.
By Jacoby Levi Vann5 years ago in Fiction
The Pen
Ara stared at the floor of the van as it rattled along, the rough road making all the prisoners’ chains swing ominously. Ara noticed that the prisoner in front of her had on flip flops. Flip flops are the only shoe named for the sound they make, she thought to herself.
By Caitlin Christopher5 years ago in Fiction
The Last Good One
The Last Good One Casey Jean is her name and honestly, I’ve never met someone so absolutely broken. She’s more devoid of emotion than the rock I watched her use to smash in a wild goats skull so we could eat. Humanity went to hell about 8 years ago now, this virus came along and well, let’s just say the human population hasn’t exactly been on the up and ups. So yes, I did watch her murder a goat, but she’s not a monster.
By Michael Adams5 years ago in Fiction
The Bonfire
Dr. Nathanial Barnes, I write to you now in hopes that you might triumph where I have failed. My name is Dr. Samuel Montgomery, and I am the last living member of the Arclight research team. I have pieced this account, together from my own recollection and firsthand accounts from those who were there at the time. I write this being of sound mind and body, under no duress other than by the consequences of my own actions. It is getting colder now, and my cough is getting worse but it is my mind I fear the virus will take before I can finish this writing. I pray, this will find you while there is still time. We can go back, back to the beginning, I remain confident of that much.
By Dick Sampson5 years ago in Fiction
After the World Ends
I can tell you what happened after the world ends but not the before, not what caused it. I’m not sure if anyone can tell you what actually caused the world to end; whether it was some global government experiment gone awry, radioactive solar flares, or if Mother Earth just got sick of our shit and decided to kill off the human race. I was just a child when it happened, so I don't recall much. I do remember there was screaming though, so much screaming and so, so much blood.
By Lisa Ellis5 years ago in Fiction
Heart City
The air grew thick, on a warm summer night, with the scent of a world long forgotten. A man and his dog search the nearby forest for a safe place to get some rest, after a long day of foraging. They stumble upon an old, broken down vehicle, and decided to take shelter in the backseat. The man, with his faithful companion at his side, exhales a sigh of relief as he settles in. He feeds his dog the last scraps of food they have, and then bows his head for a prayer, uncertain of what the next day may bring.
By Zachary M. Cain (Creative/Copy Writing)5 years ago in Fiction
Revenants
Day 1 (March 13th, 2023) I never believed in ghosts or spirits, but I had no more say in that matter. The day it happened was like any normal Tuesday afternoon. I had just returned from work at a McDonalds with a freshly poured Coke staining my new jeans. I groaned and tried to forget the hell that was fast food service by throwing those jeans in the laundry basket and washed myself off with a hot shower, both to cleanse the sticky soda as well as the stress of the day. I was on YouTube mindlessly watching whatever I had on my recommended at the time. A video of ghost hunters who would go to supposedly “haunted” areas, such as old mansions, abandoned hospitals, and even Alcatraz Island. I had always found the practice of ghost hunting interesting. It reminded me of that old cheesy movie that Bill Murray starred in. I received an warning on my phone. The beep of the emergency broadcast system was about as welcomed as nails scratching a chalk board. I decided to ignore it as most of the time it was just a test anyways, but it kept going off. I grew suspicious. I picked up the phone and was curious to see what the notification was about. It had said “Do Not Leave Your Home”. I was skeptical, why should I stay inside?
By Christian B Harris5 years ago in Fiction
The Doomsday Locket
Day 16 In The Dark Apocalypse Fifteen days ago the world collapsed. One moment it’s peaceful, the next corruption. Corruption became lawlessness, then lawlessness became anarchy. The Doomsday Locket protected everyone from the darkness that brought about the end of the human race as we knew it.
By Brandon Nephew5 years ago in Fiction
