I don’t like chickens, actually that isn’t the truth, I’m scared of them. There, I said it, and I said it first, so it can’t be used against me. I’ve had several traumatic memories from childhood that make me feel jittery and slightly nauseous around chickens, or more specifically roosters. There was the time I was visiting my Aunt, and the neighbor came over, and he had big bloody holes in his jeans. It looked like a dog...

The Christmas present ticked rhythmically behind the long sofa. The housemaid shuffled about, reluctantly preparing her master’s breakfast of tea, hardtack, and a shot of rum, as she had done for years. Because today was special, she placed a tiger lily on the tray. The bedroom door banged open. “Ahoy, wench! Where’s me grub?” He twirled his mustache with his hooked hand. “Open your present first.” He hastily leaned over...

Laurence Cullen had icy blue eyes, thick black hair, and a wild temper that was encouraged by his Russian mother’s doting and his Irish father’s genes. “I rebuilt it, you didn’t pay for it, it’s mine and you can’t have it back until you pay me for it, but I think I’ll throw it in that truck over there, and once it’s in, I’m not takin’ it back out for you,” the mechanic said. “Bullshit,” Laurence said as he walked into the...

"Because of you I try my hardest just to forget everything, Because of you I don't know how to let anyone else in, Because of you I'm ashamed of my life because it's empty, Because of you..."She opens her new closet door and runs right into herself. The owners before them must have forgotten the mirror. Her eyes are distant and sad, her movements both curious and anxious. She bites her lip, the stops because she looks stu...

HurtBy Jazmen Bishop Every choke got a little harder, his grip felt like he was a pro at this. So silly of me to think it would stop after the first I’m sorry. His words are what made me stay, words that can now be called lies. The hands loosened, and for a while there were smiles but behind the smiles were hurt pain and anguish. Soon the words tightened up and soon they hurt worse than the sweaty hands on my throat. The...

Welcome aboard Boom Boom Airlines, today we will be flying to Cleveland, Ohio non-stop. Before we begin our safety instructions, I would like to play you a message from one of our sponsors of this flight. Barf Bags International, the maker of the best barf bags for use with motion sickness is proud to sponsor this flight. We manufacture the best product available for motion sickness. It is clean, safe and sanitary. We str...

She woke up ecstatic because it was time to celebrate Yule in her small Pagan town snuggled in snow covered mountains of America. Today Daire was escorting her younger sister, Tansy, to deliver clove spiked fruit as gifts to their neighbors. Little did she know as she dressed for the day how it ends. For many years, her best friend was a boy who lived up the road, Lorcan. When Tansy was giving the fruit to his mom, Lorcan...

Slow motion. I can see that 9mm of lead traveling towards my face in slow motion. I know, that I should duck, or step aside, to let it travel past me, but I can't. As if I'm frozen. As if my body is caught in the same slow motion as that bullet coming my way. Only my brain seems to work at normal speed, the rest is slowed down, like the footage from a high speed camera. Am I supposed to see my life flashing by in my mind...

Sitting on the veranda feeling alone, she's missing her love who is away for work, longing for the moment he will return. She leans back thinking about a mountain ranch filled with horses and a flowing creek which leads into a swimming hole. "Come on, let's go in," he says, as he strips down to his togs. She looks in his eyes, and then she begins to do the same. Together, holding hands, they run and dive in, plashing arou...

"I miss you so much."I kneel on the grass and stare into the darkening horizon for a long period of time, my mind whirling, the compulsively organized file cabinets in my brain spewing memories onto the floor. I am forced to sift through them in order to find their dwelling place. I run into the memory of standing up for you to Dad. His voice pierces my heart, driving as deep as it did the first time around."No son of min...

Chanoya walked through the door into her large, high-ceiling, open living room. When she looked into the middle of the room, she dropped all of her stuff and screamed bloody murder. For that is what was in the middle of the floor. A man hanging from her ceiling with many stab wounds. She looked up at the face and screamed again for the man was smiling. He gurgled out, “You’re next!” When he said it, blood splattered out a...

Professor Bachusrand wrote, “=42” on the wall. He stopped and looked at what he had written. Then he rappelled down the inside wall of the tall tower, where he had been working on his equation. When he reached the bottom, the old lizard celebrated by running around in circles, jumping up and down, and singing. “The answer is 42 . . . the answer is 42. Whoo-Hoo the answer is 42,” sang Professor Bachusrand. Students and fac...

Driving through the rolling prairie of Wyoming was boring. The children sat at the table reading books. My wife sat in the other captain's chair, as I drove. Our destination was Devils Tower National Monument. Verdant rolling fields of grass covered this area of our country. The road I drove was two lanes wide and snaked through the countryside. As I drove around one of the many rolling hills, Devil's Tower loomed ahead....

The house was quiet. The children slept, while their mother and I labored in the kitchen. It was Thanksgiving Day and we worked to prepare our dinner. The turkey sat in the sink where cold water ran over it. A big yellow bowl sat on the counter full of stuffing mix, vegetables, melted butter and broth. I stirred it carefully making sure that everything mixed well. We had two cats, one a Russian Blue named Smokey, the othe...

The walk seemed different today. I lived near these woods almost all my life. I played in the woods. I built many little hovels using branches and undergrowth as cover. Instead of going through neighbor's yards to get to the woods, I walked down the street to the private road that bisected the woods. A local university owned the woods and the road. The university received the woods in an endowment as a place to study and...