I don’t head home; I just head to another park. This one’s even farther from where Evangeline lives, so there’s no way she’ll follow me here and, even if this park is closer to home, there’s no way my “parents” will find me… it’s the weekend, they never leave the house on the weekend. Unless, of course, they run out of their stash. But that doesn't happen often, so I’m not all that worried. I sit myself down on a swing, m...

Dizziness struck, everything swaying around him, it was hard to stay balanced. He staggered over to the wall for support, suddenly a surge of sharp pain in his head. The world around him almost like static on a TV fuzzy and sporadic, the feeling of blood ran down the back of his neck dripping to the floor. He rushed to a drawer to find any sort of wrapping, after locating a roll of linen he wrapped it around his head a fe...

Ange kisses up my neck, nibbling a little as she does so, and I know she feels me squirm. “Why what, Phi-Phi?” “Please don’t call me that. Just call me Philena.” We walk over to the table I was at and sit down next to each other. I set down the painting I’ve just finished and I hear her gasp. “Why did you leave? Why did you bully me? Why are you coming back?” I blink quickly and look up at her to see her staring at the pa...

Weekends at the house aren’t normal weekends where the teenager sleeps in and the parents leave her alone, then tease her with, “Oh my gosh, it’s alive!” when she finally wakes up around noon or one in the afternoon. No, weekends here I get up at about 7:30 in the morning, take a quick shower, get dressed in cover-ups and start walking. I don’t exactly walk anywhere in particular, but I bring my backpack with food (a coup...

Throughout his body, pain was the only thing he felt. His arms, torso, legs, but the most prominent pain was his head, he moved his hand to feel it and felt a large bump and a warm liquid that could only be blood; he then lost consciousness. Upon waking up again the pain returned, everything felt sore but he was able to think clearly now though when he tried to recall what had happen, he couldn’t remember. Still laying on...

“Would you like me to leave?” she asks, face turned towards mine, eyes hidden underneath a pair of Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses like she’s afraid of seeing what’s really out there. Some days I wonder if she dreams in sepia-tinted images, light filtering through her drug-addled mind in the same way sunlight falls on plastic screens. “That’s all right, Maddy,” I say slowly, but at the same time I almost do want to be alone. I...

Today was finally the day, that faithful point in Paul’s life. Of course he had no idea it was upon him, he woke up feeling like it was any other Saturday morning. His clock showed 6:30am meaning it was time for Paul’s daily morning jog; he took a shower, and got dressed as per usual. It was until he wanted to go downstairs where he found something quite odd, looking down his stairway it lead into a seemingly never ending...

Underneath my exterior that tries to convince the world that yeah, I’m tough as fucking nails, there lies that same frightened child, who still hears her screams and pleads for mercy, the same time, every night, begging for him to leave her alone. But every night he haunts her nightmares, her fevered insomniac dreams, which threaten to consume her in their flames. She can still taste him on her, and it’s been a hundred ye...

Lying in bed tonight, I pull my sketchbook out from under the bed and open it to a blank page. I have to be real sure that He’s not going to come anywhere near here that way He won’t know I’m drawing—or He’ll both take everything away and garbage my work and punish me before Mother wakes up. But He’s asleep right now, so I’m safe. I just have to listen for Him. My hands finish the strokes across the paper and I look down...

I enter the doors to my high school, a senior. First day back to school and apparently I'm supposed to be shrieking and crying like an idiot, going, "Oh my God I haven't seen you since... two days ago!" to all my friends... wait, what friends? But instead of being stupid and wasting my time, I run off to my assigned locker and empty the stuff I don't need into it- the binders and shit for my last three periods will be pic...

You joined Alexa for a while. I saw you in the halls with the Pinheaded football players we used to laugh about. You mostly ignored me the first half of sophomore year, and, surprisingly, so did the Blonde Squad. That all changed right around finals time though. I was absent for two days and when I came back, I was ghost-like and shaky. I was the frail girl we used to joke about - the one I never thought I'd be. I actuall...

pouty lips twinkling eyes years ago you gave me butterflies... You walked up to me at out middle school. I'd had quite a crush on you since a couple years before. Your lips were peachy pink, moist because you'd just licked them nervously. Your eyes were smiling at me even if your teeth were biting your bottom lip. You open your mouth, with those perfect teeth, and spoke to me- me. I looked around a bit, wondering if you w...

The stranger came just as Giuseppe had finished spraying down the lab. The tables along three walls had become hazy green blurs, barely catching the light from the single bulb he had left lit. The dulled grey cabinets peering down at the tables stretched toward the ceiling in rows that quickly, almost unnoticeably, slipped out from sight. And no wonder, for high above him the walls drew together and created a lightless co...

My mom left me at my cousin’s house and went hunting with her sister and brother-in-law, Kathy and Don. My mom and my aunt are tribal members, so hunting is loosely regulated, but Don isn't a member, and shouldn't have gone with them. It was very late before the adults came home again. Large snowflakes were swirling from the dark sky. My mom wasn’t with Don and Kathy. They dropped her off at the hospital before they left...

Within my family there has always been a constant tie on my mother’s side. Since as far back as we can recall we have been very in tune with spirits and could sense and sometimes see the spirit world. It is because of this that we all have had our share of negative and positive experiences. From my earliest days I have memories of spirits, of creatures, and of the air around me growing still and foreign. However just as I...