The house was of no significance, and would barely warrant a second glance, nestled as it was a mile from the nearest town on a country lane leading into cloudy valleys. As Daniel Carter drove past, he slowed down, then halted the Volkswagen Passat and stared at the decrepit detached abode, with its flaking front door, grimy windows, and missing roof tiles. He pulled the car onto the verge and left the vehicle. At forty-o...

Eldon Woods was dark and quiet as I walked the path from Riordan Crescent to the park. I rarely entered those woods after dark. There were reports of coyotes and, more likely, the risk of human predators. But on this night, I took my daily walk after sunset. The day had been busy and I needed fresh air and natural surroundings. I was about fifty meters in when something moved to my right. It was large and white, slipping...

My sister Sally and I stood in our grandmother’s darkening living room staring at the wall. Staring at the painting to be exact. The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough or as I referred to it Nightmare Fuel. Our mother used to send us to our grandmother Rose’s house every summer. We loved our grandmother, but we hated that painting. It hung above the TV directly across from the couch and the two chairs that bookended it. Ther...

We all make poor life choices. Mine just happens to be pizza. You’d think working at the nostalgia-laden Wally World would be a dream come true. Maybe for kid me, with all the arcade games that spat out tickets like confetti, ball pits, and colorful characters straight from a children’s book, it was. I used to wrap myself up in tickets like a mummy when I won big, then walk proudly down the soda-stained carpet like royalt...

A roaring wind battered the building. It whistled through the cracks of the ill-fitting single-glazed windows and pelted the glass with debris ripped from the poplars in the park beyond. Driving rain slammed against the rattling panes, and attacked the roof and walls. In a corner of the room, the steady plop, plop of water dripping into metal buckets picked up its tempo. Shivering, Lucy buttoned her cardigan and folded he...

Her yelling annoyed me. It always did. Helicopter moms. Can’t live with them. Dad certainly couldn’t. But until I finished university, I couldn’t live without. Her house. Her rules. Mom’s nagging, she claimed, was always in everyone's best interest. Dad begged to differ. Reason one hundred and fifty-six for their separation, he’d say. I’m sure that number was significantly higher. But every time I asked, he’d spew a few r...

Typical; should have guessed there’d be an unnerving start to Friday-the-thirteenth at Chez Annie. As my beloved girlfriend goes to fill the coffee pot, water suddenly pulses up into the air and falls waterfall-like onto the kitchen tiles. Carrie is totally shocked. But I’m not as horrified, after all, it’s just a tap going walkabout. It would be totally spooky if, down under, there’s a faucet going AWOL. The first water...

In retrospect, it wasn't the wisest final sentence to yell at my boyfriend as I kicked him out of the flat: "If I ever see you or that…" I floundered for the right word, "hussy again, I'll kill you both." The front door slammed behind him, a whirlwind of disturbed particles danced in his wake, illuminated by the nearby desk lamp. They began to settle as his footsteps receded, my shaking hand pressed hard against the back...

Present day Ron – the closest thing I had to a friend in school – had disappeared. That's not all. It was much worse than the simple disappearance of one boy. Much worse, trust me. What's left of their families still seek answers, but they won't find any – only I know what really happened. A pity no one believes me. Oh … wait. Shame on me for jumping ahead. I've been somewhat stressed, you see. The events of my childhood...

“I really despise this couch. Everything about it. You need to get a new one, or I’ll stop coming to these little chats.” “Focus, Daniella,” the therapist’s voice is low and colorless, like a forced kind of calming. “You were going to tell me about that night in the village, please, let’s just stick to talking about what happened that night.” Daniella fidgets, her lithe frame squirming as if her tattoo-covered skin is cra...

“Hi, Mum!” “Jeannie! How lovely to hear from you. Where are you?” “I am on the motorway. I'm finally coming down to see you at last! I hope it's alright at such short notice.” Jeannie Powell had not seen her mother for nearly two years, not since before the Coronavirus pandemic had hit. The last eighteen months had been difficult. Her mum, Harriet, was just over eighty years old, and, whilst of sound mind, she suffered fr...

The office was empty when Jack came back from the archives. He could not hear any sounds or see anyone around. Jack frowned, then went into his private office and dropped the pile of files he had pulled on his desk. The clock on Jack’s desk phone showed eight-thirty. He found it odd that no one seemed to be in yet. Then again, most of his co-workers arrived between eight-thirty and nine so maybe that would change soon. Ja...

She turned, scrutinised her profile. Dressed head-to-toe in designer couture, she was a vision of smooth accentuated curves with long, slender legs and breasts a supermodel would be proud to thrust on the catwalk. Stroking her contours, her smile widened. She felt youthful, alive. Her flawless skin was firm, muscles taut. Recently-coiffured hair cascaded down her back in show-stopping raven waves. ‘Not bad,’ she thought,...

It was haunted. It had to be. How else could it be doing what it was doing, stealing her soul bit by bit? Evil. Sadistic. It was incessant and invasive, convincing her that the world outside was not what it seemed. Pitting her against herself, that was its strategy. Whatever it was that lived inside that clock. She wasn’t even sure where it came from. Was it there all along; when she’d moved in? Or, did someone sneak into...

“Boy oh boy, it’s a hot one,” my wife exclaimed as she gave the sweating pitcher one last swirl before pouring each of us a glass. Exhausted and relieved, I sipped my iced tea while slowly rocking in the hammock of our screened porch. I savored my reward while my dog and I watched the movers close the back of their truck before driving away. Knuckles then curled up beneath me and fell asleep. This was me honoring our agre...