His attackers laughed as they went through his wallet and when they found it contained less than ten dollars they became angry and looked around for Vince. "Maybe the faggot keeps his money his shoe," one stated. "Lets find out, I think he crawled that way," the second one answered. "Where you hiding you corpse fucker?" the third one shouted and they all laughed."Hey, I found him, he crawled inside one of these mausoleum...

Two weeks later he sat in the office of the most prestigious and knowledgeable coin collectors in the state. It took almost three hours to reach this destination using public transportation. The man masked his surprise at meeting a teenager and not a fellow collector. He politely asked to see what it was he had brought in while he prayed it was not another kid with some old and worthless coins.Vince carefully unwrapped it...

Vince was now in his 90's. He looked about twenty years younger thanks to a full head of white hair and a vigorous exercise program that he had adopted as a young adult and so he was in reasonable good health for his age. The discovery of the chest of jewels and coins in the old mausoleum so many years ago had made him very wealthy. He eventually purchased the old cemetery from the city and placed money into a special acc...

Three months had passed since Vince first ventured into the cemetery and sought permission to fix it up, and fix it up he had. Some of longtime city residents could not believe how good the place looked. "The kid did a great job," the city elders would often say. Vince's returned to school for his senior year and still worked part time on the truck docks where he was considered a good employee. The employees there nicknam...

Her name was Tina, she worked in our data processing division. She always looked and conducted herself as the total professional who was dedicated to her job. Some dubbed her a cold fish, but I always felt they had read her wrong. As it always seemed that we had our lunch at the same time I attempted to break the ice by starting a conversation and to my delight she responded. Finally after a few weeks of polite conversati...

The Saturday painting party was a huge success as over two dozen people showed up. True to their word the city and dropped off some industrial sized paint cans of black Rustoleum paint. One of the parishioners that owned a hardware store donated, brushes, disposable paint pans and rollers, and he offered instructions and tips on painting. The work commenced around 8:00 AM and around 9:00 PM the caterer arrived. A tent com...

The bang stirred Frank Conway out of a deep, dreamless sleep. His eyes took a moment to focus in the gloom of the night before allowing him to see the unlatched window of his bedroom tap gently against its frame. Fumbling for his wristwatch that lay on the locker by his bed, he cursed the disturbance as he read it was just past 3am, another two hours before his shift at the local plant. It was as he lay there, summoning t...

Following school the next day Vince headed to the library and began his research. A friendly aged librarian named Abernathy was so thrilled that this young man was more interested in the city history than hanging out with his friends that he was more than willing to assist. The cemetery had been owned by a small company that had gone out of business many years ago. A large sum of money had been paid to the city to purchas...

Leona stood in the warehouse watching Gustaf walk to the car with Sam, his bodyguard driver. They left her behind to fume some more and make her appeals to Slade. She flipped open her phone, dialed Slade and waited for him to pickup. The phone on his desk rang and went to voicemail. She hung up not leaving a message. She tried his other number, which was his cell phone. He answered on the first ring, gave his typical gree...

It had been there as long as he could remember. As a child he and his schoolmates used to run past it at full speed when coming from and going to school, lest they be caught by a ghost or vampire. As pre-teen he and his friends challenged each other to jump the fence on Halloween night to prove their bravery, no one ever accepted the challenge. Now as he approached age sixteen it took on a whole new face and he was deeply...

Slade noticed Leona relax, when she closed her cell phone. The tension drained from her body, her posture went from sitting up straight widely alert to comfortable. He wanted to know what happened, but decided this was not the time and the place to ask questions. Leona took Slade's hand, picked it up and nuzzled it against her cheek showing how relaxed she really was now. She kept his hand not wanting to let go. They fini...

Scarlett had gotten off early from the diner she worked at as a waitress. She was glad to get off work early to surprise her husband. Things had not been good between them for a while now. Rick had lost his job a year ago and had started drinking again. Drinking wasn’t the only habit that had come back. Three years earlier he had been abusive. He had been so abusive Scarlett had miscarried in her fifth month. She didn’t t...

A woman stared into the alley while a tall, dark figure ran away, after realizing he’d got caught. She was paralyzed for a few seconds, trying to understand what she was seeing. Getting her voice back, she let out a loud, high pitched scream that caught the attention of everyone on the street. It was late enough at night that there weren’t too many people outside. A couple of officers came running towards where the woman...

Slade sat at his desk, looked over the squad room and thought of his missing partner. Connie was not there, she was in the hospital in a coma caused by an explosion when she visited The Main Artery's owner Gustaf. It appeared the explosion concentrated on his office and destroyed his sleep chamber. Gustaf was the master vampire of the city and had many friends and just as many enemies. This explosion targeted him, but onl...

Mary turned to look back one last time at the only home she had ever known. Leaving had been the hardest thing ever – yet she had no doubt that harder things still lay ahead. She had packed hurriedly, wanting to be gone before the townsfolk showed up with their kindness. She took care while packing, not wanting to take anything that would be missed. Her plan would only work if the town believed that she had been taken aga...