The Thing About Nathan

Nathan has a chipped front tooth, which I find kind of endearing. We’re at a Halloween party and he’s standing next to the punch bowl dressed in what looks to be a pair of army fatigues except the typical camouflage colors have been replaced with blends of red, yellow, blue, green, and purple. I don’t...

A Heart-to-Heart on the Factory Floor

  Gather around, everyone.  Today’s going to go a little differently than usual.  I promise it won’t take long – I know it was asking a lot to have you all come in on a Sunday, what with the fourth coming up this weekend and all… it’s a busy time of the year, particularly for all of us. But...

Watching

Something was watching me. I felt its eyes burning into my skin, watching as the pen in my hand scribbled rapidly over wrinkled notebook paper. That intense gaze moved from my hand to my arm, and traveled over my neck where it hesitated just briefly before continuing on. That same steady, chilling  gaze...

The Art of Escape

Rain slammed against the pavement and collected into a puddle in front of Kevin Haller’s back porch. His lips clutched the filtered end of a Marlboro cigarette and he inhaled, filling his lungs with smoke and Nicotine. He slipped his index and middle fingers around the body of the cigarette and pulled...

Ants

During the summer I don’t eat in my room on account of the ants. Every time I try a gigantic family of them somehow manages to find their way inside. Last night I had a soda. I didn’t finish it, so I sat it on the trunk at the foot of my bed. When I woke there were ants crawling all over the can and the...

Hoarder

Aunt Lily-Anne has a messy house. Heaps of clothes cover the floor, creating a nice warm spot for roaches and rats to hide. Boxes of various sizes are stacked high to the ceiling. Sometimes when she walks past them, they sway back and forth, threatening to topple over and fall onto a collection of broken...