by Bridget Holland “I miss my daughter.” The woman’s hands knot together, white-knuckled, desperate. Few find our valley. Fewer consider trading our centuries of peace for a brief lifetime outside. But all may choose freely. “You must leave your notebooks behind. And never speak of Shambhala.” She nods eager agreement. *** The woman and her […]
by Kelly Matsuura The tremors worsen. The stone walls collapse under pressure, trapping us in a vast, labyrinthine crypt, deep under Minoan ruins. Well, not all of us… I draw my knife as wraithlike maidens encircle the group, hungry to receive the promised sacrifice. “What did you do, Renée?” Tomás screams repeatedly. I kneel and […]
by Petina Strohmer The atmosphere is thick and foul, and the rivers run an oily black. The planet’s squealing inhabitants are packed so tightly together, the barren ground beneath their feet is barely visible. They fight among themselves constantly, kicking and screaming, in desperate competition for space, air, everything. The weak, the sick and the […]
by Sam Snyder The radios went out forty minutes ago. We’re too far underground—the water dripping from the ceiling is frigid—but none of us wanted to leave after seeing the first of the carvings, so here we are. The writing’s like nothing the linguist’s ever seen, apparently. Personally, I think they look like they’re from […]
by Cailín Frankland They took our relics first: pots and tools, playthings and jewellery. This we tolerated, chuckling at their blustering talk of papers, conferences, museum displays. We bore their ambition, indulged their curiosity—even in death, we are a generous people. Then they stole our bones. They extracted ribs with dental picks, boxed up our […]
by Weird Wilkins The gas has done its job. You lie there barely awake, the pain in your teeth has numbed, from agony to a dull ache. You lie there on the chair, dreading what comes next, your drooling mouth held agape by metal and perspex. It’s then that you spot it, hardly a spec […]
by Tracy Davidson For someone who spends so much time wielding scalpels, a sudden attack of haemophobia is somewhat inconvenient. My therapist shares my fear. She talks me through her coping mechanisms. She’s good. I feel the panic and anxiety leaving my body. Hands stop trembling at the merest thought of scarlet oozing over my […]
by Tim Law I watched on, helpless, as you faded away. All of those crosswords, logic puzzles, the way you challenged and stretched your mind. Nothing seemed to help, nothing stopped or even stalled your decline. You were the smartest and most caring person I know. In the end, you became nothing more than a […]
by Anastasia Jill Hydro— Foam, like venom bile. Jaws, square and concrete, hit the floor. Throat open, wide open and dry as a desert. Shaking, shaking, shaking—Please! I’m so scared. My mouth is so large, but my throat is so small. Water, water? WATER! NO! Get away from me— —phobia Brain? It is so heavy; […]
by P.S. Traum Pasty white corpse makeup, a cackling laugh… A clown at a party is funny, but when you encounter that same clown in a dark alley at night, waiting for you with an unholy grin? Jesters, clowns, all actually very disturbing. You don’t know who is really hiding under that garish wig, lurking […]