Tag Archive for: genius loci

Domovoi

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by Jean Martin

 

My family left before the Russians came. They paid me respect before they went away. They knew I would keep the house safe. Then they took the dog and the cat and the silver plates and drove west.

Russian soldiers walked into the house like it was theirs. One fell and broke his neck. Another shot himself. The rest heard me laugh and ran away.

I am the domovoi, the house spirit. I have watched over this house since before the last czar.

I will be here after the Russians are gone.

I will be here when my family returns.

Jean Martin

A long-time fan of Sherlock Holmes, Jean Martin is a single lady, currently stuck at home in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, which is in the Monongahela Valley. She has been writing fiction for longer than she cares to admit and has talked to channellers, psychics, vampirologists, Anne McCaffrey, and some lesser-known authors.

 

 

He Was

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by Victoria Brun

 

He was carved into the wall, but he also was the walls—or so they said. He was the walls, the ceiling, the floors, the chilling draft you felt in the narrow back room on the eastern side.

He was the shrine and its protector.

He was worshiped—once, long ago.

As time trickled by, he became a myth, a tourist attraction, a gift shop. He was plastered on T-shirts and magnets.

Until one cold day, the ceiling collapsed without warning, and he became a bludgeon and a tomb.

He was many things, but most of all, he was angry.

Victoria Brun

Victoria Brun is a writer and project manager at a national laboratory. When not bugging hardworking scientists about budget reports and service agreements, she is writing stories you can find at Daily Science Fiction, Uncharted Magazine, and beyond.

 

 

The Cursed Cave

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by James Rumpel

 

“I have a good feeling,” said Dr Morris. “The landslide exposed most of the cliff wall. I’m certain the Shaman’s cave has been opened.”

“Do we want to find it?” asked his assistant, Richard.

“You don’t believe those stories…”

Morris stopped, smiled, and pointed to a crevice in the mountainside.

Inside, they found drawings, and Navajo words etched into the wall.

“Those are the Shaman’s victims,” explained Morris.

Richard didn’t reply. The doctor looked back to find himself alone.

He shrugged and turned back toward the writing and froze. Two names had been added to the list.

James Rumpel

James Rumpel is a retired math teacher who enjoys spending some of his free time trying to turn some of the odd ideas in his brain into stories.