September Resurrection

It really is true. Time does slow down, she thinks. Especially when you’re watching your co-worker choke to death. Sadie sits down on the stony landscaping next to the lagoon and stares at the moon’s reflection in the water. The smell of the fleeting September summer wafts in the air.  Maybe it was a mistake...

Baba

I dream of Baba In spirals. Before I met him dreaming, He used to stand in the corner of my bedroom Screaming That he had to tell me something. My father would rush in and usher him out. Baba looked confused and lost, But I liked to think he knew something that none of the...

When The Lion Man Comes

"It's not a lion," the four-year-old whispers in his tribal language. He remembers back to a few months ago when he had spotted something golden along the horizon line where the hot air appeared to vibrate. The boy had screamed Lion! and all the village elders (who are skilled in hunting) went charging into the distance,...

From a Crack in the Wall (Flash Fiction and Writing Prompt / Writing Challenge!)

He forgot to bring water. Seeing as how amped up he was to start a new jogging routine, being properly prepared had slipped his mind. So, Tam Rogan felt mother nature was mocking him when he spotted a gentle gush of water spilling out of a natural rock wall. He stopped to catch his breath--now...

I Drink You Every Night (Dark Flash Fiction)

I hate the life that’s led by mostly everyone. Full of worrying about beauty and labels. Status and ego. Their pursuit of money and ownership of other people. When you work in marketing like I do, sometimes you marvel at our ability to push a product that is nothing more than boiled shit. And I’m...

Squeezed Dry (Flash Fiction)

(Click Below for the Audio Version) https://soundcloud.com/fitful-fearful-phantasmal/squeezed-dry-flash-fiction Where else would we go? We were children of well-to-do fathers with Silicon Valley success stories. Between semesters of our ivy league education, three of my friends and I went backpacking through Europe. I couldn’t tell you why exactly. Now, decades later, I think about what I wanted...

Equinox

Both of them an equinox, His pallid bones, her ivory blocks, Her ebony of solid wood, And his the darkness he'd withstood. His heart on every line he rained And out shed music from her veins. None knows, observing her with him, Where her blood ends and his begins. Sharesies!

In Mr. Habte’s Apartment (also, see the writer’s challenge after this story)

a list of the contents in the trash bin belonging to Mr. Nadir Habte: one set of sweat-soaked, piss-wetted, blood-stained bed sheets one shattered bedside lamp and light bulb seven used tissues--all drenched in mucus and tears, some speckled with blood glass shards from a broken bathroom wall mirror scraps cut from a length of...

Five Things We Should Have Done

1 Greeted a family That immigrated to this country, But we did not know they were coming 2 Greeted the needle That brought protection into our bodies By means of vaccine, But we were too busy pleading About a temporary sting And the terror from our ignorance of things 3 Welcomed the flood and the...

The Reaper’s Image

The King is in the FFP building again. Baba, Daddio, Bapu Stephen King, that is. I was practicing with my new refurbished condenser microphone tonight and read this well-up-to-King-standard short story from my copy of Skeleton Crew called "The Reaper's Image". I don't remember ever reading it before but I was nicely chilled by this...

The Light Came Back

Quicker than butter holds shape in a hot frying pan, the teacher offers welcome-to-the-new-school-year niceties to her first period English class on their first day. She picks up the loose-laid class rosters and begins reciting the names on the top sheet. Ironically, she checks who is present without being sure if she is all there...

Make the Dead Rise

They often went walking in the late afternoon. Not headed anyplace in particular. She, his wife, and he, her husband. Their routine. While they did this, neither usually wanted to let go of holding each others hands. He unlatched their wrought iron gate when they returned home from the walk that day. Just in time;...

The Overseer’s Concession

One of Light (born from light) thought of the terror he knew she would have to feel, and he could not calm his sorrow about it. So, he outstretched his hands, gathered his courage, and spoke his feelings. “Oh Dear Overseer, I wish no harm upon Hai-Hibba; she is my favorite of all your creations,...

Scare-Bringers

You are not scared. We do not get scared; We are the fear-wringers, The scare-bringers. You are not haunted. We are not haunted, Even when into our bedrooms they crept And rearranged the furniture whilst we slept. You do not despair. We do not despair, Though others force our eyes shut swollen Or blood-eagle our...

From the Spirit of Already-Written Words

Girlie, these are sacred things, Your passion swells the wells of springs; The tap from it runs plentifully, And would fill up empty cavities, it seems. But your sapphire insides, that hide unthrived, Will fester the rest of you, doubtless, in time. You’ve stoppered your own adit, dear, Leaving blues of fervor unmined in there....

Psst, I Got a Boat Over Here

How friggin lame is it that I brought two prescription pill bottles and a gun? she asked herself. Talk about overkill. She smirked; pun time was any time. A perfect, dump-a-body pond was the predetermined spot, about an hour drive by backroads. Seated on its bank, ignoring the rotten egg smell, she dangled her legs...

The Bezoar

Was it delusion? Few among us would argue that it wasn't But be assured, their ghastly footsteps came by a dozen In that seclusion With wooded life glaring at me on despairing knees. Leaf unto limb they crumbled underfoot from behind me. First they snickered Not contempt nor trickery did the sepulchral spooks bring. Though...

PUBLISHED: The Disciple’s Transit

Here's my co-authored Publication in Us - Magazine for the youth, The News International Click here for the Facebook link

Red Dishes and Earnest Wishes

CLICK HERE to listen to an intro and read-aloud of this story. (The discussion and intro is about 20 mins and the story follows it.) A ringing silence came through the door the moment the movers got their disclaimers and contracts signed and pulled away in their semi truck.  Boxes were her only company now,...

Josephine & Jordyn

Saturday, June 16, 1816 Dear Diary, Never has there been a more delighted girl than me.  This morning, shortly after I’d given the chickens their morning feed, Father told me he needed to speak with me.  He then surprised me with this heavenly, leather-bound diary!  My olfactory sense leapt when opening its crisply fresh pages....

An Incident Under the Stars

http://www.buzzsprout.com/75459/454944-koldkast-a-horror-podcast-3 (A podcast selected and performed my story.  Click the link to listen.) “I think I'm just too nice,” was the answer she gave to his question.  Immediately, she recoiled at her own words, recognizing the moronic simplicity of them, sinking down into the driver's seat.  She was glad that she didn't have to see...