It was late at night, maybe 10:30 or so. I had gotten off work around ten, like always. I worked the evening shift at one of the libraries at my local college. It was a smaller one, maybe a few hundred square feet, but it was a popular place for students as it was meant for the medical school that brought many students to the university that made my home a college town. This meant it was open most of the day, including well into the night. My job was to watch the place, clean everything up, occasionally answer phone calls, and help students find books. It was about as dull as a job could get, but I was happy…

Many know Aleister Crowley for his famous work in the occult, but few know of his avid love of hiking, becoming an accomplished mountaineer. He always knew of the power and magic that lies in nature, and simply allowing yourself to get lost in the woods can bring strange and peculiar circumstances. It is said that, later in his life, during a very determined walk in the woods, he discovered a ritual that brings you the utmost truth to one truly desired question. Rumor has it Crowley yearned to understand the meaning of life, and he may have found exactly that. But there are also whispers saying he could not bear the weight of such knowledge, which led to the…

Marty. This is all about focus. Think about Alice. Keep driving. Eyes on the road. The hitchhikers will step out eventually. They always do. Just don’t look back at them. Don’t ever look back. Don’t think, just drive. ————————————– I hold a lot of love for my parents, having the generosity to take Alice and me in after her leukemia relapsed, but goddamn do they live far from civilization. Or maybe there just ain’t a lot of civilization in Idaho to go around – not in a bad way. The quiet is nice. I’ve been enjoying the countryside more than I anticipated. That being said, local government could stand to spend some taxpayer dollars sponsoring a few more Walgreens locations.…

Chapter 8: The Wish The seven statues that lined the chamber stepped down from their pedestals. Each holding the stone swords that sat in front of them. The suspended head above looked down on Requiem with anger, and uncertainty. The little girl spoke. “Behind you is the door out of the tower. If you do not choose to leave, then we unfortunately must stop you from making your wish do to us not knowing what the outcome will be. If we are to lose our home, then we will go with it, and we’re unwilling to give up what we have come to be. Our choice is yours.” Requiem looked behind him to see a door ajar with light pouring…

“Life is often just an interim between nightmares.” The comment from the young woman named Martha, no older than 20, took Joyce Butler, 32-year old retail office worker, by surprise as only routine small talk about life, in general, had preceded it. Yes, it being after midnight made it Oct. 31, Halloween, with the office decorated accordingly, but that didn’t mean glumness need be the prevailing mood. It made work more difficult and that’s why they were in the office at 1:45 AM on Halloween. They were there for work because it wasn’t 1950 anymore. It was 1984 and computers were the wave of the future and she, Joyce, being the youngest office worker with any real tenure, was the…

Ah, Ms. Smith, I presume! Welcome, welcome, please take a seat. You look stunning. What is that sweet aroma I smell, hmm? Lemon Glace? Vanilla Quartz? Oh…just soap, you say? Regardless, it suits you to a tee. We are overjoyed to have you here with us tonight. I believe we met over the, uh…job finders website, correct? Yes, yes, that site is a little…backstreet, compared to our establishment here, but alas, it is patrons without professions that we find we can cater to the most. I have what I understand to be your account here on the computer…KittenLover2004, correct? Wonderful. I see you are wearing the same shade of lipstick as in your profile picture! How exciting! Come now, there…

“You wanted to see us, Director Mason?” researcher Luna Valdez asked, her voice as composed as she could make it and her hands clasped politely behind her back, her seemingly ever-present security attaché Joseph Gromwell standing protectively at her side. Director Mason knew that if he ever put Luna in harm’s way, Joseph would be the one he’d be answering to. Oliver Mason had been running the Dreadfort Facility for as long as either Luna or Joseph could remember. He was supposedly over a hundred years old and served in World War Two, where he had allegedly killed a Nazi Warlock. Paranormal means of life extension were a well-known perk of the higher echelons of their organization, and Director Mason…

Chapter 7: Reputable Amongst the Worst   The ground was slowly taken out from under Requiem’s feet before he was yanked to the ceiling. He landed hard on his back with his arms splayed out. Little by little, all the rubble from the ground below did the same. Wrath’s body fell up landing directly on Requiem with the stone foundation below soon to follow.   Each stone that fell up broke away a part of the ceiling that was keeping Requiem from falling into the unknown behind him. Wrath was pummeled by stone after stone until the ceiling under Requiem ultimately cracked. The ceiling finally gave out beneath him, sending Requiem flipping into another abyss as he watched Wrath, and the debris…

“Where are my smoking glasses?” Elizabeth frowned at her father’s request, not having made it one step out of the stuffy, dust-layered hole that was their living room. This was her third attempt at leaving, and once more had the confused man called out for her in that all-too familiar way, voice heavy with contempt. It was the same loveless cadence she recognised from the 40-odd years they had lived in the house together, though the energy behind it was now weak and smouldering, like a fire in need of stoking. She took a moment to consider the question. First the blanket, then the ashtray, now this. It was true that her father had been a rather excessive smoker in…

I was elbow deep in a four-tab Acid trip when the Molly kicked in. Like a lightning strike straight to the Amygdala, it jolted my brain into vibrant overdrive. What had initially been little more than some crunchy vibes and cool visuals all of a sudden transformed into one of the craziest trips of my entire life. A trip that I was no way ready for. Now I am by no means a noob when it comes to hallucinogens. I have been tripping on anything and everything since I was in secondary school: mushrooms, Ketamine, DXM, DMT, LSD, PCP, THC, you name it. Hell, this wasn’t even my first time Candy Flipping. But it was the most Acid I had ever done in one sitting and some…