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In the quiet of the night, I was not summoned. I was birthed the way mold takes root on bread—a silent growth feeding on whatever Clara left behind. The first thing I knew was the sound of her crying. It echoed through the house at three in the morning like a banshee's wail, filled with grief for her late husband, Mark.

I. The House With No Sound It began with a hum.

The knocking starts precisely at 3:14 AM. It isn't frantic, and it isn't loud. It’s a rhythmic, heavy double-tap—knock-knock—followed by a pause just long enough for me to take a breath, and then another double-tap. Knock-knock.

I never believed in ghosts because just the very idea of it sounded so stupid and unrealistic. My two friends billy and warren believed in ghosts and they would always force me to go with them into dark, old and large buildings. I also find souls and spirits to be an absurd idea and who ever even invented them clearly was trying to control people. I also find Halloween extremely absurd and stupid but there is the odd occasion I get scared by a horror film or even an urban legend.

“Hey Zsolt, you wanna hit?” Claud said. “Hit?” “Yeah, a hit of Red Sunshine?” he asked. “Red Shoeshine?” “No, ya’ dummy, Red Sunshine.”

During late June of 2023, reports surfaced from the southern United States about a strange creature. It once gained some attention in an obscure article before mysteriously being wiped off the face of the internet. Most sightings occurred in Georgia, with older reports dating back to March of the same year. Witnesses have described an unknown creature who had the appearance of a white bird-headed animal with empty eyes and a black lizard-like body.

Three weeks ago, my husband and I had our first baby. I have been dealing with terrible postpartum depression ever since. The weight of being a parent is unmanageable. And in the numb state of purgatory, I haven't been sleeping. I have started connecting the dots about my young adulthood. And my family. My therapist says this is a phenomenal breakthrough, as I haven't been able to remember much of the last year with my family. So, even though I’m going to sound crazy, I've decided to recount it…

Between December 2041 and February 2042, twelve isolated incidents of extreme violence were recorded across six states. Each case involved a first-time offender with no prior criminal record, no psychological instability, and no identifiable motive. The victims varied: spouses, colleagues, children, strangers. Yet the offenders’ demeanour during the acts remained disturbingly alike: calm, focused, deliberate.

Click, click, click, thunk! It could not comprehend what it saw above us. A scarlet red sky greets us as we finally left the dusty old warehouse. Dark buildings casted their shadows over the old and empty streets, only letting red light stream into view at specifical parts, showing what I wish not to see, almost like a spotlight on a stage. To be honest I'm glad that the package I have to deliver can walk by itself. The thing would be way too heavy to carry.

It is the Summer of 2022, and I cannot escape the heat. The heat that is the crowded, cloying musk of Kilkenny city on a sweaty Saturday night. It grimes against my mind like the late June humidity on my skin. I had been robbed of what felt like half the Summer, having suffered a bad case of Achilles tendinosis, and had spent most of May and June endlessly stretching and pacing like a caged cat in a bid to nurse it back to functionality.

She stopped as her legs ached from hours of walking. She had come far. Very far. The day and night seemed to intertwine; never being distinct if there could be said to be a circadian movement in the subtly shifting grey above at all. There did seem to be very occasional dim light patterns or movements in the misty sky, but she put it down to the trickery of her sleepy eyes. She closed and gently rubbed them before brushing a long strand of black hair out of the way. Determined to carry on, she…

It's all white... The room I'm in and the rest of this building is probably also all white. I don't know where I am. This cold blinding white, everything is this pale color, every object, all the furniture, every.... Everything. I'm all alone, in this unending place with only one color. At first, I didn't see it as much of a problem, I am quite introverted after all. Put other people in this room and I would find it all the more terrifying.

My name is Faith Bowman. I am a detective with the Louisiana State Police. At least… I am right now. Truth be told, once this story is out there, I will probably be fired. The higher-ups will know I was the one who leaked this story, name attached to it or not, but I refuse to stay quiet on this. I saw what happened to those children. People need to know the truth. The parents need to know. Something has to be done.

Editor's note: The following pages were found on the laptop of Elena K., a doctoral student at the Art History Institute in Zurich, who has been missing since March 14th. Her advisor passed the file on to us with the request to publish it — maybe someone recognizes something, maybe someone comes forward. We have changed nothing in the text. The image related to her notes is shown above. Please look at it while you read, for better understanding. Aside from this file, only one other thing was…

The hallway of the Oakridge Apartment Complex always smelled faintly of stale carpet cleaner and damp plaster. When I moved into Apartment 4B three months ago, I didn’t care about the smell. I was twenty-six, freshly independent, and thrilled to finally have a space of my own. On my very first day, as I struggled with a taped-up box full of kitchenware, a man stepped out of Apartment 4A to hold the heavy security door open for me. His name was Randy.

I was five when the man in the wolfman mask scared the shit out of me. No, he didn’t eat me. No, he didn’t kill me. He just gave me one good Halloween scare.

They all think it is wrong to be greedy but in my eyes it is not. So what if someone else goes without just for me to gain? THEY SHOULD HAVE WORKED HARDER DAMNIT! Everyone knows those who don't work end up poor and why should I care if someone was too lazy to work for what they wanted? But you can see it my way too cant you? the glorious gleam of coins jingling in your pocket? the crisp snap of a dollar wasted to satisfy your ever growing needs? the lavish means of living and the…

It's late and I've just gotten home from work, I walk up to the front door and stick my key in. When the familiar, soft click reaches my ears I push it open. Behind it the dark hallway greets me. Normally I don't hesitate to enter, but today something feels... off. I remain standing just outside, staring inside the building. It looks the way it has always looked. It smell the way it has always smelled. So what is it that makes me feel this way?

Takunda was just issuing out of the lavatory when he sensed that all was not right on the school premises. The siren had just wailed moments ago, signalling the end of lunch time. He didn't expect to find the hallway so cleaned out. Usually at this hour, he would've expected to find a few delinquent pupils lazing about the lockers and probably busying themselves with the latest school gossip.

I already know what you’re thinking. A gnome? Despite what the term I use might suggest, these creatures aren't rosy cheeked little bearded men with a pointy hats and quaint little tunics. As my friend would later find out, and as I'd feared for a long time, these beings are much stranger and far different from what is typically portrayed.