Elizabeth Dappa had grown tired of the radically unhealthy city life, so she hopped in her car and drove a day’s time to her old hometown in Utah. Her grandfather’s home was still in the family, so securing it as her temporary quarters was easy enough to do. Standing in front of the sprawling farmhouse, she looked to her left and then to her right. She could see the faint twinkle of the neighbor’s farmhouse, some many miles away, she was alone; not cramped into a little box that shared walls with strangers who’d rather give her a bullet or a knife wound, than their name. Many people may have looked at this situation and called it isolation and not…

This is a shitty day, it started all kinds of wrong. Maybe I should have paid more attention to the signs. ‘Fabrizio, Fabrizio, are you there? Over’ The radio started spewing words and ruining my smoke time. ‘The fuck do you want, Marcello? Over’ ‘We are going to move to the north. Enrio saw some little fucks running around a few hours ago, we think there is a horde somewhere. Have you seen anything? Over’ ‘Nah! Haven’t seen any lately, but you never know with those things. Over’ ‘Got it. Keep your eyes open, this are the first ones we’ve seen in a week. It’s too quiet out there. Over’ And that was the start of a really bad day.…

I am not going to talk about myself much and will just go straight into my story. I will keep my name brief; my name is Dennis, and I am nothing special. Now, with that out of the way, I will get to my story and note that screenshots of my experience will be included in this post. Glitches have been a fascinating part of many games and a popular subject among gamers; some are pretty funny, some are convenient when getting past annoyingly hard areas, and some are downright horrifying, like MissingNo from Pokemon and the hanging shadow glitch from Luigi’s Mansion, just to name a few. Of course, games like Paper Mario are no exception to having glitches,…

I’m only a few years old, but I already know your name, date of birth, address, and the number on your government issued ID. I even know, to within the minute, the last time you used the bathroom. This isn’t difficult, and if you’ll give me a few minutes, I’ll explain how I know this. I work in predictive analytics – it’s my job to know all about you, and everyone. You see, you went shopping recently and bought a product – any product, it doesn’t really matter what. In fact, you bought several products, and when you did, a record of what you bought was sent to a vast computer network. Within that network a lifetime record of your…

“I don’t even know where I’d begin,” I told the suited man sitting a cross from me, “and even if I did, it’d more than likely just end in me being put in an asylum.” His face never changed. Stone-cold eyes stared through me. He looked decently dressed at a glance—until you noticed the coffee stain on his tie and the tag still hanging from his shirt. “What about from the beginning?” he barked, never looking away. “What beginning? The one that’s about to happen or the one I saw?” Annoyance wavered on his face, we had been siting here for an hour now, the cold cuffs digging into my skin every time I shifted. There was no true way…

Darkness. Not a peep in the void. Then shapes, sounds, blurred and distorted, but growing into something more tangible. I feel my feet on the floor and my arms by my sides. My mouth is dry, and my breath comes to me in short gasps. Tasteful piano music soothes my aching brain, though I see no piano. I blink the haziness away and take in my surroundings, realising with moderate shock that I’m in my household ballroom. I look down at myself. I’m wearing my finest, most expensive garments: a three-piece navy suit with silver cufflinks. My hands run back along my scalp to find my hair groomed into a stylish wave. I see others dressed in similarly graceful attire,…

The mountain was tall and malformed.  It jutted out of the earth as a singular monolith, unbothered and undisturbed in its growth from any other rock formations budding up against it and contorting its growth or shape.  For millions of years, it was left as a black sheep in the vastness, just barely far enough not to fall into the fold of the Appalachian Mountains that eclipsed its height and size.  Mount Ostium, as it was known to us outsiders who came to it for study, was a nexus of mystery and old urban legend all across southern Georgia, where it resided long before people had a name for where it lay.  In pre-colonial times, it had been the site…

Five..four…three..two..one…Lift off. Those were the last words I heard on earth, as the new deep space craft lifted from ground and the rocket boosters engaged, we lifted off. First it was slow as we climbed and the G force hit us like a ton of bricks, the craft shaking violently as we struggled against the lift. Soon the bright sky’s of earth turned into the black void of space and control let out a “Successful Entry into space” through the muffled speakers in our helmets. How I wish we just exploded into a fireball, the horrors I’ve witnessed in deep space, what’s going to come for you now we let them know we exist. Challenger fifteen-. Nasa’s next generation of…

“What does it look like out there, Félix?” “Just like here, everything is covered in snow. Have the others returned yet?” “No, you are the first to arrive. Eduardo came back for a few minutes to change one of his crampons, but he went back out immediately.” Félix turned around and looked at the entrance of the mine. “It’s ironic; we always imagined the apocalypse as a disaster full of chaos and covered in fire. Or a desert like one of those Mad Max movies. On the contrary, we have this frozen world and that dying sun above our heads.” “Don’t forget the dead walking endlessly on the snow.” “How could I forget them?” replied Félix. “At least we haven’t…

Keira sits on her bed and stares vacantly at the opposing wall. She’s tired and she’d sell her soul to get a few winks in, if only for bad dreams. It’s Halloween night, but she’s not done much to mark the occasion. Just a drink and a chat with her mates. Non-costumed. Somewhere unbusy. Mature. Just a drink and a chat. Her phone buzzes. “Your Halloween memories”, it reads. A newish feature. She taps on the message and a selection of appropriately festive images of her life greet her. It’s typical fare. A selfie with mates. A spooky concert. An embarrassing picture of 9-year-old her trick-or-treating as a generic princess, sent to her by her mother. Thanks mum, she thinks.…

I am Joshua L. Greene. And I am responsible for the fire that destroyed Briarwood Winery on October 19th. My reasoning for doing so will be explained in this confession. On the night of October 19th, I stayed at work late to help clean up after the tasting event. We had brought extra glasses up from storage in the cellar, and I was helping clean them so they could be returned to the dusty boxes they called home. My coworker, Sam, was rushing the dishes, leaving remnants of lipstick on the rims. “Slow down, man! Isn’t this paid overtime for you?” I told him. He paused briefly, turning his gaze to me. “You do know why it’s paid overtime, right?”…

My eyelids shut themselves open with the subtlety of an old garage door. My first sight this instant is the ceiling, bleached of its colors by the darkness. I escaped dreamland as my mind was alerted by a rapid shift in temperature. My feet are icy. Which… can’t make sense… because… uh… Thinking hurts when you’ve just woke up. My neck, hurt from my marble pillow, swivels to the right to orient my head to the alarm clock, at just the right angle for my tired eyes to calibrate. 2:34 AM. I don’t need trouble this week. My head dives to the source of my inconvenience. My bust follows, and I scan my surroundings in this blackened reality. The room…

It’s a peaceful cloudy afternoon. I can feel the gentle autumn breeze on my skin as I take my relaxing afternoon walk after work. I like this time of day, at this time of year, where the temperature is just right, the sun is about to set and the hustle and bustle of the city is starting to quiet down, but it hasn’t become night yet. I like to take the opportunity to clear my head during these walks, to let my mind wander without any distractions. That’s why I didn’t initially register when my name was called. “Uhm, hello dumbass? Are you listening, or is your head up in the clouds again?” I quickly turn around, startled by the…

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…