Osaka, Japan                                                 Wednesday, October 12, 2 PM                                                 Kaze Tea Ceremony House Hikari sets several teacups down, then kneels to practice her bowing for guests. Her knees ache, and her feet sleep. She attempts to hide her discomfort by smiling. The tea kettle begins to steam, and Hikari crawls over to pour ...

Nia finishes off her toaster waffles and sets her dishes in the kitchen sink. Knowing her parents were not home gives her a sense of comfort.

                                    Monday, September 19, 3 AM                                     Post Office in Monaco Fog rolls in from the coastline and shrouds the streets of Monaco. A distant foghorn alerts ships coming in from the sea to be careful. Only the streetlamps appear visible through it. Unaware of the fog’s arrival, tourists cling to their dreams of winning ...

Read Part One and Part Two here. Every time I closed my hazel eyes, I saw Ian’s lifeless body dangling upside down in the passenger seat. Then I would remember the horrific smell of his internal organs decomposing, and my stomach would churn. “I wish it was me. I was the one driving. He didn’t ...

Read Part One here July 24, 2021 “You’d think by now I’d stop going along with these grand plans of yours,” Savannah winced as she limped down the steps with her half-broken high heels in her right hand. Ian cracked a smile at her and shrugged. He held a ziplock bag of ice over the ...

She’d always existed. She wandered the streets of the city. Men atop carts preached of a time when only light existed, but she remembered it differently. “Skotádne!” A glowing young priestess called, scampering down the temple steps toward her friend. “How are you? Have you come to celebrate the Dionysus feast with everyone? Well, except ...

“Sometimes I reach out into the sky wishing that maybe just this once the laws of reality suspend and I finally touch a star,” the woman with thick glasses lazily sighed to herself in the back alley. Her arms displayed stories sketched with scar tissue; her features blurred her age to be somewhere between twenty-five ...

The nefarious nighttime monster stepped out from the portal, and an evil smirk possessed his face. The vile red-eyed beast never knew where the gateway would end up, nor did he care. All that mattered was making a kill—and receiving a reward of a whole-body judder when the human’s heart ceased. The forceful vibration sent ...

“Jesus Christ, I didn’t want you to choke the kid. Just fuck him up a little bit.” Another man emerged from the couch in the living room. His blonde hair was slicked back perfectly, and with his all black everything outfit, he looked like he just stepped out of Cry Baby. “Well, ‘fuck him up ...