I creep along the floral wallpapered hallway, the colors muted under the moonlight filtering in from the kitchen. The house is silent, nothing rustles, and I steady my steps as I move. Black-wood picture frames speckle the large print flowers and show the same faces in different places, some smiling, some with definite disdain for…
Category: Fiction
The Losing Side of Things
Cora Nichols slumped in a burgundy-colored sofa, her arms a shield of defiance at her chest, and glared at her family. How could they laugh and talk with one another? She had a mind to go over and slap each and everyone, show them what grieving a loved one truly looked like. Even the funeral…
Self-Striping
Julia lounged on a lime-green couch with white pillows embroidered with little pink flowers. She hummed and knitted.
A Visit from Strangers
An older woman, with graying hair at her temples, hands me a cup of coffee. “Let it cool. It’s still too hot,” the woman says. I don’t know who she is, but I’m not going to listen to the likes of her. I take a sip and burn my tongue. Maybe the strange woman was…
Piercing and Wicked
CRACK! I jolted upward and listened. What was that? Adrenaline roared through my veins. My heart pounded in my chest. I strained my ears and held my breath. A large whitetail deer sprang from the dense forest. I jumped, falling over into the thick underbrush. I sighed relief once I saw what scared me. The…
The Weight of It: A Journey is Never as it Seems
Chapter Story – Part Four A gust of wind slammed my body, and I toppled over as if the hand of Many Gods slapped me to the ground. Snow eddied and spun all around me, and any sight I did have vanished. I clamped my gloved hands to my face and waited for the wind’s…
The Weight of It: The Only Thing to Do
Chapter Story – Part Three Dancing light emanated from the open hatch of the pot belly stove and illuminated Morgan’s body. Every few seconds the body twitched, or seemed to, though I told myself it was the fire’s flickering light, nothing more. I hugged my legs closer, afraid he would grab my ankle and that…
The Weight of It: The Message
Chapter Story – Part Two “What?” I said and jerked back. He must be wrong, hallucinating most likely. Sebastian was dead. I had been at the funeral, crumpled to the ground, unable to hold my anguish inside. Old Lady Selena had brought hyacinths to the funeral. The scent still made me nauseous. “He’s alive. Sebastian is alive,” he…
The Weight of It
Chapter Story – Part One Cold etched its way across the window pane, intricate snowflake drawings under a microscope, while the wind and snow whipped and whirled outside. The winter-art spread, similar to salt dispersing watercolor on a canvas, as I traced my finger along its ever increasing pattern. The freezing pane stung the tip of my finger. Neither…
Coming Together Again
Rain pelts the ground, driving river streaks down my face and neck, and chills my bones; my thin wool jacket soaks through. I should hurry home, but my feet stay leaden on the mountain road—another couple of miles to go. The roadside abounds with fat huckleberries, and I toss a handful in my mouth. The…
Daffodil’s Lost Vigil
She sat on the couch, cigarette between her index and middle fingers, with her long, bare legs crossed, and wrote. Smoke filled her lungs then the living room as she exhaled. Her black-ink pen flitted across the unlined paper like butterflies in a field of cosmos. Brief moments of pause tipped her green eyes to…
Particles of Blood: Traces of Darkness
Chapter Story – Part Four She came to on the bathroom’s hard floor. Deep bone-pain seared her cheekbone as she lifted her head to wipe the drool from the side of her face; a small, clear pool marked her desperate state on the floor. Her damp towel covered her feet, leaving the rest of her naked…
