Dad was carrying a tray of grilled hot dogs across the fresh-cut grass when his knees stiffened and black smoke spewed from his nose. His shoulders lurched forward and his chin swung down and clanged against his chest as more and more black smoke billowed from his open mouth. There was a loud bang and […]
Five miles from town, just me, my rifle, the deer blind, the white field getting deeper the more powder falls. Here’s me in a pile of myself, one foot corked at a ninety-degree angle, still caught in the bottom rung of the slick ladder. There’s the vast pale dark held up by the skinny pines […]
They don’t tell you that love isn’t always forever. They don’t tell you that when you lose the thing that was supposed to connect you forever, that sorrow doesn’t always bind you more tightly to each other. That compassion for one another’s suffering only lasts so long, before the empty crib becomes a silent accusation. […]
Posted by u/DeathBecomesHer one week agoI (29F) have a side hustle, selling a 100% herbal restorative that I operate through word of mouth. I ONLY accept pets — despairing owners bring ailing Mittens or Rover to my backdoor when traditional veterinary science can do no more, and one thousand dollars and a dose later, the […]
The armor comes off, piece by piece. A strand of Kessia’s long red hair has twisted itself around the latch of the left pauldron. There’s no untangling it, caked in blood and gore and God knows what else. Kessia doesn’t flinch when I cut through it with a knife from the kitchen. She doesn’t do […]
My neighbor spreads a blanket on his grease-stained garage floor, easing down with a grunt.“You okay, Bob?”“Oh, just fine. She’s so beautiful, thought I’d take a little nap with her.”He’s referring to his lawn mower, a simple apple-red push-mower. The old man’s losing it. I finish my morning walk and go inside to get some […]
I got sick.This will not happen to you.They have an anti-fungal now. They know how to kill all the little spores when they start to creep into your tissues, your lungs, your eyeballs, your liver.I didn’t know quite what was happening to me.This will not happen to you.All the signs and symptoms are well-known. You’ve […]
Woke up dopesick, shakin, wrists still bleedin. Couldn’t open my eyes for the frost. Glaciers had crept down to Dallas by then. Kick in my ribs. Lady standin over me. Said she saw me bleedin, needed someone what had empty wrist connects. Heavy work. Deep Black work. Work you ain’t comin back from. Sounded good […]
It was dangerous–traitorous–for people to speak aloud of their memories of Earth. It meant they risked giving the Dendul exactly what they wanted. And yet, people often couldn’t help but dismiss that peril when they entered Sonya’s Earth Bread Shop. Sonya looked up as a man entered her business. He was the typical sort. In his […]