With a hiss, the TV hosting an unsaved video game cut out along with the rest of the house as a boy who dozed off while playing slowly came to. “The lights went out again?” 9-year-old Andy Watkins had fallen asleep in the basement yet again only to wake up past one in the morning … Continue reading 13 Days of Halloween: I’m Not Afraid of the Dark by K.R. Moore
13 Days of Halloween: The Tree by Ciaran McLarnon
On dark evenings, Eoin could hear their voices through his living-room window. He was sure they were in his house while he slept; their high-pitched drawl filled his nights. When he rose each morning, he was confronted with the most persuasive evidence. There was butter sliding down the walls of his kitchen, rashers of raw … Continue reading 13 Days of Halloween: The Tree by Ciaran McLarnon
13 Days of Halloween: Exit 53 by Laura Boatner
CW: Gore I grimace and blink rapidly, transfixed by the bright lights. It’s frigid, bitter cold, and I wonder where my clothes are. She’s lovely, petite, and with alabaster skin. She has the shade of flaxen hair that doesn’t come from a bottle. It’s pulled back loosely, but with a few curly strands that brush … Continue reading 13 Days of Halloween: Exit 53 by Laura Boatner
13 Days of Halloween: Thrice in One Sitting by Justin Alcala
“One witch can do more harm than a thousand common thieves,” Silas Fear-The-Lord Doddridge recited along the road to Pontybridge village. It was a dreadful afternoon in New England, but three facts rolled Silas out of his inn’s bed on this wet autumn day. First, as the Malleus Maleficarum stated, Those who deny the reality … Continue reading 13 Days of Halloween: Thrice in One Sitting by Justin Alcala
13 Days of Halloween: HiLee Frankenstein by Dylan Jack James
“HiLee Frankenstein” was previously published in Legacy Magazine under the title “What Scares You?” I was four years old when my father and mother first took me trick or treating down our little village street. It was a crisp cool Halloween night and the smell of cherry wood hung in the air from the only … Continue reading 13 Days of Halloween: HiLee Frankenstein by Dylan Jack James
The Eight Chair
By Mark Moran The invitation came unbidden, a slim envelope of cream paper slipped under my door. Its edges were crisp, its ink black and exact. Dinner at Blackthorn Hall, Donegal. November 10th. Eight. No name, no flourish. Just an address and a command. I held it too long, and felt it graze my fingers. … Continue reading The Eight Chair
The Ritterson School for Psychic Powers
By David William Jurgenson Frankenstein, Missouri Headmaster McGovern squeezed a crimson stress ball in his ancient, liver-spotted hand that looked like a heart. “Miss Vallow, after careful consideration by the Ritterson board, we've made the unanimous decision to expel you from school.” He locked his eyes with hers. “Unless you’ve got anything to say that … Continue reading The Ritterson School for Psychic Powers
Otherness
By Gabriel Alencar The Demon of the Deep Abyss couldn’t stand it anymore: “Heck, it’s always the same crap”, he said, throwing his tentacles in the air. “I’m so done with the pentagrams, salt and candles, heck, with rituals at three in the morning. THREE in the morning! For God’s sake! “The last one called … Continue reading Otherness
Hungry Eyes
By Katie McCall Electricity cables stretch across the belly of the valley like old skin, crackling and hissing above our heads in the fading daylight. From up high, the last of the spring thaw drips down. You are here again on my part of the hillside, watching the sun drop behind the jagged peaks as … Continue reading Hungry Eyes
Salt and Iron
By Adelaide Miller The beach is cold. Sand beats at your clothes in the breeze. Cloud cover washes the world in duller hues. Not even the sun peers out from behind the fog. In the distance, the lighthouse teeters on the edge of a rocky plunge. You wonder how it doesn’t falter. What it would … Continue reading Salt and Iron
Academy of the Heart And Mind 