On his next and last voyage he would pay the full fare.As a passenger now, he found he didn’t careto chase whales or kowtow to a ship tyrant’s ordersor bunk with the crew down below in close quarters,nor climb up the mast like he’d done far too often—the ship far below looking like a small … Continue reading 13 Days of Halloween: His Coffin’s Last Tale by Ken Gosse
13 Days of Halloween: Flint by William Swanger
I heard something rustle close by, but I was in my invincible teens and so pondered no further whether deer, fox, raccoon or suspicious person was paralleling my course through the cornstalks. Besides, I was on a mission, my hand clutching a bag of flint corn. My friend had brought the corn to our meetup. … Continue reading 13 Days of Halloween: Flint by William Swanger
13 Days of Halloween: Residents Unearthed by Bernardo Villela
I In the cold ground necrotic skin quavers,those lain in gravebeds sleep uneasylifespans end when light is snuffed outbut humanity’s undying fire can reignite the living dead.The afterlife’s cycles occur in light-time.The dead’s centennial reawakening is a needed respite for the long gone and reluctantly departedin local mausoleums and those wind-scattered.Resurfacing, a drowned man waltzes;reintegrating, … Continue reading 13 Days of Halloween: Residents Unearthed by Bernardo Villela
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: November 1st 6:03 am by Laura Dennis
The night beforedancing with the darkdry ice smokeand heartbeat musicflashing lightsa haze of alcoholand drugsThe morning aftera car barely stopsat the cornerhis vampire make upsmudged and sadstruggling to get homebefore dawnsafe for another year Laura Dennis is inspired by people, moments and sunrises. She has been published in various anthologies and online.
13 Days of Halloween: The Language Between by Carrie Farrar
I. Ursula, Who Heard Me DifferentlyYou didn’t flinch when I spoke in patternfingers drumming the table’s edge,the air shimmering between syllables.You heard the meaning inside the rhythm,not the mess of words around it.Your gaze was a small cathedralwhere my noise found room to breathe.Even silence widened for us,its wings brushing the walls of your patience.You … Continue reading 13 Days of Halloween: The Language Between by Carrie Farrar
13 Days of Halloween: Mannequins in the Hobbit Barn by S.G. Benson
When I purchased the old Shepard Place—one hundred sixty acres in northern Nebraska—I felt as if I’d stepped back in time. In 1925, Old Man Shepard ordered a house kit from the Sears & Roebuck catalog. It came by rail, arriving at the depot in town, about twenty-five miles away. Mr. Shepard and his brother … Continue reading 13 Days of Halloween: Mannequins in the Hobbit Barn by S.G. Benson
13 Days of Halloween: Diaphanous Spirit by Mary Steinberg
Diaphanous Spirit Ethereal Sprite Dancing on moonbeams Glossy and bright. Floating by freely Uplifting unwound Drifting and wafting Not making a sound. Spiritual Being Spun-silver delight Diaphanous Spirit Spectacular sight! Vaporous Mystic Incantations surround Swirling and swaying And turning around. Gossamer Traveler Translucence alight Releasing Your magic On Hallow’s Eve Night.
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
Academy of the Heart And Mind 