My Little Sister Was Afraid of the Dark 

My Little Sister Was Afraid of the Dark 

When my little sister disappeared in the woods, I knew it was my fault. When her body was found, my grief was complicated by a mix of guilt and shame. A deep sadness that didn’t even allow me to cry. And I knew that’s why she was haunting me. I deserved it. I would wake in the night and see her there, huddled beside me on the bed. “I’m scared Sarah. It’s so dark.” Just long enough for me to see her tear-stained face shining in the night light I had started using. Then she was gone. She was only five, and she would be five forever. 

Kill Devil

Kill Devil

I run fast. At least that’s what people tell me. But the whole reason to run on sand is that it slows you down, works you harder. For a runner, that’s a good thing. The feel of it giving way under your feet, the extra effort to move your legs, different muscles working. You become tired faster.

The dunes are amazing. The landscape changing day to day. They offer a great place to hide. If you wanted to catch someone who thought they were running fast, then the dunes were just right.

God's Eyes

God's Eyes

I met Jenny when I was working in the long-term psych ward, one of the many jobs I tried and then left. She was a small woman, 30 years old, with matted hair and a vacant expression. Of course, this was made even more vacant by her lack of eyes, and the puckered holes where they used to reside. Even without eyes she seemed to constantly be searching for something.

A Swing and a Miss

A Swing and a Miss

The ants found me before my parents did, drawn to the sticky sweet blood dripping from my head onto the stump, following the line of my chin. Suicide is nothing to fuck with. I know that now.

I had been drinking peach schnapps and getting gradually braver and more depressed. I looked out the window for the umpteenth time at the ugly sharp stump three stories below. It taunted me.

Stealing Branches

Stealing Branches

She laughed when she saw the first one transform. It was just so ridiculous, a trick of the eyes. The laugh died in her throat when the second one hit the side of the car hard enough to put it on two wheels. Without thought, she accelerated. She was able to outrace them because they gave up eventually, but others joined the chase along the route so there seemed to be a never-ending supply. Small trees and shrubs somehow changed into running beasts. Leaves turned to fingers, thorns to talons, roots to legs, all trying to kill her.