By Eve Taft Journal recovered from the CS Dolores, found empty and dead in the water on July 9, 2005. The crew, including Ben Hawthorne, author of the journal, remain missing and presumed dead. July 6, 2005I’m sober again. I took a job on a container ship as an “Ordinary Seaman.” My brother didn’t evenContinue reading “Doldrums”
Category Archives: Dark Literature
Worms
by Tyler Grant Worms… There’s so many different kinds: threadworms, roundworms, whipworms, and hookworms, just to name a few. Often, people carry these little parasites for years without even knowing they’re inside them. But they are. And they’re feeding off of us. If enlightened, you might say that’s normal, that there’s medicine for them, butContinue reading “Worms”
The Pen
by Merve Oncu She looks at me in the same way as she did ten years ago. Her smile has never changed, but is still the same insulting grin. She wasn’t talking, but all throughout Thanksgiving dinner, her eyes didn’t stop speaking. I want to have an argument with her but she doesn’t say anythingContinue reading “The Pen”
Karkadan and the Virgin
by Mehdi Hasan I have seen gruesome murders on the TVs before but they never looked so visceral yet why can’t I stop looking at these? Smith couldn’t hide the nauseating response on his face as he was looking for details to note down. Jonathan Smith has been a forensic detective for the better halfContinue reading “Karkadan and the Virgin”
Rewinding a Commute
by Lauren Kapsky Red. Wet and sticky. A pool of blood slowly unslicks from the sidewalk. Spatter on the pavement lifts itself into a pink mist, hovering over the city street like some unholy fog. The blood recedes toward the severed neck of a corpse, a genie backing into its bottle. Somewhere beneath the trafficContinue reading “Rewinding a Commute”
The Mysterious Menagerie
By Chris Bunton Dr. Bernhard’s Traveling Menagerie had a problem. All the clowns had killed each other in an argument over whose rubber chicken was the biggest. It was a tragedy, and it could not have come at a worst time. The wagon train had pulled into the small town of Grand Tower on theContinue reading “The Mysterious Menagerie”
Santa Cruz 1970
By Carl Boon I live over on Collier in a duplex with a Mexican girl who’s studying to be a nurse’s aid. She wants to work in a mental hospital after watching some documentary about schizophrenics on Channel 6. I tell her some of those people would just as soon stick a fork through herContinue reading “Santa Cruz 1970”
Dead Flies
By Lindsay Fudim By the time my swatter cracks down on the porch railing like a court gavel the fly is a pancake. Again, I lift the swatter to the air and mercilessly bring it down on the dead fly’s companion, sending sawdust and splintered wood into the air as I do so. “By God,Continue reading “Dead Flies”
Thou Shalt Not
By Dick Johnson Sweat dripped down his face as he watched his house. This wasn’t the first time she had cheated and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. But, it would be the last time she cheated on him, with this guy. Wind blew through the trees above him, cooling him slightly. It was summerContinue reading “Thou Shalt Not”
Charlotte and Melissa
By Palmer Smith Melissa returned to town on a winter’s afternoon, one day before her debutante presentation. She had been living for four years in New York City with her father. Her mother, Ellen, was granted custody after befriending the Judge on their case and bribing him. She handed him $30,000 the day prior toContinue reading “Charlotte and Melissa”
