Category: Horror

All Stories, General Fiction, Horror

Gentlemens’ Agreement by Steven French

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As one of the new faculty members at a small Midwestern college, I used to get the short straw when it came to various off-campus activities, such as ‘community outreach’. Basically, that involved a long drive out to some godforsaken rural township in the middle of nowhere to give a talk on local history to a bunch of bored Shriners. Who never asked questions, never showed any more interest than ‘that’s another event ticked off the calendar’ and who wouldn’t even stump up for dinner afterwards. Which meant hunting down a diner somewhere for a slice of pie as a reward to myself, partnered with a stay-awake coffee and refill.

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All Stories, Horror

The Smiling Man at the Foot of My Bed by Noah Love

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Tonight, there was a man in my room. He appeared when I turned out the lights. He wasn’t there before. And then he was. Crouched at the foot of my bed. Smiling

It’s just his white eyes. His dark pupils. Always looking at me. His teeth are glowing in a big smile as he stares at me. The whites of his eyes pronouncing the void of his pupils as their darkness looks unblinkingly at me. Ready to welcome me into bed.

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All Stories, General Fiction, Horror

The Exchange by Toye Eskridge

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The Exchange by Toye EskridgeBattalion after battalion, the towering pines stood rigid, guarding both sides of the blacktop the salesman barreled down in his cream Studebaker. The pointed hood knifed the stifling Southern air.

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All Stories, Crime/Mystery/Thriller, Horror

When the Sun Dies by Tathagata Banerjee

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 The thing that you need to understand is, living beings die.

It’s not welcome, yeah. It is not something to look forward to, but it does happen. And, at times, it is kinda funny.

When daddy killed the deer, I found it funny how she toppled over the ground and crumpled on its back. There is something intricately funny about tragedy, seeing something regal just fall and shatter. When, at the end, the sun dies, I think God will also sit back and have a merry little chuckle.

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All Stories, Horror

Lions and Zebras by Charlize L. Love

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Henry loved school; it was his favorite thing in the whole world. He was only ten years old, but he was ahead of the rest of his class. The teachers had said so themselves, he heard it in their hushed conversations, he read it on the stacks of papers they keep on their desks. It made him feel good, he felt proud.

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All Stories, Fantasy, Horror

The Ending of Us, Toxic Love During the Apocalypse by Karley Cisler

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The sirens didn’t bother me because I was busy thinking about ending things. On the morning of my 573rd cycle, we rolled out of our threadbare bed with a rumbling belly. Breakfast went down stale and seedy. Military rations were all we’d managed to trade for lately; a half-eaten block of Nutrient-Toast mocked us on the counter.

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All Stories, Horror

The Little Red Who Survived by Aleks McHugh

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Now first off, thank you for caring to listen. Or I presume so.I waited a long time to speak about the conspiracy that tried to bend me to its will and deny me mine, starting with my right to self-pleasure at the age of 12, to be master of my own body.

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All Stories, Horror

Watchtower by Rebecca Klassen

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No one can understand why Elena stays, and neither can I. If it had been me, I’d have left; there are plenty of other Cornish seaside towns to live in. Actually, if I really had climbed those steps and seduced a sixteen-year-old like Elena did, I’d have jumped from the watchtower onto the rocks below. They were discovered in the act by the caretaker, Jim.

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All Stories, Horror

To Martin’s Farm by Travis Flatt

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Hell is a frozen lake.

Crashing from the far end of the house. It’s my wife, Anna, dragging the boy inside from the garage. She’s plucked him up from school on her rush home from work. They’re shouting at each other, arguing, both near tears it sounds like. I reach over and slap the bedroom door shut. On the bedside table, my phone screeches the alert siren again. Any minute now, my wife will appear at the door and tell me to get up.  The siren alert wouldn’t let me sleep, so while she was gone, I hopped up and packed–or, hit, that is, the things I need to keep here, be sure she doesn’t take: a kitchen knife and an extension cord. Anna flings open the bedroom door;  the knob spikes sharply against the wall. “Lee, get up. We have to get ready.”

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