In all the horror movies I’ve ever seen, the haunted are powerless to the ghosts who do the haunting. Ghosts invariably arrive on their own terms: a quick flash of their reflection in the bathroom mirror when the victim wipes away steam; a vase that, unprovoked, falls to the floor and shatters at the living’s feet; a shiver that raises goosebumps all over a grieving lover’s body on the hottest day of the year; a disembodied moan outside a widow’s bedroom window on a windless night. So when my mother died after threatening to haunt me for eternity in her last voicemail message (which I immediately deleted) if I didn’t return her call, I expected to be haunted in all the usual ways and, knowing how creatively spiteful my mother was in life, in ways I could never imagine.…
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People claim to have been crushed by love.
I doubt it.
Alien compression most likely, pressed for time,
squeezed into a photo booth or lost
in the grip of gravity. I often contemplate
what 3 Gs might do to an unwary spine.
But I won’t take the fall, there’s still spring in my step.
Once on a field trip I gazed out the window
of a trans-galactic express and immense objects
appeared out of nowhere, threatening to demolish the ship.
I rubbed my lucky wart and secured safe passage
for saint and sinner alike. Go ahead
roll your eyes or roll the dice. Matters not.
When it’s your time to go well there you go.
Keep your eyes wide open amigos
you can be crushed by nearly everything.…
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The rustling sound and movement in the bushes alarmed him. When he had lain down in the darkness
before, it seemed that there was nothing in the nearby woods that would be a problem. Suddenly,
he felt that might not be the case. As he shaded his eyes from the bright, hot light above, he began to see
the creature stepping into the clearing where he had slept. Surprisingly, it looked like him, somewhat, but
was different in unfamiliar ways.
Its movements were graceful and determined, showing no signs of hesitation or fear, as the distance
between them grew smaller. New to this area, he had no real idea as to what to expect, but this … this
was both upsetting … and frightening. When the two creatures faced each other, its height nearly
the same as his, sudden moisture blossomed on his neck and hands, a rapid pounding in the
center of his body began and breath quickened as each approaching step brought them closer.…
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This story based on Stephen King’s prompt in his book “On Writing” comes with a 30-year delay.
Did she have an imaginary friend? Yes, she did. Nelly would say he was quite real, even if other people could not see him. His name was Sinbad like the cartoon character. He had huge dark eyes, tawny-brown skin, a turban and those funny pointy-toed shoes on his feet. Sinbad came to her house when her mother moved out. Her mother Jivka changed her name to Jane when she left for London. Sinbad kept calling her Jivka despite Nelly’s feeble protests. He had a thing about names – he used to call her Nell and he shortened her father Dickens’s name to Dick. Just that.
Nell liked the name Nell.…
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Sometimes I wonder if everyone doesn’t need someone to miss
A peg where they can hang that heartache hat
And its miles of clouds
Its volume of sleepless sadness.
You are the doorway through which my mourning passes.
We could not house happiness
But you remain safely in my heart
Winnowing the sadness.
– Jenny McBride…
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Mom told me I looked a lot like Great-Grandma Thelma. She took a faded black and white picture off a wall where it sat surrounded by empty nails that until recently held photos of her wedding and showed it to me.
Great-Grandma Thelma wore a shift dress and a long string of beads hanging from her neck in 1920s fashion. On her head, she had an ornate headband with a large feather protruding from it. Dark hair cut short framed her round face, and she had an impish smile as if she had either performed some mischief or planned such a thing. I could see a family resemblance.
“Great-Grandma Thelma was a prankster, ” Mom said as we stared at the photo. “She liked to pull harmless pranks on her kinfolk.…
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The first time Liz Chaffin saw Mickey dancing was at the funeral of the dead Mexican boy. She had long since forgotten the Mexican boy’s name, but she remembered that they kept the pine coffin closed because the boy had died from a shark attack. Her father offered no more details, but the closed coffin, topped with exotic flowers from the Yucatan, was sufficient for her imagination. They kept Mickey’s coffin closed too, not because of an irate shark, but because of what he had done to himself.
The obituary explained that Mickey had died of heart failure, which was technically true, Liz supposed. They buried him next to their grandfather, Titus Chaffin. There wasn’t much of a ceremony. Mickey’s best friend, Terrance Figgins, showed up looking stoned, but it was the first time she’d ever seen Terrance in a tie.…
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