Browse Active Stories
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Memoraphilia
I curse the fact that my dealer is a traditionalist as I turn the corner into the dark alley, the heads up display in my glasses warning me I’m going off the beaten track. “That’s far enough,” a voice whispers through my earbuds...
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Respect
Here, have a cigar. Whatsamatter? Ah, right. Don’t know how that got in there. These things just turn up all over the place in my line of work. So, ya wanna know how I got to the top. Well, I’ll tell ya. It all comes down to one word: respe...
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A Long Way Down
His hands hurt. His head hurt. Most of the rest of him hurt too, but the hands, those were definitely bleeding. A vertical strip of padding was missing from each hand’s glove. The edges of the hole blackened by the friction. The skin beneath sto...
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Z is for Zombie
I held my shotgun up to the mouth of the charred zombie creature and pulled the trigger. Zombie brains spattered onto the cement wall behind it spelling out “Brains” with the blood and pieces of its head. My last shell hit the ground I turned aroun...
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The Box Cart on Suicide Hill
The discarded soap box in the back of the alley wasn’t big enough to fit any of us, and the bottom looked pretty rotted out, but we all knew that it had been sitting there long enough, and it was time to put it to good use. We scoured the neighbo...
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It begins...in HMV
It started in HMV, that is to say it started for one person. For another, it ended. Waiting in line to purchase the latest and hottest CD release of the week Bens world was about to be upended by sheer bad luck and a cursed fate. He paid the cashier an...
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No One Can
“Hello, honey. How are you?” The silence grows heavy, causing him to speak on. “I had a good week at work. Nothing exciting, but is there ever?” He snorts laughter and shakes his head. “The dogs miss you. I think they stil...
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My Last Intersection
I let the engine roar a little louder, and the wheels turn a little faster than I should have, but the road was empty. I wasn’t doing much over ninety. The green dot in the distance marked the intersection before the one that I could turn left at...
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Concrete
I have seen this city glisten like a tarted up whore stepping into a bitter-cold night. I have seen her lines blur, and I have seen her with a clarity unknown to the gods. She’s a crustacean, or a thick-skinned alligator, unchanged for thousands ...
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Enunciate, People...Enunciate for Crap's Sake
“Ladies, work it like you own it!” Esmerelda deQueervane called out from behind the curtain. The music thumped like a freight train on acid, and she was loving every second of sonic assault. The very night sang to her beneath the DJ’s...
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Strange Harvests: The First Event
“How many teeth do you have left?” That was the last message on my voice mail. There was no name, just the question and a burst of static. I replayed it. “How many teeth do you have left?” It seemed to be an innocent question bu...
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The MossMan
He considers himeself the Lord of the Land, but never will he announce it. Not a soul in the world knows his name, and even less can pronounce it. Born from the humbl’st of sticks and stones, and hundreds of leaves so thin, compacted soil serves ...
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Kiss Me, I'm Inebriated
“I love St. Patrick’s Day!” the cute, drunk brunette told Dave. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Behind them, the band played a treacly version of Danny Boy, with the crowd in the bar singing along to the few bits that p...
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My Kind of Woman
Clanging along the superstructures catwalk I reached Judy in seconds, long enough for Von Boom to get the gear-bird’s engine cycling to warm. Sparks flew as I skidded past Judy just far enough to turn and slice her ropes with one swing of my util...
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"You're Such a Good Friend!"
You wanna know what bugs me? I’ll tell you what bugs me. Friends. Who needs ‘em? I mean, last weekend I took a train from London to Glasgow to help my friend who was having a bloody boyfriend crisis. And yet when I tell her over the phone t...
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The Last Flight of the Iron Condor
The dirigible shuddered again and the engines spat out thick columns of black smoke as the entire world tilted under me. I wasn’t in any danger though, not yet. The real danger was in the lower cargo hold. If we hit anything but water, Chicago wa...
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The Mirror
When I look into the mirror, I’m not there. I’m almost never there. I look into the mirror and I see a person I never planned to be. I planned to look into the mirror and see friends hovering around, dying to talk to me. I would see flashin...
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A lesson in loyalty
“I don’t like your tone of voice Jonas.” Suddenly Jonas couldn’t speak, he couldn’t even open his mouth. His mouth wouldn’t budge. Jonas tried to scream, all that came was muffled cries. “I think you may need to be taught a lesson in ...
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Residual Quintessance
I awake with a start, still feeling the sting of a shock gun on the back of my neck. Prying an odd piece of metal and plastic off my forehead, I notice my hands look different, rougher, more calloused than I remember. As I stand up shakily and try to t...
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Forget-Me-Nots and Flames
I was sitting on our porch sipping my coffee when… it happened. My wife, as beautiful as when I first saw her, was toiling away in her garden doing what she does best, mesmerizing me. I remember thinking, right beforehand, how lucky I was to find...
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Fragile love
“Don’t ever ask about the bag” he’d told her, with a half smile. It was kept under the bed they now shared. Sharing bank accounts, lives.. and secrets. Newlyweds are patient. There are other things to occupy their minds. Months ...
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If Weasels Could Talk
“Hello there Guvnor”, the furry faced little weasel said to me one foggy day in London. I stopped in my tracks, bumpershoot in hand, shaking off the rain. “Whoa there you chalky faced git, you’re gettin me fur all wet”, th...
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Euthanasia
It was just something that you erase from the cache of your brain. Something that you didn’t think about because it was just so— Painful. I stood by the side when attending your wake. Because I was the little sister you’d rather do without. B...
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The Juxtoposition of Prometheus
Proud, independent Eagle flew as far as her wings and the wind could take her. One day Eagle spied an ugly rock, that she alone found beauty in. The rock became Home. She still journeyed afar but returned to the rock each night. Crow asked Eagle, ̶...
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Drunk Pussy
The pussy wants to be fed again. “Feed it to me again, meow” “Pussy, you’re starting to smell like tuna. I think you’ve had enough, woof” “I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough, meow”. She squirm...
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Olivia has a bad day
The hospital was either too cold or too hot, she could never remember which. As promised, Holly held her hand as a sequence of nurses took her vitals, tutted over the fact that she was obviously a junkie, and sutured the cut on her temple. They were al...
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Wait
As I sit and wait; I hope with all my heart that I’m not pregnant because I don’t want to have to hurt you. I don’t want to have to tell you that I don’t believe in abortion for me. And I don’t want you to feel like you ha...
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The Ship
Low evening fog descended around the ship, seeping a sheen of frost across the deck. The helmsman pulled tight his long coat and scarf, steeling himself against the cold. At their back the lights and towers of the city Urund-ir had already begun to fad...
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I Know What I'm Talking About
I stare at her and I am amazed. I think to myself, “Dammit, I know what I’m talking about. You can’t be right about everything!” However, to keep the peace, I say nothing. I go into that quiet and dark cave to light the flame ...
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Fading without Existence
Impatient and vain, All your speeches are the same. Having no effect, no clear Reaction to your words. Losing your purpose You are doomed to wander, clueless. The pain you kept inside Still trapped in your mind, Consuming your very soul. But move along...
