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12th August 2024

Prepared

His footfalls are, like every other action he takes, measured, purposeful, and a breath away from total and uncompromising violence.

Photo by Burak Bahadır Büyükkılınç on Pexels

13th May 2024

the evening

The house is balanced precariously between “shithole” and “abandoned lot”.

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22nd April 2024

him and Him

A song passes. Then another. I grit my teeth, muscles working double-time in my jaw to chew my tongue. I won’t say it. He watches, waits. A bead of condensation rolls down the side of the tumbler and pools on the lacquered hardwood. I can hear the clock in the other room over the low music, not tick-tocking but chick-chucking.

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18th March 2024

Caroline

You were there, astride a dappled palomino, wind in your hair and that smile Christ made for me on your lips.

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29th January 2024

Beloved

Days came and went; rain, sleet, and snow followed like starving dogs. It wasn’t in the same place when you found it again.

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22nd January 2024

21 June, ‘26.

Footsteps hurriedly rush back to the journal. The pen is grasped in a hurried attempt at normalcy. A notion quickly abandoned.

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8th January 2024

Inane and Hopelessly Droll

Something squelched like gristle between his teeth and he spit it onto the growing pile beneath his perch.

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4th December 2023

bottom of the lake

Adrenaline and defiance pounded through her, along with imagined victories and “told you so”s. She was almost beyond the threshold of the sitting room when she saw a ash of something in the mirror. The steed was… longer. She turned to the window and it stood as before, pawing the ground impatiently. She thought to step closer to reexamine, but that ash from the mirror stuck her in place. Stutteringly, she turned to face the mirror again. It was longer. The head was stretched – no, stretching

13th November 2023

Ripon at Night

He fumbled for the flashlight, numb from the evening air and shock. His hands found purchase on the cold metal and he shone the light towards the bear. The farmer stood there, head leaned back in casual enjoyment, sipping from the rest of David’s head like an oversized jug of punch.

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12th November 2023

Bicuthpidth

The room was that silvery blue color that indicated he was awake way too late, and he turned over to force himself to sleep.

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9th October 2023

grand hall

The flexes and shifts behind the door become clearer: hands. Or what must be hands.

9th August 2023

How It Started

I would jump the creek and run the fields and laugh and scream our youth until it was full dark and we couldn’t stand the silence that seemed to fall all too suddenly around us. There were rumors, of course, of a witch who lived in the small parcel of land that sat behind the Spires, that if you followed the creek you’d find her creepy little shack and she’d kill you or eat you or do whatever horrible thing a ten year old ... could think of

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15th June 2022

Argyle Falls

The butt of the pistol crashes into the bone of his forearm. *Bite your cheek. Stay conscious*. He tastes blood. *Now friction lacerations on the hand*. He can feel a tooth crack as he forces the hand across the rough rock face. *Passable. Bonesaws in the Mats won’t be able to tell the difference*.

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17th June 2021

Honeysuckle

The man smirked and descended the ladder. One step; two, three steps. Four. He should be at the bottom by now, Red thought off-handedly. But the man descended several more rungs, until he disappeared through the
sidewalk with a wink.