On that morning he just kept lying in bed. He generally forced himself to get up as soon as he woke, but that morning he decided that he’d just have a bit of a lie-in. He knew that he’d have to resist lying around the next morning. It would be habit-forming, and he didn’t want … [Read more…]

As Jack lay down to go to sleep, he heard what sounded like a man behind him clearing his throat. It sounded like it was coming from the other side of the bed, and so with some alarm, he sat up and turned the bedside lamp back on so he could see what was happening. … [Read more…]

When David came down from the mountains he had a smile on his face. I knew that I couldn’t trust him when he was showing teeth. It just looked wrong on him. So, I wasn’t surprised when he snuck up behind me one day and slid a knife under my chin. When the knife was … [Read more…]

I’d had people standing in my closet ever since I was 8 years old. When they first started showing up, I was scared of them, and figured they were the proverbial monsters in the closet that the other kids talked about. I had heard stories, and I figured one of them was going to eat … [Read more…]

In those days, of course, the winter wasn’t quite the same. You think you know what I’m going to say. “It was colder and wetter and harder.” But I don’t think that’s true. We were just smaller, so everything seemed worse, including the weather. When you went outside you never knew if you were going … [Read more…]

Meredith had come into a little money and decided to buy her son a Lego set. At the end of her shifts at the restaurant, she would often stop on her way home and buy a Slushee and a couple of scratch tickets. Generally, she lost, and even the most she had ever won before … [Read more…]

It was six thirty in the morning when William came outside and started setting up for his project. The morning was already sunny, but it was still too early for it to actually be hot out. The sun was far to the east, so he cast a long shadow over the short grass in his … [Read more…]

It was the middle of winter, but it wasn’t very cold outside. And so, even though there was just an old wood stove to warm it, the church was comfortable that day. Well, the pews were still hard and squirmy, and it was still a Spartan looking kind of place, but the temperature was all right. … [Read more…]

Sampson had been in prison for twenty years. When the chair had first arrived, he had thought that it must be some sort of reward for his good behavior. So, naturally, he tried it out, and that was when he discovered how uncomfortable it was. It didn’t feel like knives, exactly, but there were definitely … [Read more…]