Horror + Thriller

The Girl Detective reads about her death on Twitter. She is surprised. She doesn’t remember much from the night before—a bar with Bess and George. A man. A drink. A struggle. A stumble home in the dark—but she is The Girl Detective. She can’t be dead. She has hamburgers already pattied for dinner tonight. She […]

On the first day of the Divine Feminine Kabbalah Power Retreat, it’s “hello my name is and I work in” with the other women executives over kefir and kombucha, everyone looking jetlagged and itchy in the natural fiber robes and vegan leather sandals we’d been handed at check-in. Hello, my name is Stephanie and I […]

First exposure There’s a convertible in the scrap yard covered in “PSYCHOLOGY RULEZ” and “Radio Nil Midnight Sessions” stickers. The owner must have been a fan of Grant’s show. We settle across the leather backseat with a squeak as the tape starts its loop over again. The top is down, and the stars and heat […]

Dirt crawled under Zuzi’s fingernail as she traced another letter into the shack floor, her secret game. When the door swung open, she hastily smoothed away the evidence. It could put her and Mama in danger. She couldn’t say why, but she certainly felt it. A mass, tangled as her hair, stuck in her throat. […]

She stood in the attic, holding the thin blanket to her chest, transfixed by the dark stain on the mattress. It was summer and the heat here under the slanted raw wood beams lowered itself like a cape around her shoulders. High up she heard a buzz, a fly banging against the one window, a […]

Notes made by DX (not real name), while observing Geoffrey Sidwell, during the period of almost 2 years in which Sidwell was resident at the care facility: They asked me to watch him and observe from a distance, and paid me good money. I have to make these notes. I am supposed to just sit […]

My ex-wife’s mother is buried in my backyard. And that’s not the creepy part of the story, I’m just telling you that to add a little context to the rest of my story. So maybe you’ll understand things a little better. It’s perfectly legal in some places to bury people on your property. I was […]

This is a simple story: a path, a predator. Here is your bloodred coat. Here is your basket of treats. You know the rules. Good luck out there. # First: the path. A magnificent slick black double serpent that cuts through the land and races between cleaver-sharp slices made into hills, revealing the skeletons of […]

1. Jenson and Liv had been in the cabin for two months when the first note appeared nailed to a birch limb arcing over the freshwater spring. Don’t drink the water. It was never meant for your throat. The handwriting was almost illegible. At first, Jenson worried detractors had followed him from their previous life, […]

Midnight; there is no more perfect hour to explore an aging, seaside manor such as Rosebrae. The heir has awaited this moment since his and his wife’s arrival that afternoon. (Pity, they did not make it in time to bid his dying uncle farewell.) Now there is purple country night in the windows, and when […]

From: cust_service@NickersonFoods.net To: dphil2003@yahoo.net Dear Ms. Denise Phillips, Thank you for contacting us about your recent purchase of Cheesy Crinkles. We are of course deeply sorry to hear about your unpleasant experience, and we will indeed study the photo you sent. With only the remaining half of what you call the “leg” in the photo, […]

1. You. The room is familiar to You. It is a forty by forty square with ten foot ceilings and dusty corners. A single globe illuminates it in a neon violet. You breathe in the scent of bodies, blood, and bleach. It stings Your nostril. Burns Your nose hairs. You sneeze. Three of the room’s […]