Or so I think my father thought. I wouldn't know exactly because that was the last time we all saw him. He knew he was risking his life out there, but when he promised me that he'd be back, he looked like he really meant it. Or maybe it's because I believed him that I broke down.

Never leave a container of mint balls next to a witch's cauldron. But the trick to this is, what exactly is a witch? When I first came across this warning, I avoided every kitchen of every woman senior citizen that I came across. I even avoided my grandma. But a witch is nothing

Alice's life changes on a Tuesday morning. The coffee shop she works at, close to campus, is crowded with professors and students getting their caffeine fix before class. So when the bell above the door chimes yet again, she barely looks up. When she does, she sees the beautiful

It was a really hot day to be in the onion fields. The heat made the aroma of the onions strong and pungent. The citizens residing near the onion fields were used to the smell. For me, the smell of the onions burnt my nose hairs.

The doll continued sewing in the dark corner, greeting the needle spiders as they clattered across the wooden shelf. Many avoided her, if possible, so solitude was the only constant friend she could rely on. Besides that, she had patients who screamed at her tattered face until

Grind the beans until they turn as smooth as sand in an hourglass. Pull the lever until the water streams down in an iridescent cascade. Pour the mixture from the pot into the cup elegantly and with a cold expression. Hope that you're not pretty. That is how you survive as a maid

It had been eleven months to the day since the storms first began. Most cities were but flattened piles of crumbling brick and rotting wood. People—those who survived—lived in small shanty tent collectives under highway overpasses. My sister Gwen and I had found an empty trailer

The plane was landing, and I was running out of time. I frantically looked across the aisle at his slack-clad legs, crossed at the ankle. ‘Think, Marianne, think.’ I nonchalantly put my seat back into upright position as the crew performed cabin checks, and grit my jaw. Time to

I twisted the noose in my hands, curving it into a heart shape. Happy Valentine’s Day, I thought. Nothing else I’d done or tried to do had ever meant anything, so here I stood on my wooden stool, steeling myself to perform the one gesture that I knew would be appreciated.

“Please don’t hurt me...” Kay was curled up into a ball, her arms over her face. In the dark she couldn’t see who was there. “No, stop!” she cried as the footsteps drew closer. Just then, she felt a warm hand touch her forearm and she squealed in terror. “Shhh,” someone hushed.

When humankind first encountered an intelligence equivalent to its own, it was not at all what we expected.

Fortune cookies. I've been making them for eons, directing entire Chinese restaurants in the delicate art and penning the predictions down myself. It was all supposed to be one big hoax, just a fun family thing to do. Never had I thought that I would be judged after death for it.

Wearing a mask is a beautiful thing until the moment dawns on you that taking it off is a lot harder than putting it on. I had been wearing a mask for ten years before realizing it had begun to adhere to my face and to disintegrate the identity it hid.

I had always been an unremarkable demon. I came from a proud bloodline of many a well known incubus that had seduced some of the major players in history in order to alter its’ flow, but I was stuck with only the ability to ask charming questions and receive a truthful answer.

It was a beautiful night. The moon was shining over the mountains, illuminating the treetops and silhouetting the owls and other night birds as they elegantly swooped and dove across the night sky in search of prey. Hannah gazed up at them, fiddling with the dial on her radio.

There is snow everywhere. It keeps piling up. It is not melting. It’s almost June.

Whenever someone asks me about my childhood, I don’t smile and think of good times. I shudder. I think of the only thing from my childhood I remember. Cold, Darkness, Loneliness. Nothing else for 15 years. Cold, Darkness, Loneliness

The night was cold and foggy, the perfect scenery for a gruesome crime. Detective John Mason was assigned to the case, he was the best. This time the victim was a girl, between 20-23 years old, blond, thin, she was found near the lake with strange markings on her wrist.

Crunch. The bug bit into its snack once more, covering yet keeping in time with the ticking of the clock it was captured in. It gleefully eyed the nearing death of the minute spider. Whenever the spider died, a new snack appeared out of nowhere and it would start its 60-bite meal

You think you know me. But I’ve fooled you with my ordinary clothing and passive manner. I want you to think I’m weak, submissive. I want to gain your trust. If you only knew

The damp murk of the cellar, unaided by the arm of moonlight reaching in through the grime of a solitary window, was silent and still. Motes of dust, turbulent as stars, slowly twinkled in their passage through the blue light the nature of their disturbance unseen.

Before their eyes was the frozen ocean, fractured but solidified once more underneath. It seemed like an undulating ballroom floor of some psycho snow queen. Dark shadows the size of humpback whales moved restlessly underneath their feet encased in ice. It's been hours since the

Well, it's not every day that you discover your mother is the most despised supervillain in the history of Mars.

"Fellow Blockians, this is our hour of battle. We must not falter! To victory! Battalions 8 and 9, prepare for ambush!" The legoes crouched to camouflage themselves in between the multi-colored folds of the blanket. "Target in sight! Harden your armors! Brace for impact!"

Jim had been stuck in a time loop for—by his estimates—a hundred and fifty years. At least the day he inhabited was sunny and warm, although he was often sorry he’d never again get to experience Christmas. Or his birthday. Or any day that wasn’t June 23rd, really. But June 23rd

The flickering lamp was the only source of light in the darkened field of buttercups. The bunny couldn't pause to think of why it was there in the first place- it was too terrified. Quickly, it hopped up to the base of the lamp and surveyed the sprawl of impenetrable darkness.

The end of my life was near. I could feel it in my bones. “Make it a double,” I said to the bartender. What would a few extra drinks matter? They’d help to numb the pain, at least, and if I was going to die soon anyway, I could at least go out totally blitzed. He set the drink

I was walking, book in hand, when I bumped into someone. I was met by a familiar face. My friend, Kate, looked back at me. But then it hit me Kate died in an accident 3 years ago. And I saw it happen. There was no doubt it was her, but how could it be?

It was a crisp fall day. The end of our hike had led us to a clearing in the forest, just behind the CVS. Holly was standing still, staring at something. As I approached, I saw it and gasped. It was a full skeleton torso complete with ribs, spine and pelvis. But no skull.

I was there alone.