Three men sat around the fire while the fourth trekked for water. They were miles from anything, save each other and the sanctity of the location. The first was speaking, “I was angry, probably more than anything else. It wasn’t just that she dumped me, but that I knew why, that I saw it coming at least a couple months out, but couldn’t do anything about it. All those times she chewed me out for every mistake, I wanted to...

“ULTRA HOT VINTAGE PORNO SHORTS FROM THE 20’S TO THE 70’S” advertised the DVD case. The text is superimposed over a black-and-white image of a woman lying on her stomach. She looks to be holding a phone in one hand, but it might also be her hair against her neck. She’s lying down in kind of a relaxed seal-stretch, such that her breasts are visible hanging down. There’s no other way to describe them than ‘hanging down’. I...

As far as back as I can remember I never liked Valentine’s Day, I can’t remember not dreading it. From elementary school spending an inordinate amount of time writing out those stupid cards, I didn’t want to buy cards to support the day that I thought was stupid, yes even as a five-or-six-year-old, I was a curmudgeon with thoughts on capitalism, even if I didn’t know the word yet. Sharing the cards in school, I just wante...

The blood called out to me. Two foolish youths made the mistake of trespassing on my hunting grounds. No doubt hoping for a private Valentine's Day amorous retreat to the woods. I could hear their laughter and plans before they parked, then as they walked to their ultimate destination. Soon, just like so many others, their blood would coat my knives. Then, steam will rise from their lifeless corpses, their souls leaving t...

While the destination of my diatribe is delightfully demonstrable, the debut is devilishly difficult to discern. I shall however, endeavor to begin, after all, if I do decide to begin elsewhere, I can kill everyone who read it out of order and start again, and no one will be none the wiser. This actually brings me to a decent starting point. You are Homo sapiens, man the wise, or human if you prefer. You will likely die o...

Visible steam rose from a porcelain cup of coffee as Chloe tried to sip at it, burning her tongue in the process. She got her coffee first, while her friend, Sylvia got an iced-mocha-chai-latte with almond milk. Chloe hated when people ordered that, it made no sense to drown the coffee in things that, just get a different drink and add caffeine powder if you didn’t like the taste of coffee. For Chloe, black coffee was bes...

Stadtluft macht frei, the words of the older man reverberated through Abigail’s head as they had done countless times, but today they meant more. Stadtluft macht frei, according to the old man, it was a law from medieval Germany, where if a serf managed to survive in a city for a year and a day, he was now free. “City air makes you free,” she said in the mirror as she checked her hair, she spoke in a conversational volume...

The Tale of Emperor Wallace Thrinklebopple The weather was warm and the sky was clear as an unmarked white van drove into the town square. A figure emerged from the driver's side; he was dressed in an opulent uniform consisting of a blue blazer and slacks, a red vest with gold buttons over a white shirt, and a simple black tie. The uniform was clean, albeit highly wrinkled, in marked contrast to his uneven facial hair, la...

You’re currently reading a manuscript of Jack Waters. Upon mentioning that name, one of two things probably went through your mind. Either: Who the hell is Jack Waters? Or: The Jack Waters? He’s a legend! In the first case, give it a few years, then I’ll be all everyone’s talking about, and if not, it might be a few centuries. Time travel is weird like that. Second case, yeah, I’m that Jack Waters, you’re reading how my l...

As he walked across mostly barren streets, Jim ruminated on his current situation. The corpses left behind by the plague had mostly been either cleaned up or rotted into nothing. Used to be you could hardly pass a region without seeing dead bodies mid-coitus; a twisted mockery of the miracle of life, people dead in the process of creating a new life. It was the fucking plague after all. Nobody knew who coined the term, bu...

You can’t remember, can you? Yes, you staring into the cold glass screen, probably in in private or incognito mode. Yeah, you can’t remember, which is quite a pity. She remembers, and she’s waiting for you, but you don’t remember her. Perhaps I should remind you; maybe I’ll get something out of it too. It was unseasonably warm that night, and you were drinking alone at the bar, the one in the alley near Park Street, unusu...

A weakness of mine is my tendency to develop myopia when engaging in certain aspects. Reading is probably the biggest. Couple that with a naturally panicky disposition and a heart attack before I was able to legally drink means I turn my phone off when I start reading. As such, when the shrill chime of my phone went off, it nearly gave me another heart attack from shock. I swore at the nothingness and answered it, without...

A gentle and cool early spring breeze swept through the trees lining the main walkway of River’s End University. Second semester was in full swing, but the weather, having finally broken, invited earnest youthful students setting up booths along the walkway trying to enlist other equally earnest and youthful students for their respective causes. A chestnut haired student, with darker brown roots beginning to show, was gen...