“Lights Out” by David Robert Kozma “Who’s killing?” asked Cadence. “Who’s recording?” “Why can’t we both kill them,” replied Remington, his twin brother. “We both killed our unborn sibling.” “There was no recorder in mom’s tummy. One of us has to record.” “Let’s play rock, paper, scissors,” suggested Remington. “Winner kills.” “That’ll take hours. We […]
“Piece of Life, Peace of Death” by Jaime Villarreal Roger died, leaving his antique shop to his grandson Phillip. Phillip received a letter with specific instructions, concerning the shop. The storefront sign is to always remain on: ‘CLOSED’. Unlock the doors at sundown and leave it unmanned until sunrise. Empty the tip jar before locking […]
“Man Number Four” by Jaime Villarreal I begged her not to let him move in with us. She said I was too young to understand anything. There was something wrong with that man’s smile—it wasn’t real. His eyes held dark secrets. How could she not see that? He never cared about her. He just needed […]
“The Chicken Coop” by Katherine Bonnie Bailey Wilbur worked at a dirty chicken shack off I-65. Except he didn’t. His name wasn’t Wilbur, that’s just what his nametag said, and “The Chicken Coop” didn’t serve fried chicken, that’s just what the sign advertised. He was only ‘Wilbur’ the first time I met him, but, for […]
“Sunset at the Antenna Motel” by Jim Carls The note laying under my door was simple: “Antenna Motel 8pm Monday.” That was the way distribution ops started, just a note to meet, no details leaked to someone who doesn’t show up, someone who finds he’s a “person of interest” in a room of stone-faced cops […]