"You wanna see something cool, Peter?"
Marnie's hair was long, shaggy. She peered at me through it. Shy. Brown eyes behind black curtains.
Every time she said that, it was an adventure. Danny'd snicker at me. "Where'd she drag you off to this time, Pete? Catch a chicken and kill it? Pull the wings off butterflies?"
The whole town thought Marnie and her family were strange. Marnie was bullied at school. One time Danny shoved a cup of worms into her locker. Everybody thought that was real funny.
I didn’t. It was stupid. Marnie was just quiet. Her mom drank a lot, didn’t leave the house much. Her dad, well. He wasn't around.
March Third
After a bruising three hour ride in a rickety donkey cart, I have finally reached the monastery. No road builders will come with miles of this site. It also turns out, much to my lasting disappointment, that neither will electricians or plumbers. Even now, I write this journal by the light of a candle grudgingly surrendered by the head of the order. Tomorrow I will endure the ride back into town for a personal generator, comfortable bedding, and decent food. I might be living among them, but there is no reason I should be forced to endure the tasteless, meager slop they call food.
Perhaps I shall spend the day there. Eve
“…first and last month’s rent, the deposit, and I’ll even waive the credit check.”
“Why’s the rent so cheap? $500 a month? That’s… kind of insane.”
The landlord nodded towards the bedroom. “Go look in the master bath.”
Marcie wondered what the hell that meant but okay… she made her way through the amazingly spacious, freshly painted and carpeted, one-bedroom apartment.
The master bath held an ugly surprise.
Within the bathtub was a bloated corpse floating in green-tinged water lapping at the edge of the tub. Clearly, it had been there for days.
It was hard to
It started with a party crasher.
Chip caught her out of the corner of his eye while he helped Brody stack the kegs at the drinking station. It was a girl, decently hot, but dressed all wrong for their party. Their theme was A Midsummer Night's Dream. This chick had on a short dress made of animal skins. There were bone blades sticking out of her arms and her eyes were covered with latex makeup or something. Chip wondered how she managed to get around without running into every tree along the way.
"Hey, bro. You know her?" He cocked his head at the girl. Brody brought his head up for a better view and shrugged.
"Never seen
“Missy McIntyre is not a witch.” As the eight year old of the group, Erica felt it was her place to be the Voice of Reason. She smoothed her hair back under her cat-eared headband and glared at the two boys, her brown eyes matching the rich color of her skin.
“Uh huh.” Jessie, the louder of the two, asserted. His own chat noir costume annoyed Erica. His mom totally bought it for him, while she’d had to make do with what she could find.
“She is a witch, just like her Gram was!” Richie practically shouted. The zombie makeup he wore stood out in the late afternoon light. He was getting fake blood on ev
For as long as I could remember, the field by my neighborhood was empty. The ground was too soft for construction equipment, and the soil wouldn’t nurture anything but weeds. Only two dead trees, surrounded by mushrooms, broke up the emptiness of the field.
The owner couldn’t do anything with it, so he left it empty. My parents wouldn’t let me play over there. They called it trespassing. My friends called it something else.
Spider Queen.
They said the trees were the doorway to her cobweb kingdom. They said if you went between them she’d catch you up and eat