Posts

Showing posts from April, 2024

The Dead Walk in Appalachia by Jacob Strunk

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The Mile by Simon Renaka

Image
Norman purchases a mute companion that only wants to please him. Image generated with OpenAI I was chosen. He knew I was better than the others. The best. I had been on display for weeks now, ever since I was first brought onto the main floor of The Mile , and could already sense when a man's relentless gaze led to one of us getting a ticket out of here. It wasn't a firsthand experience, but I suppose you learn by observing. And this time, his gaze, his thoughts and desires were fixed on me . Of course, he pretended to be undecided, strutting through the aisles while all of us stood motionless, silently hoping for our bodies not to betray us and vaporise the potential we thought we exuded. None of us was without flaws, yet each of us hid them as best as we could. 'How about this one?' the shopkeeper enquired softly. 'A pair like this ought to attract attention easily. I know they seem quite large, but they blend quite well, too - with the right atti

A Bachelor's Dinner Party by Sarah MacAllister

Image
Hendricks goes to great lengths to prepare the perfect dinner for Charles - it's a pity that Gemma is coming too. Image generated with OpenAI The cellar air tasted cool and rank. Hendricks selected a horizontal bottle from the wine rack and blew dust from the label; an aged Montepulciano D'Abruzzo . He carried the bottle upstairs to the kitchen and twisted the cork out upon a round table laid for three people. Fumes breathed from the bottle. Charles and Gemma would not arrive for several hours. To prevent dust from settling within the polished wine glasses, Hendricks overturned them by their delicate stems. Steaks marinated in the fridge. He'd perfected the art of searing flesh to a charred crust that sweated blood when cut. Charles was a meat-eater too, devouring burgers and kebabs after rolling from the university bar every Friday. Hendricks knew he would love the steak. Music presented more of a challenge because Hendricks favoured classical scores and coul

The Quest for Red Bull by Frederick Frankenberg

Image
Jake is forbidden from travelling beyond his garden, out where life is cheap and monsters roam, but he simply must get some more Red Bull. Image generated with OpenAI I wasn't always an adventurer. In fact, I hardly left the house. I would shut myself up in the living room and play video games all day. But Daddy used to let me out on Fridays to play handball with the other kids after my homeschool ended. I was in front of the concrete slab, throwing my handball against the wall. The sun set in the dark sky, and the kid I was playing with left. A ball flew over the wall from the other side and hit the chain-link fence behind me. Robby, a chubby kid that looked down on me from his height, came around to get his ball. He wore baggy clothes and had a bandana on. His triple chin and rough face half-smiled at me. He had warts on top of warts and craters on top of craters on his beaten face. "You should have gotten that to throw it to me," he said. "I