Horror and Wholesome
It doesn't get cold here. No snuggling under heaps of blankets while chestnuts roast over an open fire. Just mild temps and early sunsets to signal that winter is upon us. Of course the town does what it can to usher in the Christmas season, tinseling the lamp posts, draping the palm trees in twinkling... Continue Reading →
City folk don't belong in the country, and they made sure I knew it before I'd even settled into the cabin I'd already dubbed Sanctuary. Only the realtor didn't. The good commission outweighed the guilty conscience, or maybe he really didn't know. He wasn't exactly local, coming from a neighboring town big enough to keep... Continue Reading →
All urban legends start as something real. I don't know if that's actually, scientifically true, but it's what I believe (and these days, isn't that enough to make it true?). Sometimes it's fear-based and the legends become a warning of sorts, like all the child-drowning ladies in white who are used to keep kids away... Continue Reading →
She died alone, unless you count the goats. I'm not sure I do, but she probably would have. She preferred them to people. I couldn't blame her. A lifetime of letdown will do that to you. I liked to think I was the best of the worst; the one person she could count on, even... Continue Reading →
I hated camping. My boyfriend loved it. So we compromised and went camping. I put on a brave face, packed my bug spray, and let him do everything else. He assured me it would be great. Fun. Nothing like the disastrous trips of my childhood where my sister wet her sleeping bag and cried until... Continue Reading →
The last straw was that plant. That little fucking plant. I don't remember what it was, only that it was supposed to be hard to kill, even for me. She'd said it in a joking way when she gave it to me, and I knew, logically, she didn't mean anything by it. Not really. But... Continue Reading →
Midnight jogs helped clear my head. Or maybe they just numbed me to my own thoughts. Run until it hurts. Run until all you can think about is where your next breath is going to come from. Run until you can’t think at all. The emptiness was welcome. Silence was a stranger to me except... Continue Reading →
I didn’t want to tell Dad about the changing room when I first found it. It was down in the basement, where I wasn’t supposed to be. Dad kept all of his scrap and spare parts from his odd jobs as the town fix-it man down there, he thought I’d get hurt. It was also... Continue Reading →
Recently I compiled a list of my most wholesome horror stories on Reddit to offer a brief, heartwarming distraction from reality. Enjoy! Fran & Jock Man Up Ring Once Guardian Breed Papa G Bad Feeling My Lucky Charm The Past Repeats The O'Sullivan Song So Much Filler Guilty Secrets Cackling Grackles Infestation Lesson of The... Continue Reading →
My son loved books. If the only thing the kid ever got as a gift was books, he’d have been the happiest person on earth. No idea where he got it from; his dad and I could barely bother skimming short news articles, much less intentionally sit down to slog through a book. Cole, though.... Continue Reading →
Stories By S.H. Cooper 