Horror and Wholesome
Nursing and being a nun aren’t really such different things. As the former, I help look after the body. As the latter, I help look after the soul. Nourishing both is important to leading a healthy, happy life. When I was a young woman, fresh out of my nursing program and fresher still out of... Continue Reading →
My family came over from the old country only a generation ago. Gran waddled off the boat in 1954, nine months along and ready to drop Dad the moment she set foot on American soil. She had the courtesy to wait until Granddad got her to their apartment in the Irish quarter, at least. Despite... Continue Reading →
He’d been watching for months. Waiting. Patient. Poised. And now, he was ready. Friday night. Seven o’clock. Her parents would be going out for their weekly dinner and movie. They’d be gone for almost four hours exactly. Never more, never less. They were the type of couple that the phrase “You could set your watch... Continue Reading →
Locals call it the Long Drop. It’s a half-mile of weathered steel that stretches across a river five hundred feet below. Built in the early 1930s, the bridge is still in use, although there have been attempts to close it. Even a few to destroy it full stop. It remains, though. The Long Drop has... Continue Reading →
I’ve been telling people for years to stay away from the bogs outside the village. They rarely listen. It’s not their fault, I suppose. We are a curious species by nature and when you hear a tale as unbelievable as that of Twelve Hands, you’re bound to want to try and see it for yourself.... Continue Reading →
Home It was a single, innocuous word. Perfectly reasonable. A text message to let me know that Kelly had made it safely back to her apartment after her trip abroad. Except my daughter didn’t say, “Home”. Her word was, “Ring”. It was one of those small things that only made sense to us. She’d picked... Continue Reading →
People like happy. They respond to happy. Sad is a different story. One that’s far shorter, with fewer characters and less descriptors. Sad is the thin leaflet you hide between the brighter covers. No one really wants to know it’s there. Not even you. Sad is uncomfortable. And so, I was “happy”. I had my... Continue Reading →
You can only see her when you can’t see her. There are a lot of theories surrounding her: she was a great beauty who died of a wasting disease that left her hideous in death, she was attacked by a spurned suitor and committed suicide after he disfigured her face, she was murdered and mutilated... Continue Reading →
Twelve hour shifts were hard, especially at the holidays, when all I wanted was to be home with my own family. I'd been lucky enough to have Christmas off, which was by far the more important day in my opinion, so I really shouldn't have been too bothered, but it did mean spending New Year's... Continue Reading →
In movies, right before a traumatic accident happens, the screen cuts to black. When it reopens again, it’s in The After. There’s no hospital with all the tubes and machinery, no physical therapy, no one holding up the attractively scuffed main character while he tries to remember how to pee straight. They’re just home. Sometimes... Continue Reading →
Stories By S.H. Cooper 