Horror and Wholesome
I was twenty when I signed up to volunteer with the Long River Fire Company. My dad had been a volunteer fireman with them for well over a decade by then and I took a lot of pride in wearing my gear beside him. He took a lot of pride in getting to fires before... Continue Reading →
I wouldn't say I didn't have a career choice growing up, more that I just was barely aware there were many other options. Dad was a logger. Grandpa was a logger. And his father, and his father, et cetera, et cetera. I was pretty much born with flannel on my back and an axe in... Continue Reading →
Every night for a week, I woke to a gunshot. Just one, across the house, followed by a loud, ringing silence. And then the footsteps. They shuffled slowly up to my door. The knob would rattle softly a few times, but it was locked. I laid in bed, my covers pulled up to my nose,... Continue Reading →
I had friends. Kind of. Well, I had people that I could play video games with and talk to about the simple, fluffy parts of life; what I'd done that day, the kind of movies and music I liked, what I was going to do that weekend, that sort of thing. Going any deeper, trying... Continue Reading →
Mrs. Grady was the first to go. Then Mr. O’Toole and Mrs. Shafford. One after another, starting just after my night shift began at 10. I only knew because Bill, one of the nurses, came in with an abundance of bedding and towels. Being in the laundry room, I was usually one of the last... Continue Reading →
I thought I knew what it was to be afraid. I thought I knew it when I was ten and realized I didn't like girls in the same way all the other little boys seemed to. I thought I knew it when I was fourteen and had my first kiss with Stacey Andrews behind the... Continue Reading →
The bright light game was simple. All you had to do was draw a salt circle around a little homemade doll, usually nothing more than some cheap fabric stitched together in a vaguely human shape and filled with dry rice and a few strands of your hair, and recite the words of invitation. Nearby spirits,... Continue Reading →
(Art: "Infestation" by Charlie Cody) I didn't want much from my last year of employment with the hospital; just to keep my head down, do my job, and get out with as little fuss as possible. Of course, for that to happen, I'd have to keep my mouth shut and ride out the wave of... Continue Reading →
Ghost towns aren't exactly uncommon out west. The massive population explosion of the gold rush era dotted the landscape with little pop-up mining camps that were abandoned when the riches ran out, leaving only the skeletons of their buildings behind. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you'll find small tools or other everyday artifacts that the miners... Continue Reading →
I was over the moon when I got my job. The local market for medical assistants had become saturated since the community college started an accelerated program that churned us out like an assembly line and landing an interview, much less employment, seemed like a miracle. I'd heeded every warning that the program head had... Continue Reading →
Stories By S.H. Cooper 