“I live in hope I can jump before I am pushed.” -Sir Terry Pratchett on the right to die.
Psychological
Because let’s face it – the disturbed mind of a human can be more terrifying than any monster.
Have you seen this child?
I don’t have any kids, so I can’t really imagine what it would be like to have one missing. I do have a half-coyote dog who used to sneak out of the yard all the time though (Colonel Wallace), so I at least have a general idea how desperate and helpless it feels to have part of your life suddenly go missing.
The other side of sky
When I was about to die, my life didn’t flash before my eyes. All I could think about was what my father once told me from a beige couch in an unlit study.
Gaslighting: the art of destroying sanity
The problem with asking yourself if you’re insane is that you’re the only one who can answer, and why would you listen to someone who could be crazy?
Self-portrait from the dead
My mom hates her father. Grandfather Jack’s name might as well have been a swear word when I was growing up. Dad told me the story once, on the condition that I never tell mom I knew.
Now hiring: last three employees killed themselves
12 weeks looking for a job and things were getting desperate. I’m talking water-and-electricity-off desperate, with the landlord playing my door like a drum.
The scariest story in the world
Though the wind bellows fierce across my face like the howl of a nameless beast, though the moon twists shadows into abyssal creatures and the gates of Hell within my companion’s eyes, I am not afraid. I will be, he promises, but not yet.
Are you happy now?
Hair twined between fingers. Dirt bloodied into paste. Coiled muscle, panting breath, and a broken smile.
Missing child speaks through Alexa
I don’t have kids of my own, so I can only imagine how terrifying this must be for my neighbor Amy Galligan. I didn’t know her well, but we’ve chatted a few times in the apartment mail room — her about the difficulties of being a single mother, me playing up my shipping job at Amazon to make it sound like I’m a big shot. It’s a monster of a city though, and there are so many people with so many problems that I was hardly even phased when I saw the missing poster of her four year old daughter hanging around the building.
My daughter is an only child, but she has a twin
Don’t you dare tell me that there are lots of kids who look the same. Don’t pretend this is some sort of funny coincidence either, like the kindergarten teacher does. I’d know my baby girl anywhere. I know the way her hair smells, and how her soft little hands feel in mine. I know her giggling laugh, the way she puffs out her cheeks when she’s angry, and the light in her eyes when she sees me across the room. I know all the things that only a mother can know, but for the life of me I still can’t tell them apart.