They can't get enough.  They can't get close enough.  They want to be there watching, inside the classroom the office the mall the cockpit, in the rupture.  They want to feel.  They want something to make them feel anything.  

They have become accustomed to being served.     

His brick of a fist slammed into my face yet again, shredding my cheek to bloody ribbons against broken and jagged teeth. "Not so cocksure now, are ya cityboy," the huge man drawled and drove a knee into my gut for emphasis.

Doubled over and spitting red foam and molars out of my mouth, I saw him retrieve a long, cylindrical shaped instrument from the seat of his cab.

Behind the black and white…

Continue

One day she told me he’d hit her.
He’d been a boxer, and he’d hit her.
He was six feet three, she five foot four, and he’d hit her

Even then I could see how she’d incite it.
Even then I knew her telling me was wrong.
And one evening soon after I lay awake in terror, hearing thumping, over and over, unable to account for it, assuming he was hitting her again – but it was the thumping of the iron on the ironing board.

The trail of blood had seeped into the old wooden floor boards and at this hour of the night no longer looked the familiar red but almost black. I could make out some remains in the middle of the room it was human but not enough left to be able to identify whether it was male or female it was best not to linger at the awful stench or what may or may not have happened here earlier. You knew what they…

Continue

Big guy #1 continued slashing with the blade commenting on what a game boy I was and it would need a surgeon with a sewing machine to stitch me back together, but I no longer cared. You see after a while the body and mind shuts down to physical pain, the cuts to my face had no effect it just felt numb, the left eye had now completely closed the right was just a blur, not sure how many teeth were gone…

Continue

There was maybe a dozen, several of them held what looked like large knives or maybe even swords as they rapidly approached an awful feeling of dread washed over me, I was almost physically sick. Now beginning to panic several images flashed through my head as what they would do to Sam if…

Continue

“I wrapped the duct tape around the kitchen knifes handle securing it to the broom stick to complete the makeshift spear. There was still enough light so I ventured out of the front door into the street, I had taken only a few steps when Jessie flew out from behind the nearest parked car.…

Continue

It all seemed so peaceful one afternoon, when the birds twittered merrily in the trees and the

windows were open, allowing cool air to stir the humid contents of

the room. Inevitably the silence was broken, shattered like a mirror into a

thousand shards, but this time it was serious. The screaming started it, profanities bounced from one

pugilist to the next, children howling in fear as the boiling pot

of potential…

Continue

Sonny stepped into the hallway of luminous light of their home and says in a singsong voice, " I love you, Daddy. "

She wore a grease-stained shirt--floor-length and white as a nun's habit-- she appeared weathered, frail but still, bright as an angel's halo.

He nods at Sonny's confession, folding back the fly of his pants; the belt taps her heart and chimes, " You love me most of all, baby girl. Yes, you do. Now, show Daddy just how much you love him. I'll show…

Continue

I am very hard and she is still soft with childhood and so she is a better world to me.

She's great at keeping secrets and I trust her.

" This is a manifestation of love, our love, " I say to her as she perches on my thigh, her shoes swinging over the floor.

" I promise I won't tell--cross my heart and hope to die."

Our secrets could dismantle lives with their shame and violence.

" Yes and I know you won't, baby girl -- No would understand.…

Continue

I got this little story from doing a writing exercise.

* * *



She reached up and laid her hand on his cheek. "Oh, shit. I'm so sorry. I thought you were someone else. Does it hurt?"



He lifted his hand to his lip, looked for blood on his fingers, shook his head. "Darling, you can't go around punching people like that."



"I know. I'm sorry. I never meant to..."



He took her hand and looked it over, kissed her bruised knuckles. "I mean, that you… Continue