Now

Without his protection, Father liked to warn, all sorts of wickedness would fall upon me, and I should be thankful, really, for his restrictions and punishments, even when he'd chain me up in his tool shed beside all his hacksaws and hammers, because that was just lessons on how to stay safe from all the horrors of the world beyond our little ranch, which I was simply too frail to handle.

But Father's dead now.

The screams came from the far end of the street, by the junction with the main road, just visible were the flicking shadows of a prone victim taking a kicking, and I did nothing. As the last person living on Tithe Street I knew the devils would come for me next, and I did nothing.

Eye Spy

The eye on the wall keeps watching my every move. Frantically, I grab a fork and stab that damned thing-- smiling as its bloody tears fall to the floor.

Hide-and-Seek

As I climbed into the dusty closet, her mechanical voice called my name. I fought to catch my breath in the darkness, while I listened to the urgent patter of the porcelain doll’s feet as she scurried down the hall, looking for me.