Robin J. Harrison

With my hands held behind my back and a knee keeping my on the ground, there isn't much I can do about the gun pointed to my head. The man in front of me reads from a book in a language he made up, one hand holding the book, the other holding the gun steadily between my eyes. I want to beg him to please don't kill me. Please don't pull the trigger. Please, just let me prove that I can still be useful. But my voice won't work. I'm not sure if it's because of his conditioning, or out of anxiety, but I can't speak to save my life. Literally. I can't believe I'm dying at 14. The book slams closed. The prayers over. He looks at me, nothing but hatred in his eyes. "May your next life treat you better than this one did."  He pulls back the hammer. "I'll find you again once you've reincarnated." His grip tightens. My mother and sister look away. I take a deep breath, squeezing my eyes shut. The door opens. "Hey! Is Lee home?...

Knock... knock... knock... The little girl looked up from her book. Had that knock come from the window?  She looked outside. There wasn't anyone there.  She opened the window and looked from side to side. Still nothing. Just the smell of sulfur. Confused, she shrugged and closed the window back, going to finish her book. The next day, her father seemed... off. Irritable, even.  The trend continued for about a week, with her father just getting angrier and angrier, until he finally snapped and back-handed her mother. They fought while the girl hid in her room, crying harder with every glass breaking, and every scream or shout. She woke up the next morning to a hole in the master bedroom, but her mother otherwise unharmed.  Knock... knock... knock... Her head whipped to the window. There was the face of a small boy, around her age, staring back at her. He waved. She shook her head. Knock... knock... knock... He rapped on the window. She shook her head firmly. She'd ju...

  The way the blood dripped from its gaping maul made my skin crawl. I hated hearing the gurgling cries as it limped about, dragging its hind paws behind it. I hid behind a large desk as it shambled past, sniffing around, I suppose for me, but the blood must have been clogging its nose because it didn’t stop where I was, which was good because with the blood pounding in my ears, I couldn’t think straight. I grabbed my gun, the weapon I’d already tried to off it with, took aim, and as it turned its head to round the corner, I took another shot. This round went right into its eye. It howled in pain and turned around to run back in my direction. I skirted around the desk and made a beeline for the door. My shoulder rammed into it, but it didn’t budge. I rammed the door a couple more times, trying the handle, but it was locked. Panicking, I shot the window out and dove through it. 3 of my 5 bullets were wasted. My ankle was twisted. My heart felt like it was about to explode. But I w...

      As the police officer uncovered the body, she knew this was no ordinary murder. The way the body looked drawn up and dry like it'd been weeks since the date of death, despite the body being only a day old told her it had to be some sicko at the least, but more likely, some supernatural entity had killed this young man.     She recovered the body, deciding that forensics could handle the body, and she could give her two cents if asked. She wasn't a detective, after all.     However, she could still investigate the murder. That was her job as a police officer, after all.      She wrote her report, then went back to the station. At the station, she started her research. She looked up anything she could think of that could have done this to the victim.     She researched all manner of cannibalistic monsters. She was there for so long, the shift change happened around her, catching her off guard

       The four kids huddled around the small flame of the candle, hoping their bodies would be enough to shield the tiny flame from the massive winds.      "So." One of them, a small boy with mousey brown hair and eyes to match, started. "We know that all of us see the monster differently."     "Yes." The kid next to him, a smaller girl with wide, blue eyes and blonde pigtails agreed. "I've never seen a snake so big!"     "Right." A second boy with curly, ginger hair and blue eyes responded. "And I saw a big, big dog."     "The first boy spoke again to bring up, "I saw my doctor with a needle bigger than his arm."     The ginger boy looked at the last child, a girl with short, brown hair and green eyes. "What did you see, Adeline," he asked her.     She looked up from where she had been playing with a bug, trying to get it to crawl onto a stick she'd found nearby. "Oh, I-I haven't see...

Storm woke to the sun shining through the leaves of the Fledgling den. Birds chirped occasionally, though not nearly as much as they did most mornings. He raised his head and looked around the mostly empty den The only other Fledglings in the den with him were Bone Ripple, and Tremble, the other Fledglings who had gone to the Meeting last night. Squirrel pushed his way into the den and his face lit up when he saw Storm awake. Squirrel tiptoed around the still-sleeping lynxes in their cuddle pile and came to lick Storm’s ear. “Good morning,” He purred quietly as he groomed Storm’s ears. “How was the meeting last night?” Storm sleepily told Squirrel all about the meeting, even mentioning when he made new friends from the different tribes. “Your new friends sound fun! BleedingJay sounds like he needs to calm down, though.” Storm nodded. He was feeling more alert as his brain woke up. The day birds were chirping softly, way softer than the morning birds. “What time is it?” Storm asked, sta...