Robin J. Harrison

He stands at the cash register, bored out of his mind. The 3rd shift is really the slowest out of the three shifts he's worked at this convenience store. He's already cleaned the store twice, the coffee pots three times, and counted the cigarettes four times, all out of pure boredom.  Just as he decided to go out onto the floor again, this time to zone and front-face the store for the second time, someone came in, walking right up to the register. "Hi!" He put on his best customer service smile. "Welcome! What can I do for you?" He moved to the side so the customer could see the cigarettes, in case that's what he was looking for. A gun is placed on the counter. "I want all the money in the register." His blood ran cold. He began shaking.  He swallowed hard and nodded. "Yes, sir." His life was not worth the measly hundred he had in his register. He opened the register, keeping an eye on the gun and the man as he pulled out the cash. Af...

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...

     Khūvī sits in utter dismay at the blood that drips from the walls of the room. He goes to sit on the throne, but it's made of bones with the flesh still on the bones. Freight takes hold of his heart as he shakes and falls against a nearby wall to slide into a sitting position. Tears fill his red eyes, and his long, black hair leaves blood streaks against the wall as he moves the blood around just by sitting.     Khūvī is now the Blood God of New. Not that he wants to be. He never asked for this. All he did was help the Blood God of Old. He'd seen an older man who was drowning in his delusions, and he'd offered a cup of coffee and a sandwich, and now Khūvī had this burden on him.     He curls into his knees and sobs. He doesn't want to cry. But he can't help it as all this death and destruction surrounds him. He can tell the walls were once white. He can tell the throne has been built, it didn't just appear there.     "What causes th...

The fire bathed his face in an uncomfortable heat. The closer the fire spread, the warmer he became.     Yet he could not move. He was stunned into paralysis by what he had just summoned. Before him sat the single most handsome man he had ever seen.     "Greetings. My name is Hades." The handsome man grinned, showing off his pearly white teeth, which were noticeably sharper than any human's Dan had ever seen before.     "Hi, I'm horny- I mean I'm Dan." Dan's face flushed a deep red at the embarrassment that washed over him.     Hades laughed a deep, rumbling laugh. A full, happy laugh. One that comes from the gut. Like Santa Clause. Except it wasn't a 'ho ho ho', it was a deeper, more gravely laugh.     "Did you summon me just to satisfy you, human?" At least Hades sounded amused by this whole situation. Dan had gotten lucky.     "Yes- I-I-I mean no! I didn't even mean to summon anything- er- anyone. I just found this o...

       As he opened the car door, there was a loud crash from the back passenger seat. Looking over told him that his daughter had dropped her metal water bottle.      "Cherish..." He sighs. He's not upset in any way, he's just relieved that she's unhurt.      "Sorry, dad!" Cherish picks her bottle back up. Her older brother gets out of the front passenger seat, rolling his eyes as he shoves his earbuds further into his ears.     Robby looks between his son, Justice, and his daughter, Cherish. His heart is filled with love for both of them as Justice finds amusement in bothering Cherish.     "Are you two kids ready for hiking?" Robby asks, gathering the kids' attention.     "Can I walk in the woods instead of the trail?" Justice asks.     "Just stay in my line of sight." Robby nods.     "Sweet!" Justice does his tiny 'happy dance', amusing Robby and making Cherish giggle.     Ro...

       Maybe this had been a bad idea. Maybe all of this had been a mistake. Maybe she wouldn't be able to make it out of this. Maybe... maybe she was going to die.       That thought scared her. It shook her to the core. But not as much as the sound of The Creature walking past her hiding place.       She hadn't had any time to mourn her friends as they were mauled in front of her, and she wouldn't have any time to mourn herself, either.       She couldn't bear her morbid curiosity any longer, and so she looked out from her hiding place. She saw there a creature of inhuman proportions, with a distended, undulating stomach; the sight of which made her skin crawl. Knowing what, or rather who was digested within filled her with dread. The Creature's powerful muscles pulled its skeleton along with rapid, disjointed movements that showed no regard for discomfort or its anatomy. Only hunger could be seen in the e...

  As she stopped to catch her breath, she looked back. Her first mistake was being relieved when she didn’t see it behind her anymore.  Her second mistake was deciding it was okay for her to stay still for a few minutes longer. Her biggest mistake, however, was coming to these woods in the first place.  Agreeing to this camping trip with her friends seemed innocent enough, but if she had known they wanted to go to these specific woods in Baldenboro, she would have demanded they go to another. Now, this… thing… was after her. She had no idea where her friends were and no way to contact them since she had dropped her phone as she ran, and there was no way in hell she was going to stop to pick it up. She gathered her bearings; she was sure that the thing - was it a huge wild cat? It didn’t look or act like any cat she was aware of; wild or domestic - had to be far enough away at this point that she could find her car and get the fuck out of there. It had to be. She didn’t he...