Robin J. Harrison

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...

       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...

  The following is a sneak peek into a WIP I've been working on. Please enjoy! The cold rain beat down in sheets. I lifted my head to the sky as my lip wobbled. I was glad no one could see the tears through the rain, but now I couldn’t see the way home through the tears. Thankfully, my phone knew the way. I was walking through the streets of rural Spain, head hung as tears streamed down my face, the GPS speaking the directions so I could lose myself in my misery. My breath shook as I tried my hardest to make it look as if I was alright, just looking at the ground when I walked like it was normal behavior for me. The only problem was that everyone in this town already knew me too well to fall for that.  Señorita Cabanilla had told me I’m too proud for my own good. Luck was on my side, however, as the only people outside in this dreary weather were shopkeepers, and farmers, all of whom were far too busy to stop and look at me, much less make small talk, ask if I was alri...

     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...

 Ken awakes as a groggy mess. He's had that exact same dream again. The one where the woman whom he doesn't know bleeds to death in his arms, and as she's choking on her own blood, she begs him to not blame himself. He's never understood why he has this dream so often, but it's a little concerning.  He considers bringing it up to his therapist as he stumbles from his room to the bathroom to get his day started. Once he's able to shake the cobwebs of his nightmare off his brain and get some caffeine in his system, he's on his way to work.  Halfway through his shift at the café he's pretty much forgotten his dream and he's gotten into a groove of busting tables, taking orders, and making drinks when a new face walks in. Only, it's not entirely new to him.  She's the woman from his dreams. It's nice to see her not covered in blood. She gives him the same look of bewilderment and slight freight he's sure he has to be giving to her. As she...

       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...

  She knew he was an undead abomination er- a vampire. She had started completely avoiding him at all costs after he had told her, her necrophobia getting in the way of interacting with him normally anymore. Unfortunately, this professor’s random pairing for this project had forced her to be with him. Naturally, she sat as far away from him as she could while still technically being at the table.  “Jess…”  Her blood ran cold when he addressed her, but he sounded so utterly defeated that she couldn’t help but feel bad for him. She decided to let him talk. “I… I’m really sorry I scared you. You talked a lot about your love for paranormal romance novels, and how your favorite trope in them was the vampire that feels displaced in time, so I wrongly assumed that you would be excited to learn about who I am, forgetting that Who I Am is, well, a monster to most people.  “I should have waited to tell you until we were in a more public area. I know you must have been so ter...