Fiction Friday — Arturo’s restless. His fingertips tighten, threatening to crumple the empty plastic cup beneath his shaky grip. The music’s too loud, the lighting too dim — there’s too much chatter and everyone around him looks surreal. Like they’re encased in a crystal ball, smoke and glitter exuding off of every corner…

Lit Up Halloween Spooks — He finds her in a village close to where he died. He thought she would outrun him. Perhaps move to America, beyond his reach. But she stayed, raised her children and her children’s children, watched seasons pass and laid her husband to rest. The arrogance, the ignorance. To believe she…

I did not need a night light as a child. I feared the dark for childish things. Silly things. Like vampires slithering into my home, draining me of all my blood. I slept with the covers pulled to the top of my neck every night, my body slick with sweat…

How do you move on from tragedy? Not just your own personal tragedies — but tragedies at large, tragedies that seize you by the shoulders, shake you until the dread bubbling in your stomach solidifies into a tight lump at the bottom of your throat, unwilling to leave for days…

Several months ago, I sat outside a downtown ice cream parlor. The warm Californian sun hit my bare shoulders and my fingers rubbed at an empty plastic cup. My date sat across from me, leaning into his chair, one leg hooked over the other. …