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When the doorbell rang the sound traveled past the foyer and into the kitchen, into the living room, then the stairwell, and everything in between. It struck the furniture and shivered throughout the overcast home of the Handel residence. It gave tremors to everything made of glass. Before the resonance fell silent, the bell picked [...]
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Six o’clock. It felt more like three o’clock. He had less than an hour to live.
As the tissue falls apart, blood coagulates, and the victim’s movements become rigid, a snake bite will bring the victim into a state of paralysis. Stan was ignoring this, going at full speed, like the rabid mess of a freight [...]
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“Occupied.”
He sat on the toilet with the pistol in one hand. The left hand. Everyone knew he was right handed. “Sure James,” he thought to himself. “No one will figure it out that you shot yourself with the other hand. Who would consider the source and fall on the conclusion that someone actually wanted you [...]
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They sat across from each other. With each minute that passed the alcohol brought the walls down. Alice told Ralph the dirty things, the secret things. Ralph smiled like a pauper with a winning Lottery ticket.
They finished dinner and Ralph ordered two more drinks. They drank them quickly. Alice lifted her skirt, showed Ralph a [...]
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An hour has passed and Floyd is still sitting in the same spot outside of Swifty’s Supermarket. He squints from the sun and shifts his weight in the stern metal chair. In one hand he holds a fresh bouquet of Sunflowers. He leans forward and puts his elbows into his thighs to counter-balance the weight [...]
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I’m attending a funeral. I don’t know who it is who has passed. All I know is that I’m supposed to be here. I am wearing a dark blue blazer and white collared shirt covered with wine stains. I have my hair slicked back, and I’m wearing dark glasses to keep the sun out of [...]
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Gabe made his way around the party, moving from one room to the next, beer in hand, senses of a starved hyena. His eyes were fixed and alert, shooting glances at all the people. The girls did body shots while the artists moped; in the living room the savages made good with breaking glasses and [...]
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I hadn’t had the urge to shit in a week. A whole fucking week. It’s one of those things that you don’t think about until the second or third day, you scratch your chin and ask yourself: “When was the last time I sat down to unload my guts?” A friend of mine recently told [...]
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It was another typical day at work, and as I passed the aisles watching the customers pull items from the shelves and pack them into their carts I kept asking myself, what’s it all for anyway?
Then I saw Spencer standing there with Cliff, killing time and watching the world go by. We all gravitate towards [...]
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The Chief of Police popped on his desk lamp and pulled out his chair. It was one of those great old companions—the chair that’s been around the seasons, watched the changing of the times, and it makes the sound of a great beast exhaling slowly when you’d sit. The Chief grabbed hold of the chair’s [...]
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“Guess if I can whistle,” the boy says.
“What did you say?” the man asks.
“Guess if I can whistle,” the boy repeats. “You guess, and I will tell you if I can or not.”
“Okay,” says the man, “Can you whistle?”
After a long pause the boy says, “No.”
“You can’t whistle?” the man frowns.
“No,” the boy says, correcting [...]
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Todd picked up Jerry at about eleven thirty. They hadn’t seen each other in about a month, not since Jerry had started working. He lucked out and was hired by two places at the same time: a large corporate hardware retailer and an independently owned fitness center. He made the best and managed both jobs. [...]
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Art nods and says, “There’s one.” The cross street passes as his eyes follow the blank street in an unknown suburb completely devoid of light. “There’s too many houses,” Marie says, shaking her head and leaving her foot on the gas. “I don’t want to park in front of a house.” They both snicker in [...]
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This guy tells me how he got poison oak on his dick and balls. Then he says, “Don’t ever develop a foot fetish.”
We’re sitting across from one another and he’s scratching at his groin. He grabs at the skin over his jeans using a pinch-roll motion that incorporates the pad of his thumb and the [...]
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Kim paced in front of Gerald sitting on the couch. She spun toward the floor, swooping down to pick up dirty laundry, then she grabbed at a pair of running sneakers. Huddling with the ragged mountain Kim hurried into the bedroom and Gerald could hear her dropping everything in a pile by the bedside table. [...]
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It’s late and I am very tired and the day went by fast but not too fast since all that is on my mind is that my back is killing me. In the corner of a beachfront parking lot my feet carry me to the front doors of a what looks like a remodeled dive [...]
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A man is sitting in one of those white plastic lawn chairs inside the Laundromat. He is nearly fifty, and is wearing shorts and a hooded sweatshirt. The sweatshirt is the kind that pulls over, without a zipper, and it’s that speckled ash-gray color. His skin is tarnished with years of blue-collar banality. His face [...]
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Daryl is still waking up as he walks the aisles and picks up trash. He straightens shelves and scratches the back of his neck. He stares out the window into an empty parking lot. He rubs his eyes and the time is somewhere close to or after 6 a.m.
A moment ago he was yawning and [...]
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The sign read “Ring the bell for service with a smile!” Next to the text a glittery sticker of a smiley face reflected the sun beaming in through the tinted windows of Hopskip Fitness Center.
There was enough positive energy in there to blow up a house.
The few members there were elder and sweating. One was [...]
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David sat on the toilet with the door open while he read. He was expecting company and didn’t want to not hear a knock at the door—the overhead fan inside the bathroom tended to overpower any sound once the door was shut.
It was one of those moments where he could expect company at any time. [...]
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Empty glasses accompany empty champagne flutes. The paper plates all have the same floral pattern that match the curtains that match the carpet that match the flowers on each table. Men in white coats carry trays of ridiculous combinations of deep fried hors d’oeuvres. From the window you can see a parade of lights down [...]
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The house was more inset from the street than any other house on the lot. Jim would have missed it if he hadn’t caught the address on the mailbox: 1531 Peligro Way. He checked the printout of the ad he found online:
Room for Rent, access to the beach, smoking or non-smoking, pets not allowed. $475/mo, [...]
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“Fucking bitches,” Bruce said. “Stupid, spoiled, bratty fucking whores.”
Ted looked down at Bruce’s drink. He hadn’t touched it for a while and the puddle underneath the glass had begun to soak into the table.
“Long day, pal?”
The juke box was rotating Motown hits with an occasional Rock ballad popping up. The lighting gave everyone’s face that [...]
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They were all there. They all knew him by the name William. They came to watch him die.
There was Helen, the woman from across the hall. She kept her flask in her chest. She had abnormally fat upper arms. She was always trying to get him to come in for a drink. “I have bourbon,” [...]
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The crude light captured every shadow, every detail, every emotion that floated in the staleness.
A giant stretched canvas, fitted with long solid boards and gears, and a crank shaft attached to the gears underneath. Strapped across the canvas was a living man, naked; he was unconscious; a dried layer of his blood covered half his [...]
