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Latest Stories

December 02, 2023
General Stories Michael Barlett

The Sanctuary

CHAPTER ONE The Deputy Sheriff instructed her to stay in her own vehicle while he cautiously approached and knocked on the door. The old farmhouse was practically derelict with a sagging front porch, peeling paint and shutters askew. There was an ancient…
December 02, 2023
Flash Fiction Ben Davies

A Different Time

It was a different time, as the last embers of a shoddily rolled joint reached your fingers, passed to you by your favourite English teacher. A small bottle of vodka in your left hand as you pretended to indulge in both, when the reality was you barely…
December 02, 2023
Science Fiction Stories Nelly Shulman

The Awakening

Red Martian soil stained Mark’s fingers and he smiled. A terracotta pot, hosting his only companion, a prickly aloe, took water. His rough palms embraced the cold surface and he stood there for a while, drinking the silence of the Second Post. The concrete…
December 02, 2023
General Stories Michael Barlett

Final Destination

The Drake Passage The Drake Passage is a one-thousand kilometer bottleneck that lies between Cape Horn at the tip of South America and the frozen expanse of Antarctica. Notorious for its violent seas, it is a place where the cold water from the southern ocean…
December 02, 2023
Mystery Stories Michael Glennon

Janey’s Got A Club

“Is someone there?” Dick called as he lay stretched on the sofa watching soft porn on cable, a can of beer within easy reach on the coffee table. Dick was taking the afternoon off in the townhouse of a friend who lived not far from Dick’s office. His friend,…
November 27, 2023
Crime Stories William Kitcher

Encounter At The Albatross Club

I was sitting at the bar of the Albatross Club, chewing the fat with my friend, Danny the bartender, a 30-year-old with red hair like a fireball and a face that looked like it had fallen off the back of a radish truck, about current politics, when a punk I…
November 27, 2023
Romance Stories Gwyneth

Dream

Jennie has been having recurring dreams for years in which a man provides care for her, buys her favorite coffee, gives her affection, but the man's face is kind of hazy. She believed to herself that the man in her dreams is the one meant to be with her, like…
November 27, 2023
Science Fiction Stories MacLeod

M-I-C,K-AI

“I don’t know what all the hullabaloo is,” said Gene wearily as he sucked absently on his pencil. “They really can’t think on their own. They just synthesize data faster than we can. All they do is compile and mimic things we’ve already done, we humans I…
November 27, 2023
Flash Fiction Roy Okosun

The Binge Drinker VIII

On his way to Nekede, Kelechi listened to the sermon of a gospel preacher. The preacher based her sermon on what a person must do to inherit the Kingdom Come and harped that drunkards or heavy drinkers will not inherit the kingdom. After she had preached for…
November 21, 2023
Poetry Austin Spradlin

Farewell

I’ve been living it up like I thought I never wouldThings appear to be going the way they should.My ex tells me it’s just a disguiseThat I’m going to discover one dayAll the voices in my head are just liesI wish I had never let her get away.When this bottle…
November 21, 2023
General Stories Robert Pettus

An Elderly Citizen

Juan Pablo Dominguez plodded the aisles of Waystation IGA looking for Valentina hot sauce. It was the best sauce on anything and it wasn’t even close. The perfect blend of sweet and spicy, with a little smoky flavor. Perfect. He couldn’t find it. IGA had…
November 21, 2023
Horror Stories Laura Shell

What A Mess

CHAPTER ONE I wobbled while standing in the giant pool of fresh blood. To my left was a scattering of broken glass. To my right... Dog shit. Runny smears of dog shit. The smell reminded me of the time my Great Dane, Rusty, had infected anal glands. Don't ask…

Lena Holmes, a model, was offered a part in a movie, and she found stardom.

As is common, fame and fortune can make significant changes in a person's personality. So it was with Lena Holmes. She became difficult to work with and bullied everyone with whom she worked. Lena wanted her body from her face to her toes perfect, so she hired a chemist to create shampoo, creams for her face, her neck, her arms, and every other place where skin could be seen.

Once a week, Lena went to an upscale beauty salon to have her hair shampooed by Carol, the only person she would allow near her hair. "Miss Holmes, I don't understand it. I poured some of your special shampoo on your hair, but it won't lather. It's as though I just poured water on your hair."

 

"What," Lena growled, jumped out of the chair, wrapped a towel around her head, rushed to her car, and drove to her chemist "When she arrived at the chemist's lab, she barged in startling Dr. Fine. "Ms. Holmes. Wha…"

"You're a fraud. A charlatan. I paid you a fortune for this shampoo, and it doesn't lather," she screamed pointing the bottle at his face." Lena walked back and forth in front of the chemist, who sat at his desk and watched her as she paced and ranted. If I had a gun, I'd…"

"Ms. Holmes, I don't appreciate your insults or your threats. I should kick you out of here right now, but I won't. I don't know what went wrong with the formula, but I'll find out. Now, leave and don't come back."

"I won't, you crook. I ought to sue you," she growled and stormed out of his lab.

"Miserable bitch. Spoiled brat. I want to be around when age turns her into a prune. I want to see her fall apart.Now, let's look at the shampoo," he said and put a drop on a glass slide and looked at it through his microscope. Hmm.Interesting. One element has degraded. I can fix it," he said, went to his refrigerator and took out a jar, removed the cap, and poured about an ounce into the shampoo. Next, he went to his incubator and took out a small bottle that was filled with green liquid, and went to his work place. He held the small bottle up to the light and smiled. I wish I could be there to see it," he said, took the cap off the bottle of shampoo, and poured the contents of the small bottle into it. Then, he screwed the cap back on the bottle of shampoo, shook it several times, and held the bottle up to the light. "Yeah. I'd love to see this."

The shampoo was delivered the next morning. "Good. Just in time. I have an appointment to have my hair washed."In order to be sure that her hair was receiving the attention she demanded, she went to her exclusive beauty salon. "Ms. Holmes, how nice to see you. Come with me and I'll wash your hair."

"Here's my shampoo, Carol," she said and gave her the bottle.

Lena sat in the shampooing chair and put her head back on the contoured sink. Carol wet her hair, poured some of Lena's shampoo on her head, and massaged her head. "Is this new shampoo? The suds are luxurious, so smooth." Carol rinsed her hair, covered her hair with a towel, and led her to a chair. "How would you like me to style your hair?"

"Just take about a half inch off the bottom"

After Carol finished, she used mirrors to show Lena what she did.

"Looks fine. Thank you Carol," she said, paid her, left the salon, and went home. It was late, so she made herself a sandwich, watched TV for a while, and then went to bed. She was very tired, so she fell right to sleep. During the night, she tossed and turned After tossing and turning for four hours, she suddenly awoke, looked at her hands and sheets and blanket, and saw that they were covered with blood. "Oh, my God. What's happening," she moaned and put her hands to her head. "My head's bleeding," she gasped and fainted. While she was unconscious, microscopic parasites, which Dr. Fine put in her shampoo, crawled through her hair, eating her hair as they went. After her hair was gone, they burrowed into her scalp. By morning, the parasites had burrowed into her scalp, eaten her brain, and moved through her body eating as they went. Medical Examiners, after they performed an autopsy and finally discovered the cause of cause of her death, agreed that there was no way of knowing how she became a host for the parasites.

The End

BIO: Saul Greenblatt

While teaching at a community college, Mr. Greenblatt wrote stories and stage plays, one of which won a Smith College playwriting competition. Since retiring in 2000, he has been writing short stories, novellas, and novels. Some of his short stories have been published on line, and others in print anthologies.

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