LUKE I muted the television and watched the reporter’s flamenco red lips mouth her version of our story. We had checked-in to the Embassy Suites in city-center Philadelphia after Agent Halson, a friend of Detective Townsend’s, unofficially interviewed us. Townsend didn’t want anything to be official until he saw how […]
Katie I stare at our bed. The soft blues of the room are brighter in the summer sun that passes through the open blinds. I miss this place, I think while I lean the envelope against hispillow. The envelope is crimson — for love. No . . . for blood. […]
Claire When my feet hit the rock below, I felt like I’d landed in a different world. I peered over the ledge into the darkness below and took in deep breath of the chilled night air. I’d found a colder world, but it was a free world. The freedom of the […]
Michael We arrived at the fire tower just west of Beaverdam Road around 9:00 PM. The winter darkness coated the mountainside in a foreboding layer of black. We stood in the headlights as Detective Townsend handed me a small black pistol. It was the first time I’d held a handgun. […]
LUKE The white tent on the bank of the river was surrounded by streams of yellow tape. I caught the image in the corner of my eye as I gave the cashier a five-dollar bill to pay for a coffee and a pack of peanut butter crackers. The clerk, a […]
KATIE My sister thinks that I should just go back to him. I see myself ringing the doorbell — poor little me standing there, probably in the rain, probably soaked through to the bones, probably with black tears mixing with the rain as it streams down my cheeks. I see him […]
MICHAEL “I want to see Nikki,” I told the grunt at the door. I knew that I’d made a mistake with my tone when he took a step towards me and bowed out his chest. He crossed his arms, looked at my hands, and then glared at me […]
CLAIRE I watched the spinning of the fan blades as the ceiling seemed to start to collapse in on me. I couldn’t gasp. His fingers clamped like a vice on my throat and the only thing I could manage was to search the comforter with my hands in a blind […]
DETECTIVE TOWNSEND Every second counted. As they stood in the burn of the headlights, I heard the shots splintering the tree trunks and cracking against the boulders. They were shooting blind, their targets shielded by red pine, silver maple, and black gum trees that covered the steep hillside between […]
LUKE The slow blinking of the “OPEN” sign teased my eyes as I sat in the parking lot of The Dollhouse. ON — She stood at the door teasing a smooth-faced frat boy as her fingers grazed her lips. OFF — A lone leather-coat clad man smoking a cigarette sank […]
Katie He leaves our apartment, but he isn’t thinking of us. I have zero missed calls, no response to my texts, and he never even glanced at me the day I walked out. He continues to ignore my letters and the photographs that I tuck between the creases. I am forgotten. So […]
Claire It had been years since I prayed, but when you only have three inches of numbing steel between you and a bullet, God is the only one who can save you. “This is a destructive habit, Claire.” Donnelly’s voice slipped through the rays of blinding sunlight. His shadowy silhouette was […]
Detective Townsend “Where’s Luke Dawson?” The tap-tap-tap of the pen on the case jacket matched the beat of the pounding in my head. It was the second time in less than twelve hours that I found myself in Lieutenant Mason’s office. I looked around at the placards on the wall […]
Luke I watched the couple walk past my car as I pretended to look for something in the glove compartment. As they traipsed down the sidewalk, the white fog of their breaths collided against the backdrop of the noir sky. I scanned the alley again, waited until the lovers turned […]
Claire Open your eyes . . . I blinked. I was alive — whether I wanted to be or not. The warm tears trickled down the sides of my face as I thawed in the sunlight. The soft fleece itched my bare skin as I tried to lift my arms, […]
Detective Townsend The call from Molly came in while Luke was asleep in the back room. I let him stay at the cabin for the rest of the day; it wasn’t safe for him to go home — it wasn’t safe for him anywhere. “You screwed me. I gave […]
Luke They said we were too young; we didn’t care. We were ready – ready to destroy each other. “That’s my favorite,” were the first words that melted off her tongue and dripped into my ears. I was three bites into my mint chocolate-chip ice cream when I shifted my […]
Claire I sat across from New Girl – perky, wild, loquacious New Girl. She introduced herself before pouring a glass of Girard Zinfandel. She told me to call her Rae; I wasn’t sure if that was her real name, but it didn’t really matter. She was sixteen, I learned later, […]
Michael I imagined her dangling from the rocks below… reaching, calling out to me, her fingernails clawing at the stone as her hands slipped further towards the edge. I stretched out my arms to her and she gripped my hands, her red nails slicing into my wrists. The frantic, wide-eyed fear […]
Luke Jennifer was no stranger to bodies ripped open from hot metal, so when she opened the door to find me standing there with my sweatshirt soaked in blood, the first thing that she said was, “Couldn’t you have called first?” She motioned me inside like she was hurrying a […]
Detective Townsend The hardest part about seeing a lifeless body isn’t the grotesqueness of the blood or bone fragments, it’s thinking about the life that was still left to live and the people who remain behind to suffer. A young girl would never walk down the aisle into the arms […]
Claire The cool metal circled my skin as Donnelly caressed my temple with the barrel of the gun. He told me, “You try to take away something of mine again and I won’t be so gentle.” They blamed me for what happened to Ariel. I just sat there, stone-like. Silent… […]
Luke When I left The Dollhouse, I decided to drop into Phil’s Diner. Phil wasn’t anything like I had imagined; I pictured the stereotypical grandpa wearing some type of sweater and khaki combo. Phil was in his early forties, and his “happy” belly was the result of years of consuming syrupy […]
Detective Townsend The call came in around 5:45 AM. Lieutenant Mason’s rough voice roared even when he whispered, and the words “it’s one of our own,” gave me that sick feeling that starts at the bottom of your stomach and works its way up into your mouth until you can […]