Corvus Curse

by Barry J. Northern

The dreams got worse and worse in the following week, but they only plagued me at night. I could explain those away without questioning my sanity. I slowly began looking into mirrors again, trying to ignore that one incident for sanity’s sake as well. What worried me the most was my thumb. Even though there was no blood, I wore a plaster around it because one morning I had peered into the crack and swore I saw bone. I didn’t want to look at it after that.

That Saturday when granddad and I arrived at his house in a cloud of diesel, Mum wasn’t waiting for us again. He said she was getting ready upstairs and wouldn’t be long. I turned on the TV while he put the kettle on. I know, I should have said something about Mum, but that would have meant accepting that something strange was happening to her, and right then I was aiming for normality.

Mum’s scream lasted so long I was halfway up the stairs before it ended.

The Evil-Eater

by Peadar Ó Guilín

The giant left them to be replaced by a man bearing a pair of earthenware bowls containing a dark, lumpy substance. Marie watched it warily, and Toby knew she was already thinking of leaving. She had expected champagne and chandeliers; a feast of caviar and lobster while famous men took time out from their wives to steal glances at her across the room. Her dreams did not include the absence of a menu, brown lumpy stuff and a waiter who looked like he’d eaten bad chicken the night before. In fact, Toby noticed, while the wine stewards were all fine, strong men, the food waiters who passed through the flickering firelight were frightening to behold. Their faces shone with a veneer of sweat which beaded and ran into the rough spun tunics they wore. They shook as though palsied, and each of them moved as slowly as possible, hurrying only under the glare of the wine stewards. Not one of them looked Irish.

“What is this bleedin’ crap!” hissed Marie.

“Er-Erta,” said the waiter. He looked terrified. “Erta.”

Papa Was a Gypsy

By Shannon Celebi

She must be mad or fool or both: followin’ ghosts, half naked like Mama was when she got killed. And then it struck her like a hurricane deep in her throat, a kinda knowin’ dread that made her knees go weak.

“What happened to you, Mama?” Elma asked. She never asked before cuz she reckoned Mama wouldn’t answer, but this time Mama made a small sound, a grunt, like she was tryin’ to talk but couldn’t remember how.

“Were you followin’ a ghost, Mama?”

Mama made the sound again.

Gulls

by Tim Pratt

A high fence of weathered wood ran along the right side, partitioning the beach for the people in the hotel. The fence ran for a distance even into the water before giving up hope of division. Harriet heard happy shouts and laughter from the other side. It was a gleaming white hotel with balconies on the back; she could see the top floors rising over the fence, much better than the ramshackle crammed-in house with rusty showerheads and sand in the mattresses. Same water, she thought, squelching her envy, they get the same beach we do.

But this was a sad little beach. Grady surged like a live wire, pulling away and eager to be in the grey-green water, but she held on and stepped with distaste around broken beer-bottles and chunks of styrofoam. The horizon was infinite and curved but the air stank of fish.

Her Collection of Intimacy

By Paul Haines

I wanted her to say she’d had a few long-term boyfriends, a couple of one-night-stands. The fewer lovers the better. I wanted her to make me feel superior in my sexual conquest of the world.

I wanted her to say that, but I knew she wouldn’t.

She recorded our lovemaking sessions to watch later. I knew what that meant in terms of experience. I wanted to be cool about it. I wanted to be able to handle it. Whatever went before didn’t matter.