Exhibit A: Letter from envelope addressed “Stephanie” Exhibit B: Letter from envelope addressed “Police” Exhibit C: Envelope left untitled
Author: Zack Long
Like Any Good Husband
The Discordance of Anima
by Zachary Robert Long (2153 words, estimated reading time: 10 minutes)
The night held the world in a darkness that felt never-ending to Billy’s ten year old brain. Curled up in his tent with a sleeping bag and a flashlight and his Deadpool comics, the chill dark air tasted like freedom. Freedom from bedtime. The kind of freedom adults get. This, he thought, this is what…
Now You Dig
by Zachary Robert Long (3349 words, estimated reading time: 16 minutes)
When they got there two sets of hands were pulling her out of the black Nissan Pathfinder and into the light of the setting sun as it reflected off the shards of rusted metal throughout the scrapyard. Her pale blond hair was disheveled. Her mouth was covered by layers of duct tape. Her left eye…
A Conflagration of Euphoria
by Zachary Robert Long (1322 words, estimated reading time: 6 minutes)
The screams of the women found no purchase on the night air as they were marched to their deaths. From among the crowd that lined either side of their walk were flung insults, rocks, and excrement both animal and human. A missile would strike home causing one or another of the women to stumble, eliciting…
A Speck of Paint
by Zachary Robert Long (2547 words, estimated reading time: 13 minutes)
A river of viscous red waterfalls to an ocean of blue, green, red, and white with specks of yellow and fiery orange making themselves known. As the river runs out the red mixes into the ocean of colors with long tendrils that seemed to be reaching out into a void, this being where the colors…
The Anger of Old Man McKinsy
by Zachary Robert Long (2687 words, estimated reading time: 15 minutes)
The cool breeze carried with it a voice that spoke of regrets. The regret of the sun slowly whittling away the sleek ice. The regret of the rabbit as the wolf takes its life in a quick lunge. And the regret that Ash held for the way his relationship had turned out. Spring was almost…
The Hole in Jacob Roebuck
by Zachary Robert Long (1251 words, estimated reading time: 7 minutes)
Jacob Roebuck looked at the scab on his leg and wondered what it could have come from. He had no recollection of ever hurting his leg, yet on his leg was a blackish-red splotch that meant he must have done just that. He worked at a computer all day and then sat around his apartment…
Splat
by Zachary Robert Long (3192 words, estimated reading time: 16 minutes)
32. During certain moments in life, the human brain changes our perception of time. One common example is the feeling that the work day is dragging on, you keep glancing at the clock but that last hour just doesn’t end. Time dilation is often referenced in trip reports on LSD and other psychedelic drugs. It…
The Church of Cleansing
by Zachary Robert Long (1996 words, estimated reading time: 10 minutes)
“And nay, Brothers and Sisters, shall we deny that the time is soon,” the man at the altar roared as he wiped blood from his hands. “For we know the truth. We know what the future holds and we shall be the ones who inherit, for we have seen that truth with our own eyes.”…
The Animals
by Zachary Robert Long (997 words, estimated reading time: 5 minutes)
Their eyes meet from across the room. Amber is saying something, but she doesn’t hear it. She’s already left her seat and is moving across the room with her glass in hand. Amber looks angry until she shakes the glass and points back with two fingers. Now Amber is happy, pacified by her favorite treat….