Writing Darkness

The Works of Zachary Robert Long

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A wooden bench sits in the foreground, behind it is a beach with the tide halfway out

My Son in the Sun
by Zachary Robert Long (2837 words, estimated reading time: 13 minutes)

Posted on April 9, 2025April 9, 2025 by Zack Long

Bills Hicks had a bit about how he didn’t understand what people saw in the beach. It’s where water meets land. What’s so special about that? But he had a change of heart on the matter while dealing with the cancer that eventually killed him. I get that. I never really liked the beach when…

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Where Silence Meets Speed
by Zachary Robert Long (2500 words, estimated reading time: 12 minutes)

Posted on March 11, 2025 by Zack Long

I don’t trust electric cars. And no, before you ask, it isn’t because of Musk and the endless litany of issues with Tesla. Fiat, Lotus, Hyundai, Kia, Volvo, Jeep, BMW, they’ve all got electric cars of their own. So ignore Tesla. They’re irrelevant. I’m not one of those people that think cleaner energy is the…

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And I Breathe Your Blood Like A Carcinogenic Breeze
by Zachary Robert Long (2309 words, estimated reading time: 10 minutes)

Posted on February 6, 2025 by Zack Long

I’m sitting in the pub listening to Mark’s inane chatter when they walk in. She’s dressed in a tight fitting tube-top that leaves nothing to the imagination, but with a body that makes you crave a little less candor. He’s wearing a suit that you just know has an Italian name with a reputation dip-shits…

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An aerial view of a hospital situated along an encroaching tree-line

A Trick of the Light
by Zachary Robert Long (2026 words, estimated reading time: 10 minutes)

Posted on January 15, 2025January 15, 2025 by Zack Long

The woods are darker now than they were this time last week. This disturbs her. Something she can’t quite put a finger on. The way it feels like every thing is always changing? Getting away from her? She wants it all to stay the same, her deepest wish is to freeze time. To hold her…

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Whence the Rainbow Ends
by Zachary Robert Long (3869 words, estimated reading time: 18 minutes)

Posted on December 11, 2024January 19, 2025 by Zack Long

Mason needed it to rain. Okay, need was a bit of a strong word. He didn’t need it to rain. He wanted it to rain. Not one of those massive storms that sometimes hit Atlantic Canada and lasted all day and all night. No, what he needed was for it to piss down for an…

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Two glowing yellow eyes peer out from the darkness of the closet

The Crow-Man
by Zachary Robert Long (3220 words, estimated reading time: 15 minutes)

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Zack Long

Charlie didn’t like it when the lights went out. The bed was warm and cozy, sure, but that was just because Mommy tucked the blankets tight around him every evening when she kissed him goodnight. He didn’t have a problem with that part. In fact, he quite enjoyed it. But then she would turn the…

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The face of a cat, mouth opened wide to reveal fangs, emerges from darkness

Mrs. Tinkles
by Zachary Robert Long (4979 words, estimated reading time: 25 minutes)

Posted on October 2, 2024April 8, 2025 by Zack Long

Samantha is going to fucking kill me, Chloe thought as she stared into the gaping hole beneath the sink. “It was just the pipes,” she whispered. “It had to be the pipes.” But she knew that wasn’t true. The pipes made tons of noise, but they never sounded like a meow before. She’d been in…

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Overhead shot showing police examining a dumpster

Like Any Good Husband
by Zachary Robert Long (981 words, estimated reading time: 5 minutes)

Posted on September 11, 2024 by Zack Long

Exhibit A: Letter from envelope addressed “Stephanie” Exhibit B: Letter from envelope addressed “Police”   Exhibit C: Envelope left untitled

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A tree-line at night, everything appears foggy and cold. A bright white light shines from the distance, suggesting some sort of presence just out of our sight.

The Discordance of Anima
by Zachary Robert Long (2153 words, estimated reading time: 10 minutes)

Posted on August 21, 2024September 27, 2024 by Zack Long

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…

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Close up on a man's boots next to a shovel, the background shows skeletal trees.

Now You Dig
by Zachary Robert Long (3349 words, estimated reading time: 16 minutes)

Posted on July 13, 2024August 26, 2024 by Zack Long

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…

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I believe in periods, in capitals, in the occasional comma, and that’s it

— Cormac McCarthy

Recent Posts

  • Ruby Laughs
    by Zachary Robert Long (1304 words, estimated reading time: 6 minutes)
    (Ruby Laughs is a sequel to A Good Mother) She lays on the motel water-bed, her pregnant belly undulating with each breath, and though her face is...
  • The Way It Squirms
    by Zachary Robert Long (2100 words, estimated reading time: 10 minutes)
    The lump in Steven’s armpit stayed the same size no matter how many times he told himself it wasn’t there. Staring at himself in the bathroom...
  • The Skin Came Free
    by Zachary Robert Long (1441 words, estimated reading time: 7 minutes)
    The skin on my hands has been coming off lately. It starts by the nails, sort of folding back. Not quite tearing but slipping away. I...
  • Robert Cook Collection Item #0888
    by Zachary Robert Long (2856 words, estimated reading time: 13 minutes)
    During the final hours of October 10, 1961, Everett Turpin murdered his wife Dorothy Turpin with an ax. The following morning he drove his Ford F-1...
  • For the Entertainment of Strangers
    by Zachary Robert Long (3971 words, estimated reading time: 17 minutes)
    For Haleigh Masterton, the moment her stomach lining tore registered only as a dull ache. Nor did it slow her down any. It was simply another...

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