NYC Midnight (Final Round 2023)
Head. Heart. Health. Fate.
It’s ten minutes past close when I blink and find that I’m still lost in my own palm. My left hand lays motionless before me, a corpse at a viewing. The singular spotlight that normally…
NYC Midnight (Winter 2023)
The Model Mirror
Nastya Ivanov stared at her reflection in the mirror. The black tile in the background contrasted the golden aura emanating from the globe lights above the sink, casting her pale face in a corona of…
NYC Midnight (Winter 2022)
The Coming of the Bear
It wasn’t until the wheels of my Cessna 185 touched ground, plumes of snow erupting from either side of the craft like salmon leaping upstream, that I exhaled. Dusk had fallen, and the gale that…
NYC Midnight (Summer 2020)
A First Time For Everything
Malachi whispered Agent Trenten’s name into his microphone a third time. When the man didn’t answer Malachi knew he was dead. It had nothing to do with the “Three Strikes Protocol,” which was really more…
NYC Midnight (Fall 2019)
Fairy Tale for a Cursed Witch
When they found the witch she was sitting in the courtyard at the very center of Enchanted Hollow Retirement Community. Her back was hunched; her eyes downcast. The hair on her head was a bird’s…
NYC Midnight (Spring 2023)
The Taking of Danni Winters’ Child and the Justice Dealt by Saratoga Jane
The shadows were short when Saratoga Jane heard a commotion rise up from the main street of Amber Creek. It was interposed by shouts sharp enough to punctuate the thick stench of hot piss that…
NYC Midnight (Spring 2022)
The Cost of Crab
Faye had just finished dredging up and emptying the remainder of the crab traps from the ocean floor and was securing them to the deck of the Ginny when she heard the call come over…
NYC Midnight (Summer 2020)
A New Chapter
Her footfalls echoing across the George Peabody Library, Trinity glanced at the postcard to ensure she was in the right place at the right time. I apologize for eluding you for years, it began, Our…
NYC Midnight (Winter 2019)
The Rat’s Nest
It was the sound of the Falcon’s voice that caused Markus “The Rat” Mungia to freeze. That, coupled with the unshakeable feeling that something was horribly fucking wrong. He had been creeping across the long…
NYC Midnight (Summer 2023)
Doubt Thou the Stars are Fire… But Never Doubt I Love
When the boy stepped into the cockpit, all was silent. The flashing blues and yellows of the dashboard had ceased. All that remained, present through the window that encompassed them in a half-sphere, was the…
NYC Midnight (Summer 2022)
The Remains of Terrance McKinnon
So it came to be that, following the refreshments and tour of McKinnon Manor, but before the mingling with the local upper echelon at the annual Lily Society Community Charity Event, the gaggle of elderly…
NYC Midnight (Spring 2020)
The Grandfather Exigency
There was a lurch, the sound of space being torn apart, and, with a thundering crash, Elliot slammed through the fourth dimension. The Argus 7-D groaned one final time, and then went silent. Elliot closed…
NYC Midnight (Fall 2019)
The Fifth Body
“You’re going to want to see this Sarge.” The detective’s voice rises, a sign that he’s excited, or at the very least thinks he’s got something. Sergeant Lopez takes the last sip of shitty, bottom-of-the-pot…
The Word and The Song 