THE UMBRELLA LADY
“She wasn’t paying attention? On her goddamn phone? She was supposed to be watching them!”
The mother’s voice cracked like a whip across the sterile walls of the police station. Christina sat slumped in the metal chair, mascara streaked down her face, shaking. Her phone was still warm in her pocket—still open to the FaceTime call she hadn’t ended, as Nikki listened in, trying to decipher the muffled madness.
“On fucking FaceTime, while my babies were out there alone! How could you?”
Christina choked on her tears. “I—I just looked down for a second. I had to pee. They were in the yard. They were right there.”
THE CRYSTAL IN THE WALL
Skipping school on Friday afternoons had become one of our senior-year rituals. With only study halls and gym left on our schedule, why the hell wouldn’t we? I didn’t have a car, but Donger did, so we’d pile in and drive around, hunting for new places to get high in a town where nothing felt new anymore. Tommy suggested we go on an adventure—hike out to the giant cross near the Russian monastery. Donger bitched about potholes and gas, like he always did, but finally caved to our relentless peer pressure.
GOD HATES HEAVY METAL: Three Days to Animal
Three days without food or water. That’s how long it takes for a person to regress—mind, body, and soul—into a state of pure, animal survival. Three days, and morality starts to rot. Compassion peels away. You’re not human anymore. You’re a creature that will do anything to live—even kill.
That’s what they say, anyway.
But what I saw… he didn’t turn into an animal.
He became something hungrier. Something crueler. Something worse.
GOD HATES HEAVY METAL: THE CRYSTALLINE VOW
They say when you’re dying, your life flashes before your eyes. But mine won’t stop replaying just one night—one scream, one blade, one name I still whisper in dreams. I broke a vow I never made, and they killed him for it. Now the crystal is humming again, and I don’t think I have much time left. So if you’re reading this, listen closely—because once I tell you, it won’t just be my secret anymore.