“Are you Jack or are you real?” the beast said. It was sitting on the edge of Job’s bed, its head low, its claws biting deep on the side of the mattress. I was not aware. It was a Tuesday and I had been drinking. Regina and Bekah had gone home to sit by their… Continue reading Teth
Tag: Regina
No Man
The house was a corpse. Hot and damp, the room had the smell of a disheveled man, a man who had other things to worry about. The house was black. Even the street light was dead outside the window, and no one could see anything except the horrified flame of the withering candle set by… Continue reading No Man
The Man in the Dark
Job had come home early and found me drunk and weeping. The phone calls had been going all night, and when all was said and done, the whole of the body had passed out except him. When Job walked into the house, the man in the dark bedroom slipped his hand under the blankets and… Continue reading The Man in the Dark
Creature in the Wastes
Now, I know how this is going to sound. This one is not possible, if you think of things in a certain way. But I have not stumbled off the path of truth. There is an explanation to this story that I can’t get into right now. It was not a dream. I know that… Continue reading Creature in the Wastes
Smilin’ Jack, Part 4
Darkness and Job’s couch. I was asleep, and though lightning and rain raged out beyond the door, I was safe. Safe from homelessness, safe from starvation. But barely. Job had opened his house to me, had lent me succor from the streets. But I could not work. I was too far gone for that. I… Continue reading Smilin’ Jack, Part 4
Shush
He was keeping a secret, and it didn’t take long to figure out what it was. We called him Shush. Every now and then we caught him out and staring. We talked to him and tried to get him to respond before we realized he was mute. We gave him a piece of paper and… Continue reading Shush
The Heart of the Shadow
Guardian opened the door for her. He walked to the booth when led there, and he waited while she sat, before taking his seat across from her and smiling. Regina was taking him out to eat again. She did it often. All her money was spent entertaining us. Dinners, movies, all sorts of things were… Continue reading The Heart of the Shadow
Pain
“So what do we know?” I asked Job and Regina. We were at an Chinese restaurant. We were full and smoking. “Shadow, Guardian, Shush,” I said. “Servant, Teth, and Assassin,” Regina added, “and that one who came out last night that we couldn’t get anything out of, do you remember that?” “I do,” Job said.… Continue reading Pain
Family
“Can I come? I can help tell the story,” Regina said. I was already out of the car in the parking lot of Phelps Grove park when the question was being asked. She looked at me from the driver’s seat, trying to figure a way to make me let her come. That was not going… Continue reading Family
The Coming of Shadow
“What did you talk about in therapy today?” she asked. She was a mistake. I should not have been with her. She should not have been with me. She did not deserve to be dragged through my horror. It would only lead to heartache for her. Almost at once, we knew we shouldn’t be together,… Continue reading The Coming of Shadow
Jesse Teller 