Jesse Teller

Tag: Shadow

  • The Prince of Darkness

    —

    by

    jesseteller
    in

    “I can’t. I just can’t. You have to find another.” Shadow was crying. It was 2008 and we were stuck. We had signed up for a writing workshop and paid a hefty sum. The cost of admission included a reading from seven people. Five editors would read the first five pages. They would weigh in…

  • Volacha

    —

    by

    jesseteller
    in

    “What do you love?” I asked her. She was African-American, pretty, a bit thick in the right places, with a beautiful sundress and immaculate hair. She was tall, and barefoot, with an angry face and a bag over her shoulder. She was having a bad day, I could tell by her body language, and she…

  • Confession

    —

    by

    jesseteller
    in

    “If you’re awake, don’t let me know,” I said. The room had fallen quiet about fifteen minutes ago. Before that, the four of us had talked in the dark of Ty’s basement for about an hour. It was five in the morning. My mother wanted me home by noon. But tonight, I needed to talk.…

  • The Man in the Dark

    —

    by

    jesseteller
    in

    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…

  • Walleye

    —

    by

    jesseteller
    in ,

    When Teddy walked out of my life, it sent me into shock. I was 17, still in high school and on the fringe. Teddy had been the coolest person I knew. He legitimized me as a person worth knowing, and with him gone, I was lost. He had walked up to me in the hall,…

  • Creature in the Wastes, Part 2

    —

    by

    jesseteller
    in

    Sunshine filled the room. Adam stood in its light basking in the warmth and the happiness it brought. He turned to his Lincoln Logs sitting in the corner, to the small black and white television sitting in the other and the soft bed, made with pressed sheets and gentle blankets, and he giggled. “I want…

  • Creature in the Wastes

    —

    by

    jesseteller
    in

    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…

  • Smilin’ Jack, Part 4

    —

    by

    jesseteller
    in

    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…

  • Shush

    —

    by

    jesseteller
    in

    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…

  • The Heart of the Shadow

    —

    by

    jesseteller
    in

    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…