I awoke with an intense pain in my neck and a pounding headache. As I stand up from the bed, my eyes follow the smears of dried blood on the chest of my shirt. My reflection catch’s my attention in the bedroom vanity. Bruises align my face to my collarbone.

I audibly gasp and the man that I did not notice in the bed bed sits up, rubbing his eyes. Panicking, I quietly shuffle into the bathroom dow...

First Day in Hell.

Dear Satan, I thought you would meet me at the door.. I had the impression that I would meet a grand entrance to hell with the burning flames and whatnot. I walked for hours in darkness until I found myself here, except I don’t know where “here” is. If I’d have to guess, I think I’m in St. Louis. I’ve passed this familiar arch three times now and I’m starting to believe this ci...

It had been fifteen years since the sun had last risen. Fifteen years of hiding in the shadows and staying out of sight from the Alive. Fifteen years of loneliness and isolation.

Mitch had survived much of the first year after the start of the apocalypse. Fighting on the frontlines, he helped build the first haven in what used to be North America. While foraging an abandoned city, he was bitten by...

The crisp air whips across my smooth tights and the sound of metal grinds against ice. My adrenaline builds as weeks spent repeating and choreographing my program. Lace layered on silk moves with the wind as I land the jump at the climax of Vivaldi. I stand alone in pride as the only girl in my division that can successfully land a triple axel. I suppress the urge to smile as I keep my composure g...

“Did you ever mean it?”

“Once, yes. But only once.”

The gripping rubber of my socks rubs on the metal framing of the hospital bed. I look down, knowing the doctors is looking straight through me. He asks again. I try to drown out his interrogation.

“You were released last week. We asked your parents how you were feeling and we were reassured you were doing well.”

I lied. I was put on new medicatio...

I awoke, startled from a dream. Sitting up against the headboard of my boyfriends bed, I immediately reached for my journal and began scribbling down the details. The location, the names, and the cause of death.

“Another nightmare?” he asked in his husky voice as he awoke.

“Sorry,” I whispered “don’t worry, just go back to sleep hun.”

He persisted.

“This happens every other night, do you need to ...

For most people, it is simple to choose between the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other. Given my karma, I’m forced a lacking of moral sense. This is where I tell the naked truth.

I exist without a soul.

Living with the curse of (almost) never escaping the devil is something I was forced to come to terms with. It takes form as my literal shadow, only vanishing in absolute darkness. A...