"Thank you for coming over on such short notice Jessica. I didn't expect to be called into work tonight.", I say apologetically. Jessica is our babysitter. She's the best in the neighborhood, my son adores her. She is 18 years old, and about to graduate high school. With her light brown hair and dark brown eyes, she says with a smile, "Oh, Mrs. Sheffield, no worries. I am always up to look aft...

Although I couldn’t see, something told me that I definitely wasn’t alone in the cellar. Frozen, I stood in front of the dryer scared to make any sort of moment. They say your other senses heighten when one is useless. I never really noticed that until this moment. And I will never forget it. My ears located the tiniest of sounds and movements. Like a cat who cocks its head and twitches its e...

"Get down from there right this second, you headache of a person!", the old guard said from below. "Stop wasting my fucking time! We both know you're too much of a pussy to jump.", he said while chuckling under his breath. I don't think I was supposed to hear that, but he did not make much of an effort to conceal it. As I look down at the people on the ground, I imagine them as itty, bitty an...

Shaking, I lay in bed under my blankets staring at the bottomless pit of a ceiling. Every few minutes I glance at the digital clock across the room. 2:57 a.m. 2:58 a.m. 2:59 a.m. 3:00 a.m. Although I am literally watching the time pass, it feels as though I have been waiting for hours. But the clock finally changed to 3:00 a.m. and I quietly, but impetuously sprung out of bed and started gathering...

A loud, piercing scream. Suddenly I’ve regained consciousness. Looking around with slightly blurred vision, I try to recall what just happened.

Fire. Smoke. Blood. Everywhere I turn I am forced to witness devastation. Everything that was happening around me was muffled to the point where the sounds were unrecognizable. People were mounds on the ground. Like roadkill on the side of a busy in...