Short Stories & Fiction

Secret Santa Murder: A Charlie Kingsley Mystery Chapter 1 “Charlie, thank goodness you’re here.” Pat immediately ushered me into her foyer, taking my coat off before she had even shut the front door. “It’s already falling apart, and the party has barely even started.” “How can a Secret Santa party fall apart?” I asked, trying

Chapter 1 “So, how is the weather there? Wait, don’t tell me. On second thought, I don’t want to know,” Pat said before erupting into a major coughing fit. I cradled the phone receiver to my ear as I slid open the sliding glass door to step out onto the balcony. The sun was shining,

Chapter 1 “My husband is missing. Can you find him?” I straightened up, pressing the phone tighter against my ear. The voice was frail and thin, and I wondered if I had heard her correctly. “Did you say your husband is missing?” “Yes. I need help finding him. Can you do that?” “Is this an

Chapter 1 “This is the most absurd thing I have ever done,” I muttered to myself as I clomped up the stairs to the tidy blue and white ranch house. “And believe me, I know a lot about absurd things. Actually, probably too much.” It had only been a few weeks since I’d moved to

Chapter 1 This couldn’t possibly be my life. There was no possible way that I, Emily Hildebrandt, who graduated with honors from high school and then from the University of Wisconsin-Riverview with a 3.8 GPA … who, as of ten days ago, had a solid job with a good paycheck, a lovely apartment, new car,

That night, I couldn’t sleep. The darkness seemed to press against me, like a living, breathing entity, pulsing with unnatural life. My mind perpetually whirled with images of Edna. I could practically see her broken body in the alley, arms and legs bent at unnatural angles, her eyes glazed and lifeless … staring at nothing