- Forever by Wilhite
- PTSD by MacLeod
- No More Than a Battered Tennis Ball by Haigh
- Interior Redesign by Connaughton
- The Plates by Heartz
- A Haunting Feeling by Stephenson
A Haunting Feeling
by J. Douglas Stephenson
Somewhere, in the dark and twisting caverns of the man's mind, far beyond what anyone else would have considered sane, lurked the feeling that he wasn't alone—it always did. Although it had been five long years since he had stood over her lifeless body, the feeling made him wonder if she had ever truly departed, or if she remained, somehow; her soul lingering close, in every step that he took. He had been weak, he knew that, and in that moment of weakness, the man had lashed out. He hadn't meant for it to go as far as it did though, and the memory of that night held him prisoner, chained in the dungeon that he called his life. He even swore that he could feel her breath, as cold as the icicles that clung to the edges of the rain gutters on the quaint cottage that they had once called home, though he tried like hell to escape it. The weather was always frigid at this time of year, but even with a hefty supply of logs on the fire downstairs, there was no warmth that radiated into his body. It was nights like this, reminded of how she adored the view of the snow as it cascaded onto the Earth, which brought the worst of the feeling to the forefront of his psyche. As he peered out the window and onto the soft, white blanket below, he prayed that she would forgive him for what he had done. The reflection of the room behind him, however, offered nothing more than the faint outline of a ghostly figure on the bed, and as he turned away from the window, the terrifying realization that the worst of your deeds really will come back to haunt you.
BIO:
J. Douglas Stephenson was born in the summer of 1983, in Chillicothe, Ohio. His written work has appeared in collections from Pill Hill Press, Static Movement, Wicked East Press, Sex and Murder, Twisted Dreams, Frontenac House, and Shade City Press. He currently resides in The Netherlands with his wife and two daughters.