In my town, tradition states that a person who trains well, fights well, and dies with a weapon in hand will immediately enter Valhalla. Our ancestors considered Valhalla like heaven. Everyone wanted to go there. The belief permeated society so much that even today when most people don’t believe in Odin or Valhalla, many traditions […]

Carefully the old man eased back into the least offensive chair. His silver hair glimmered in the light from the fireplace. He watched the other man in the other chair, with its matching red tartan design. With brown eyes twinkling with laughter he spoke, “Well, old friend, your taste in color hasn’t changed, but then […]

Thursday after school I visit my mother. I used to buy flowers to take to her. Some weeks I would forget, so I would pick a few flowers from a garden near my house. I didn’t think the owner would notice because I only picked the flowers that hung outside the small fence. I was […]

Kyle slowly walked up to his front door, pulling out his keys. Tonight had been another horrible date. Instead of the pretty blond he had expected to meet, she turned out to have dirty blond hair, pockmarks, braces, and glasses. She looked like an awkward teenager. He had almost left then but decided that maybe […]

“I did it. I freed myself,” sang a calm woman’s voice. “What did you do?” the 911 operator questioned, trying to understand if this was a prank call. Still singing, the childlike voice replied, “Why I killed them. I killed them all.” Then the voice giggled as if sharing a joke before the phone went […]

When I was young, my father told me a story about my grandfather. My father rarely tucked me into bed, but one night he came to my room after I had changed into my pajamas. As I watched, he carefully checked the windows, closing the curtains. Then he checked the room and closed the door. […]

In a world of abnormal, normal becomes bizarre. In my case, people feared my normalness. I have become a sideshow freak, feared, and fascinating. What did I do? I was born. If you enter a museum, you’ll see pictures of ancient people. They look weird, yet we were told as children that they were considered […]

The scientists say 50% of the population has the ability to fly, but I’ve never met anyone that could fly. Have you? In school, we learned all about the science of flight and the first man recorded as flying. After he appeared a few more people started to fly. Curious scientists started to study the […]

How did I get this job? Well, it started eleven almost twelve years ago. A man approached me while I stood in a field watching the sunset. “Parker?” he asked me. I nodded indicating I’d heard him. “I have a proposition for you.” Well, naturally curious, I asked him what. He told me that he […]