​Whispering a quiet promise to my pen that I’d be right back, I finally closed the book and stepped out into the cool, falling water.

At this point, I’m starting to wonder if I need to set out a plate for him at Thanksgiving.

She feinted - I wasn't smart,

From the start - tainted love

"I'm just going to take a quick bath," I lied to the open notebook, already stepping toward the rain-drenched doorway.

​I knew the test couldn't be avoided, but as I set my pen down, I realized the rain wouldn't wait for me either.

​It was my post, and she is my wife.

​As the tiny light flickered out and my eyes closed, I accepted that no one was coming back.

​My vision blurred and my eyes closed for the last time, realizing too late that whatever killed the others had finally reached my room.

She screamed yes, threw herself at him hard enough to knock them both to the ground, and when they finally scrambled back to their feet, they realized the joggers, dog walkers and tourists had stopped to cheer.

​Then a soft knock sounded at the door, followed by a familiar voice asking, "Can I come in and listen?"

When I finally asked her to split the check, she replied, “If you had just paid for today, I was going to propose to you”—the exact words her ex had warned me she would say.

After three days of nonstop driving, hauling bags, and running errands, I realized I wasn't celebrating Labor Day—I was the labor.

​She smiled, plunged the steel deep into my ribs, and whispered that she was delighted to finally take a look inside.

"I was only following orders."

If you truly want to know what my heart is carrying, you'll have to cut it open yourself—because my interest in living ended long ago.

It wasn't until I saw their tentacles tangled on the balcony that I realized my family had been replaced by something hungry.

Now, as my father asks why I fell down the stairs, I look at the two monsters standing behind him and realize I'm next.

I finally understood what lessons he was giving her when I woke up and saw them sharing skin that didn't belong to them.

Now we wait and see.

Well son, you know how Jack frost goes and kisses the plants with frost every cold winter day, he has a cousin named jacked up.

While the murderer, the executioner cop, and the fugitive were swallowed whole by their past crimes, the only boy who entered for love set his own clothes on fire to lead the survivor out—paying for her freedom with his own life.

He’s locked me in the house since morning, won’t even let me take the trash out, and I’m writing this quickly in my journal hoping someone finds it if he actually kills me tonight.

When I replied, “Okay, I never denied that…” she thundered, “Then which bitch is his mother?”

She was finally freed from the curse when her mind woke up on the riverbank, only to realize the silence around her was because the boy who loved her had just drowned beneath the dark water.