A Breach in the Fence
An undisciplined rottweiler breaks through a fence into a neighbors’s yard where a young child plays, unattended.
Tommy
Tommy is lost, walking along an abandoned road. He remembers his family and his normal life, but he fails to remember how he got himself on the road he is treading now.
The Hitman’s Ghost
Charles learns the hard way that some jobs aren’t worth the money.
Mr. Chew
Cammie has grown up in foster care since the accident that took the lives of her parents, for which she blames herself. She was alone until recently, when her little brother Jason was returned by his adoptive family and joined her in a foster home. She tries to scare Jason by reciting a nursery rhyme about a monster called Mr. Chew, but she is the one who is scared. She sees Mr. Chew every day, staring at her and creeping closer and closer.
Swallow
A predatory young man chooses the wrong girl to follow home from the Halloween disco.
Darkroom Liaisons
The poltergeists leave the darkroom the way they came: faceless. Read this beautiful poem by Avra Margariti, only on The Dread Machine.
The Brides of Dracula Ponder the Manson Murders
(What are humans but an amalgamation
of meat and electricity?) Read this unsettling poem by Avra Margariti.
TAKE ME
A cardboard box on the curbside. A magic marker missive: TAKE ME. Free books for someone to take. But what if these books shouldn’t be taken? What if they’re haunted?
Ritual
A man prepares to go out on the hunt with just one thing on his mind. He has his trusted rituals to achieve success, but there are other, older rituals at play, rituals that balance nature and can turn the hunter into the hunted
An Exercise in Peddling Fear
A true master of a trade takes pride in their work and the demonic plying of human fear is no different! An artisan breaks down the industry and walks two unfortunate souls through its current project.