I was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder five years ago. I developed this after a period of sustained abuse. I don’t think I left the house for six months. I moved back in with my mother, who took care of me so well. Without her, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Read more »
Posts By: Edwin Crowe
There is no Such Thing as Real Magic
I’m an amateur magician. I’ve performed at children’s parties and done some touring. I wouldn’t class myself as an expert, but I am in the magic circle. I love to see professional magicians perform, there is nothing better than when you see a trick and you have no idea how it was done.
I read a forum post a month ago that had a link to a YouTube video, 10 times magic went wrong. I checked it out, and as you can imagine, the contents were quite horrific. Two of the clips were of the Nail Under the Cups trick. If you are from England, you may have seen Derren Brown performing this. It’s a good one, if the magician is qualified. If they aren’t, then you end up being at positions seven and three of this video. Read more »
Curfew
We had been hiking all day and the sun was starting its journey over the horizon. The sky was streaked with purples and oranges as the early summer evening turned to night. We’d been following the same single lane road for hours, hoping to come in contact with civilisation.
“I think we should set up camp here,” Dan said, pointing to a field on the left.
I spotted the white triangular sign with a red border containing the icon of a tank. Read more »
I Wasn’t Invited
When my friends got a Facebook invite from Darren White, I was pissed, I didn’t get one.
I remembered him from school. He was the guy everyone bullied. They called him Wiggy, because he was already going bald by age eleven.
“Did you know Wiggy invited me to his stag do?” Stuart said to me while we drove to work.
“Really?” I said, “he didn’t invite me. Are you going?”
“Yeah, I think so, I owe him an apology for how I treated him in school.” Read more »
The Halfway House
I’d been married to my wife for ten years. We were young when we tied the knot and couldn’t afford to go anywhere for our honeymoon and it had bugged me for years. When I told her we should finally do it, I said we could go anywhere, Vegas, the Maldives, anywhere. But she had her heart set on the quaint little seaside town where we met. Read more »
Trigger Warning
Notice: This story includes graphic violence, the brutal beating of a man, the gutting of a sweet little dog, and a murder spree that starts from the man’s house, before working its way along the street, ending in an apparent suicide. You have been warned… Read more »
My Son’s Kidnapping
It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. We gave him his packed lunch, and watched him run down the yard and into the waiting school bus. He took his seat, just like every other day and waved us goodbye. I waved back until he was out of sight. But that day he wasn’t going to come home to us. Read more »
Pica
Pica, a tendency or craving to eat substances other than normal food (such as clay, plaster, or ashes), occurring during childhood or pregnancy, or as a symptom of disease. Read more »
The Haunted Toybox
I was always creeped out when I visited my Aunt’s house. My brother made me watch the Shinning when I was only five. My Aunt’s daughters looked exactly the same as the ones in the film. That alone was enough for me to feign sickness when I was told where we were going. Unfortunately that only worked a couple of times, until my mum got wind and made me go no matter how much I played up. Read more »
Do What You Know
I thought about the words my father said to me as a child.
“If you don’t know what to do, do what you know.”
My Cabin in the Woods
I live outside of town for a reason. I’m old now and don’t have time for small town gossip, I wanted peace and quiet. I’d lived here all my life, so when I moved, I didn’t go far. Read more »
I’m Not Afraid of Spiders
I think I was ten when I found the spider living in our garage. I remember staring at it for hours. The beautiful web it had woven glistened in the sun that shone through the small glass window. The large hairy body waited in the centre, silent and majestic. Curious I touched one of the silk strands, the spider then pouncing, expecting to find a meal. I withdrew my hand quickly as the spider searched for the intruder in his little world. My heart thumped with excitement. Within a minute, he’d returned to the middle. Back on guard duty, his fine legs holding onto the gossamer threads patiently, on stand by for the next vibration to signal his chance. Read more »
It Was the Worst Thing he Ever Saw
When my old friend from school, Eric, phoned the house, I was more than shocked. To think he remembered the number. I’d changed my cellphone many times since I last spoke to him. Read more »
Alone in the Forest
We were the last people left in the campsite. The more I thought about that, the more petrified I was to hear just the faintest noise from outside. My sleep was broken and when I did awake, I swore it was because I heard something. Read more »
Our Little Ritual
It was a ritual of sorts. We’d arrive home after a dog walk, and Scruffy would scratch at Mrs Hampton’s door. I’d open it and let him in. I’d return to my apartment, down the hall, after thirty minutes or so, I’d hear those scratches on mine, and I’d let him in. However, over the last week, I fell out with Edith. Read more »
Bleak Christmas
I told my wife I had a surprise for her the week before Christmas. She asked if it could wait until the day, but I said no, this couldn’t. Read more »
Splinters
I’d been digging at it for twenty minutes, but the little bastard wouldn’t come free. I plunged the tweezers into my palm even further in an attempt to remove the splinter that was bothering me so. I saw it grasped in the tips of the tool, but as much as I pulled the damn thing wouldn’t budge. I took a tissue and wiped away the blood before trying again. Read more »
Meat
Ghost Rock, Utah isn’t much more than a rock. When my wife and I stopped there for a rest, the sun was beginning to set. Sarah used the restroom, while I stretched my legs outside the car. We were traveling to the national park to camp for a couple of days, before visiting family. Ghost… Read more »
I Bought a Murder House
Buying a house at an extremely discounted rate because the previous occupants were murdered may not sound like a wise idea. Especially if the house still looks like the crime scene that was inspected just months earlier. But prime real-estate in the centre of London is worth its weight in gold. I suspected if the estate had bothered to clean, then there would have been more buyers and the price would have risen through the roof. However, blood stains and the smell of death put off even the most forgiving buyer. Read more »
I Help Schizophrenics
When I saw the woman in the middle of the road appear to swat thin air, I recognised it immediately – schizophrenia.
I approached her, she turned, her face distorting horribly. Read more »
Father and Son
“Be ever so quiet, son,” my dad said to me in a whisper. Read more »
Just Hold It
When I told my friends I had guns in my house, a couple of them were excited, the others not so much. The gang followed me home nervously. Read more »
Keep the Shoebox
When I found out my new girlfriend was pregnant, I was so happy; I moved in soon after. It was so fast, not something we had planned. On the twenty-week mark we went to the hospital for the scan. Read more »
Leave the Hall Light On
My Dad died when I was ten. I was too young to understand what was happening. All I can remember was that my mum had to rush to the hospital and that my older brother was left to take care of me. I loved him, he being another ten years older than me meant that he was an adult and I always felt privileged to spend time with him. Read more »
Schizophrenia with Severe Paranoid Delusions
When I saw the woman in the middle of the road swat thin air, I recognised it; schizophrenia. I approached her, she turned, her face distorting horribly, her hands waved me away.