The Mysterious Stranger: The Blood Orange By Robert J. S. T. McCartney It was here—here where the stranger stood atop the mossy hilltop. He looked down at the village that laid nestled below in the sprawling green fields. Gray puffs of smoke rose from chimneys and dispersed into the kaleidoscopic swirls of magenta, orange, and the pale green horizon. […]
The A.B.Normal Short Stories Collection
15 posts
Pluto by Robert J. S. T. McCartney Many years ago, I was born from a great spark of life. Some years pass and finally, within the night I drive away, leaving behind my ever luminous father. And so begins my epic journey. . . I come upon first my big brother, Mercury. He tells me, “You can’t stay here, […]
Who? Me? An original short story by Robert J. “Sincados” McCartney It was a dark and cool night. The kind where the stars littered the sky with their brilliance. The wind was absent, while the air was chilled from the rain some time ago. A man stirred within a home, set on the middle of a street. He was […]
His gaze fell upon his reflection in the red pick-up truck’s rearview mirror. Sweat beaded on his dark brow. A pair of bright verdant eyes flickered with each hesitant blink; shifting from the outside world back to the confines of the driver’s seat. Silvered hair with sparse strands of black peppered the man’s scalp. His clean-shaven face was wrinkled with […]
“Hey, can you come here for a moment?” The low voice startled me from my slumber. I turned over in my bed and saw him standing in the bedroom doorway that led to the pitch hallway. “Yeah, sure,” I yawned. I got up and out of the bed, and put my pants and shirt on. I stretched briefly after readying […]
In a small bedroom, there sat a young man on the edge of a bed—rocking. He held his head heavy in his hands. His eyes were clenched shut, and streams of salty tears rolled down his flushed cheeks. Small tufts of sandy brown hair poked through his pale fingers as he slid them front to back. In his troubled mind, […]
“There are worse things in life than death.” It’s true, at least for me anyway. I don’t even know how long it’s been. I lost count of the days and stopped caring really. There’s no hope of leaving this place; truth be told, alive or dead, and in all honesty, I’d rather the latter. My name is Edward Croix. I […]
To say, “It was a dark and stormy night,” like how so many stories had begun, would be considered an understatement. This particular night was truly a testament of nature’s wrath. . .and beauty. The inked sky was full of irregular crackling javelins of light that blazed across the darkened heavens. In its wake was an absolute drenching rain that […]
It would be here, in this room where they’d find him. There would be no letter, no prim and proper folded attempt at saying goodbye; nothing to leave behind, nothing to say, or to pass on. It was to be his goodbye. The radio held its farewell ceremony, commencing its invisible fanfare as it sounded off from the corner of […]
A lone man sat on a bar stool, hunched over, face flat out against the cool of the polished, hardwood bar counter top. He pushed himself up, erecting and straightening his back. He rolled his head from side to side, and front to back. His sleep deprived eyes focused onto the environment that bewildered him. Where did everyone go […]