FREE SHORT STORIES & ESSAYS

Context: Although it is the end, this is an excerpt of the second chapter in the new adult novel Malignant by Nicholas Linke. An excerpt from CHAPTER 38: THE GIRAFFE The wheels squeal like a pig drowning in its own blood on the slaughterhouse floor as I turn into the subdivision. Each house is disappointingly similar. Fourth of an acre lots, if even that, packed around meandering concrete cul-de-sacs. I don’t even break at the stop sign between Ash Street and Benton Lane. A

The first step in the twelve step program toward true selflessness. The first lie you believe in a series of lies before you LIE to children about your self. The first snow is barely settled on the ground and you’re already asking your mother if she knows what the extended family will be getting you for Christmas.