When we landed on Mars

by Matthew Gall

When we landed on Mars

* * *
I screamed in pain as the kidney stone finally passed, glancing down at the bowl to see the size.

The next scream had nothing to do with pain, as I saw the stone began to crack and hatch.

* * *
We told the kids that it was a countdown until Christmas, and they seemed excited.

Truth is, nobody knows why there is a floating number counting down in the sky, or what will happen when it reaches 0 in two days.

* * *
When we landed on Mars, it wasn’t the piles of human skeletons that freaked us out.

It was the fact that so many of them were moving around.

* * *
After a half hour of rooting around in my arm with a nail clipper, I finally got a hold of that damn splinter.

I almost threw up when it pulled itself back in and sank out of sight in my skin.

* * *
I had been swimming up for years, and had never reached the surface of the lake.

If I had known Hell was drowning in boiling water for eternity, I would’ve begged for forgiveness before being executed.

About the author

Matthew Gall

Matthew Gall is some weird guy who lives in Wisconsin. He enjoys reading, camping, writing (duh), and hiking. Matt lives alone with his cat Walter, whose company he prefers to most of the general population. He will always accept any drink with whiskey in it, so feel free to offer him one if you ever see him (hey, it’s worth a shot). Matthew Gall is also the author of “Insomniac,” a collection of bite sized scary stories.

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