Charles Anthony Hood

  It is never my intention to offend you. The offense you take is yours to hold, For it comes from within your own mind. Nothing I could say or write… No question or statement I ponder… Can harm you in any way. Words have energy to affect, But we must interpret them correctly. You cannot understand my meaning… If you do not understand the words… I’m speaking—your anger is yours.  

       Susan Sprinkle bought a piece of land in Altus, OK. The thing is: she had never even seen the property. She wanted to get out of California, so she bought the land sight unseen.      Despite buying the property sight unseen, she got a deal that her daddy would have called “right on the money!” She bought 2 acres with a 2 bed, 1 bath house on it. The house had recently been remodeled, so it had a “new house” smell.      Her first night in the house was enough to make anybody go mad. After she would turn off the light in the hallway and walk away, the light would later be flipped back on. She went into the kitchen to get a glass of iced tea, and the food disposer was running. Once, the toilet flushed by itself.      “I know why I got such a good deal.” She said to her mother, Joan, over the phone. She told Joan of all the strange things that had happened the night before. Joan told her to ge...

       When I was a child, I thought there was an ocean in the sky, hence the blue color. Growing up, I had many mistaken ideas. I grew up in a cult that controlled the way we dressed and what hairstyles we could have.      My parents were uneducated, working-class people. They did not understand that we were in the clutches of a cult. They did not understand the damage they were party to or the damage they caused.      When children are born, they are like little computers waiting for programming. Whether we program them right or errantly, they will someday be held responsible for their own lives. Some people live successful, full lives despite their dysfunctional upbringing.      I am dysfunctional because my parents were abusive and authoritarian. I heard a man say, “A person can’t always blame their parents for their messed-up lives. They must take responsibility for where they are in life....

       Back when I was 14, Jimmy Duncan said, “I’m gonna stomp a mud hole in you after school!” I said, “Just tell me where to meet you!” “The high school football field!” He was pissed because little Chrissy Thurgood dumped him and announced that she was my girlfriend.      “I can’t believe you’re gonna fight Jimmy Duncan!” My friend, Zack, said. “I’ve never been in a fight!” I said, my stomach turning. “Oh my God! You’re gonna get your ass kicked!” Zack said.         I met Zack on the first day of 1 st grade. We were fast friends. Each year, from 1 st grade through 8 th grade, we had each other’s back. He was a small boy with bony arms and legs, and his glasses could’ve easily started a forest fire.      Zack met me in the gym for our last class of the day. We were in the locker room putting on our gym clothes. “Dude, you are so dead if I don’t help you.” He said. “How are you going to h...

       When I was growing up, 1113 Sycamore was a haunted house on my street. The light gray paint on the outside of the house was peeling, revealing the wood underneath. Weeds and tall grass surrounded the property. The fence was missing pieces and some sections of it had fallen.        I was 10, and my friend, David, was 11. Although David was older than me, I was taller than him by an inch. We grew up together in the neighborhood. Kindergarten—the first day of our lives—was just a little easier with my pal, David, by my side.        One Saturday, David came to my house wearing his backpack. “It’s Saturday! What’s with the backpack?” I said. He told me he was going to “1113” to do a paranormal investigation. Before he even asked me, I said, “I want to come.”        I had once seen a movie in which someone was running, but the more they ran, the further away they became. I w...