Moira was frightened to death at 3am. Where once she’d been spooked by spontaneous combustion and sprectral visitations, she’d since moved on to more mundane horrors – medical dictionaries and news stories. And when she’d read that most people die at three in the morning, the alarm clocks had followed. The one nearest her bed was set for 2:59. The one by the door for 2:58. The others around her flat for every minute back to 2am.
And still they couldn’t save her from a 3am demise.
After a month of this cacophony, Frank next door came round and shot her.

Mike Hickman (@MikeHic13940507) is a writer from York, England. He has written for Off the Rock Productions (stage and audio), including a 2018 play about Groucho Marx. He has recently been published in the Blake-Jones Review, Bitchin’ Kitsch, the Cabinet of Heed, the Potato Soup Journal, and the Trouvaille Review.