NJ Gallegos
Bio
Howdy! I’m an ER doc who loves horror, especially with a medical bent. Voted most witty in high school so I’m like, super funny. First novel coming out in Fall 2023! Follow me on Twitter @DrSpooky_ER.
Stories (15/0)
An Eye for an Eye
Well, this seat is hard and uncomfortable. And the coffee? Sludge is a better word for it. But I guess I can’t be too picky, seeing as I’m the one being questioned and detained right now. Right, Officer? Sure. I bet the guys behind the two-way mirror agree with me. I’m guessing they prefer Starbucks too.
By NJ Gallegos 2 months ago in Horror
Outside
The Outside world was unknown to her, but she could see a glimpse of it through the window in his room. Not that it was his room any longer… the dead forfeited all possessions, including bedrooms. But she still thought of it as his room. Except now she wouldn’t have to worry he’d catch her snooping through his stuff… she had full reign of the space and could do as she pleased. Any time she tinkered at his—no, her workbench—the ghost of him lingered in the air: motor oil, sweat, and sometimes, after he came back from a mission, she smelled the Outside on him. Alien odors, some smelling of spices used in faraway worlds while others were vaguely medicinal, like ammonia with burnt undertones. Alex kept the room dark, just like he had. Part of her enjoyed the dim aesthetic but really, it was a sort of camouflage and survival tactic. Strips of cardboard covered all the windows on the inside, barring the Outside from looking in, from discovering…
By NJ Gallegos 3 months ago in Fiction
Paging Dr. Dickhead
Clanging and high-pitched beeps. Engines flaring to life. Bird song—hesitant at first, but as the horizon lightened, a babble that deepened into an outright racket. The rhythms of a society that gave NO SHITS about the poor folks who had worked a brutal shift the night before.
By NJ Gallegos 4 months ago in Horror
A Night at the Aquarium
Trigger Warnings-Mentions of sexual assault. “I can’t believe you got the keys for this place!” Karl remarked, his eyes wide as he scanned the walls. Earlier this year, some local artist spray-painted the inner walls of the building, adorning the brick with colorful creatures. Hammerhead sharks with fearsome teeth, pink starfish with puckered limbs, and every fish from the Finding Nemo franchise watched sightlessly as I pulled the door shut behind us.
By NJ Gallegos 4 months ago in Horror
A Happy Ending
Trigger warnings: Butt stuff, nefarious dealings, mentions of sexual assault (not too graphic, don't you worry). I stepped out of the car and slammed the door behind me. With my folding massage table slung over my shoulder—safely nestled in a heavy-duty bag—I took in 127 Hummingbird Lane. Its exterior was a trendy gray stone, two stories worth of brick, and an emerald ivy insidiously crept about, its greedy fingers enclosing black-shuttered windows. The front porch lights—wrought from heavy black iron—weren’t actually lights at all, they were torches with an actual flickering flame. Not a generic lightbulb, a flame. I always thought, “Wow, how fancy!” when I saw them. Hedges that resembled stunted pine trees lined the front—sending up a sharp and refreshing clean scent. The rest of the landscaping was no less impressive. The lawn appeared a uniform two inches high, freshly cut and meticulous.
By NJ Gallegos 4 months ago in Horror
All Is Fair Amongst Vermin and Germs
The overhead fluorescents flickered and dimmed, plunging the lab into an indoor dusk. At this time of night, there were no scientists lingering at their stations, not even workaholics who usually required a crowbar to pry them away from their petri dishes and pipettes. A stack of papers bound by a paperclip fluttered as the air conditioner kicked on. Rustling of paper attracted the attention of several mice contained in a nearby wire cage. The largest and boldest of these mice wriggled her pink nose and stroked her black whiskers similar to a mustached detective twiddling the ends of his mustache, puzzling over a particularly intrigued mystery. Her beady black eyes winked under the dull lights—radiating an unnatural intelligence. Her eyes were fixated on the paperclip.
By NJ Gallegos 6 months ago in Fiction
Full Code
It’s fairly common for the medics to roll in with a patient that looks like they were recently—or not so recently—dug up from the local cemetery. Think The Crypt Keeper but without all the witty one-liners or the will to live. They’re always from a nursing home, too. Places with cheerful names like Morningside or Reflections that bring to mind spas rather than the cesspool of antibiotic-resistant germs and urine-scented sheets that they actually are.
By NJ Gallegos 7 months ago in Horror
Quark
Kyle always combed yard sales. On Fridays he’d cruise the streets, eyes peeled for hand-lettered signs; one couldn’t count on the Internet alone. Some people just eschewed technology, saying the old ways are the best ways. Most ticked the box of the over-seventy age group on their Census forms. Silver-headed wonders, painstakingly writing checks at the grocery store, completely oblivious to how goddam inconvenient they were being. Those were the same folks that staked out a sign advertising weekend yard sales.
By NJ Gallegos 7 months ago in Horror
Fast Food
“Wow! Another first place finish for you! What’s your secret?” The reporter gazed at Larsa, her eyes twinkling as if she were speaking to a 7-time Olympic champion instead of a local high school track star. A pen perched over the page of a small red spiral-bound notebook—the reporter went old school—positively twitching in the reporter’s fingers as she readied herself for Larsa’s earth shattering truth.
By NJ Gallegos 8 months ago in Horror
