Menkvi

 
 
 

 
 I 
 “Mansi. Mansi. Mansi. This word has been coming up more and more in our conversations lately.”
Crooked Ink
Recent Weird Stories on Crooked Ink
Latest posts
Another Round

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 Edward woke up in a white room. Exceptionally bright. He had to keep his eyes shut for almost a minute to get accustomed to that intensity.
Uroboros

 
 
 

 
 I 
 The private jet landed in Exeter, England, shortly after noon, buffeted by the strong winds typical of the southern coast. Professor Maynard closed his laptop and put it in his messenger bag alongside neatly organized packets of notes—and sand. After all those years, he still hadn’t found a way to keep everything from being coated in that fine reddish…
Antu

 
 
 

 
 I 
 Ngen . The machi had explained it to him on the very first day of his mystical journey: “They are the spirits that maintain the balance of our world. Water, fire, earth, wind, animals… Everything that surrounds us, visible and invisible, has its own protective ngen .” It was one of the fundamental concepts of the Mapuche religion, so…
Shavaky

 
 
 

 
 I 
 The sun had already set as they made their way home, a little over a kilometer south along the river. The day in the mine had been grueling for both Kirill Golubev and his elder brother Cheslav: the former had prepared the blast holes for the dynamite with relentless pickaxe blows, while the latter had unloaded crates of explosives from the wagon and…
Inhibition

 
 
 

 
 One eye opened ajar. If someone was close enough to observe it, he or she would have seen a color impossible to describe. The light pulses had stopped — finally, a new message was coming. One huge limb moved, but suddenly a sound, a whoop , came from a device a few meters over there. The air became electric for a moment, then the pulsation started one more time.…
Nails

 
 
 

 
 Serj dragged himself along the road, limping. The fog, still low before the dawn, concealed the beaten path. However, he had traversed that country trail countless times, and had no trouble finding the way.
Chiodi

 
 
 

 
 Sergio si trascinò lungo la strada, zoppicante. La nebbia, ancora bassa a quell’ora che precedeva l’alba, nascondeva la terra battuta. Lui, però, aveva percorso quel sentiero di campagna innumerevoli volte e non aveva problemi a orientarsi.
Saw Things

 
 
 
 
 

 
 I was thirteen when we heard about the first symptoms. I don’t have clear memories of the first months, but I remember distinctly that the news started spreading quickly: we, the kids, needed psychological aid. The number of reported cases of psychiatric disorders in teenagers raised alarmingly. Our parents started asking dumb questions, and…
Calipso

 
 
 

 
 “Dai, Argo!” chiamò Elena, agitando un ciuffo di lattuga davanti all’asinello, esortandolo a muoversi. Lui, però, era piuttosto titubante: non era abituato a stare legato e a girare in tondo, né aveva mai indossato il paraocchi. Tuttavia lei era molto tenace: i suoi genitori le avevano affidato l’incarico di addestrare l’animale alle…
The March

 
 
 

 
 I 
 The first time I saw him, I was about ten years old. He was climbing up the path that leads down to the creek, struggling because of the steep trail. He was carrying a bucket in one hand and a walking stick in the other. I was playing with some twigs, running around some imaginary monsters. He quickly glanced at me, with some disgust in his grin, then he…
Kathréftis

 
 
 

 
 L’applauso si levò con fragore, riempiendo la sala dell’hotel. Dopo qualche momento, i presenti si risedettero ai loro posti e le portate della cena ripresero a essere servite. Vi era praticamente tutto il commissariato con le rispettive consorti. Gli striscioni, color avorio e con le scritte ricamate in oro, troneggiavano nei quattro angoli della…
Afterbirth

 
 
 

 
 I 
 The baby’s cries were still in my ears. I jumped in the bed, my eyes wide opened. There was no creature in the room bent down on the baby cot, I took a sigh of relief. I realized I just had that nightmare again, the weeps were real though. I got up with cold sweat on my face and visible stains on my shirt. Helen grunted next to me, half asleep, asking if…
The Lios

 
 
 

 
 Miia opened her eyes and she was in her bed again. She just woke up from a dream, but it hadn’t been as scary as others. She immediately reached out to her old teddy bear with her hand; he was halfway off the bed. The room was filled with greyish light, the color that precedes the dawn. In the iron stove, tiny red sparks were still visible among the ashes. She…
Blue Moon

 
 
 

 
 “Come on! We have to sail as soon as we can!” shouted Baran.
The Palace

 
 
 

 
 It had been built with a specific idea in mind. Since the first drawings, it was meant to be a display of royalty and elegance, it wouldn’t have been a simple mansion. It was a palace , the last of the twentieth century, and it had been made for humans.
Asgaya

 
 
 

 
 I 
 Fuori dall’auto ci saranno stati almeno trentacinque gradi; era una giornata di Luglio tremendamente calda per il Wyoming, nel nord degli Stati Uniti. “Colpa del buco nell’ozono” continuava a ripetere la mamma, che con le sue convintissime idee New Age aveva costretto lui e il papà ad una gita fuori porta verso un luogo “magico e…
Pigpen

 
 
 

 
 I 
 Le prime volte era divertente. In grembo ai genitori, oppure prono sul tappetone della cameretta, era buffo osservare quel ditino paffuto che seguiva un insetto invisibile sulle pagine. Ad appena due anni di età, chino sul suo libro preferito pieno di illustrazioni degli animali della savana, il piccolo si metteva a ridere di gusto mentre la mamma gli…
Fuori dalla Finestra

 
 
 

 
 Morgan City non era una metropoli come New Orleans, anzi, contava solamente poco più di diecimila anime e, da quel che raccontava la mamma, il numero era in rapido declino. Quello che accomunava le due località sulla costa sud-orientale degli Stati Uniti era il bayou. Ecco, se l’inferno fosse costituito d’acqua in sostituzione al fuoco, sarebbe esattamente la…
Menkvi

 
 
 

 
 I 
 “Mansi. Mansi. Mansi. Questa parola ultimamente si ripete sempre di più nelle nostre conversazioni.”
Uroboro

 
 
 

 
 I 
 Il jet privato atterrò ad Exter, Inghilterra, poco dopo mezzogiorno, sballottato dai forti venti caratteristici della costa meridionale. Il professor Maynard chiuse il laptop e lo ripose nella borsa a tracolla, accanto ai plichi ordinati pieni di appunti e sabbia. Dopo tutti quegli anni non aveva ancora trovato un modo per evitare che ogni cosa si…
Antu

 
 
 

 
 I 
 Ngen . La machi gliel’aveva spiegato sin dal primo giorno in cui aveva iniziato il suo percorso mistico: “Essi sono gli spiriti che regolano l’equilibrio del nostro mondo. L’acqua, il fuoco, la terra, il vento, gli animali… Tutto ciò che ci circonda, visibile ed invisibile, ha un suo ngen protettore.” Era uno dei concetti base della religione…
Shavaky

 
 
 

 
 I 
 Il sole era già calato e stavano tornando verso casa, poco più di un chilometro a sud, lungo il fiume. La giornata in miniera era stata spossante sia per Kirill Golubev che per suo fratello maggiore Cheslav: il primo aveva preparato gli alloggi per la dinamite a forza di picconate, mentre il secondo aveva scaricato dal carro le casse di esplosivo e le…
Cirapé

 
 
 

 
 I 
 Michael si stiracchiò le braccia sopra la testa e allungò lo sguardo verso l’orologio: le 19:17, c’era ancora almeno un’ora utile per giocare a pallacanestro fuori. Spense la PlayStation e scese di sotto. Aprì il frigo, afferrò un brownie che la madre aveva preparato il giorno prima e lo ficcò in microonde, intanto corse a mettersi le scarpe da ginnastica…
Cirapé

 
 
 

 
 I 
 Michael shut down the videogame console and stretched his arms above his head. He had already finished his homework and there was still time to play outside. He raised his eyes to the clock on the wall: 19:17, he had at least one hour of sunlight.
Coming Soon
Reviewing and translating in another language takes time. Have a seat. 
 If you can’t wait for another story, give me a shout on my social accounts .