"The Outflow" by Srdjan Stanisic

A haunting meditation on vengeance, faith, and the beasts within us all.

Morning dawns—or does it? The river flows, the wind whispers, and lost souls vanish without a trace. A broken cross stands amid toppled graves. Justice is slow, but vengeance lingers in the shadows.

In this darkly philosophical tale, an unnamed narrator walks the line between sinner and saint, beast and man. Starving yet defiant, he watches as the world unravels—children change, animals grow strange, and the air reeks of blood. Memories of war and betrayal claw at him, while visions of white dragons and blue submarines haunt his sleepless nights.

"I am a beast," he confesses. "One of the worst."

Yet within the abyss, something glimmers—not light, but the terrible radiance of truth.

Blending Serbian folklore with existential horror, The Outflow is a surreal journey into the heart of darkness, where:

For readers of Thomas Ligotti's bleak visions and the folkloric dread of The VVitch, this unsettling short story lingers like a half-remembered nightmare.

Word count: ~3,000 | Themes: Guilt, redemption, Slavic mythology, psychological horror

(Contains mature themes and unsettling imagery)