I take off my reading glasses and rub my eyes, the familiar pressure of a migraine starting to form.  If there had only been a few similar stories, I could chalk it up to coincidence. That happens sometimes.  But twenty-three stories in three hours is hard to dismiss.  I rub my temples in frustration.  This has to be some sort of sick joke.  But it isn’t remotely funny. 

Maybe it is a publicity stunt? Considering that Jason Knowles submitted one of the stories, it makes sense.  After all, the stunt Knowles pulled for the release of ‘The Plague’ sold a ton of books, and even got him a movie deal.  Something like this would be right up his alley.  But still, something has caused the panic rat to stir, and the panic rat has never been wrong. 

Throughout my life, the panic rat has been a constant companion, specializing in gnawing away at my peace of mind and to warn me of trouble.  Every time fate lifted its merciless fist against me, the panic rat was there beforehand, chewing away at my insides to alert me that something was about to go terribly wrong.  When Jimmy had the accident, the panic rat had nagged me all day not to ride our bikes to the abandoned mill.  But I was twelve and had no time for nonsense from panic rats.  That changed after Jimmy’s funeral.    

A publicity stunt feels wrong.  For one thing, Knowles is still fighting lawsuits from ‘The Plague’ incident.  And the legal battles must have cost him significantly more than he made on book sales.  Also, Knowles’ submission wasn’t all that good.  If anything, his story seemed thrown together carelessly as opposed to his usual meticulous work.  More importantly, it is unlikely that Knowles’ ego would allow lesser-known writers to outshine his work.  

The biggest inconsistency, however, is that Knowles wasn’t the only big name author to submit a story.  Aidan Farmer, a notorious recluse, submitted one as well.  And Farmer doesn’t play ball with publicists —not even to promote his own books. Nor does Josh Abrams who also wrote one of the stories.  The panic rat gnaws on this particular fact with fervor, sounding an alarm to confirm this is something else entirely.