Hi! I’m Marissa. I work a tedious office job that just got more interesting this afternoon. And I’m not excited at all about it. My boss and co-workers think I might be living a double life. I think they’re crazy. I also think I might be losing my mind.
Let me start from the beginning.
A few years ago, I was a victim of mistaken identity. A woman who looked eerily similar to me, that’s what everyone said, had a meltdown in the middle of a downtown fast-food restaurant. The entire incident was filmed in high definition by anyone with a phone and an Instagram following.
News reports said it started with a misunderstanding about hot sauce, or lack thereof, with the #4 meal deal. The assault captured on film was shocking and brutal. And it went viral.
By the time I knew what was happening, people in my neighborhood were steering clear of me. The elderly hobbled away from me with looks of sheer terror on their faces. But it wasn’t me in that restaurant. It wasn’t me in that video.
I swear it wasn’t.
Now I sit in my office. Years have gone by since I’ve had to think about that messiness. Then JD from the account team stops by my cubicle. He’s been pretty passive-aggressive since the Coulter account, his account, was handed to me due to his lackluster management. JD has tried his best to get under my skin ever since. Today, he finds the perfect way in.
JD insinuates that he’s seen me online appearing in a not-so-pristine light. But this time the scenario is much, much saucier. My goodness, his accusations were scandalous. Seems his suspicions have filtered to my boss, Denny, and the head HR enforcer. They gave me my walking papers shortly after JD slandered me with these supposed findings.
I have to admit, the other me resembles me quite a bit. And the situation definitely looks compromising, but I understand the confusion. This woman, this other me, could be my twin if I stood in the right light and at just the right angle. I’ll admit the resemblance is true.
But it’s not me. I swear it isn’t.
The more I obsess over the website with my doppelgänger’s shenanigans, the more I know I have to find her. I have to defend my reputation, clear my conscience, and pull myself back from the brink. However, I can’t be sure that the wild woman who went on a hot sauce rampage or the one I’m tracking now is entirely unknown to me.
So I find myself driving down Hwy. 10 headed towards New Orleans – the place where I will find the other me and confront her once and for all.
THINGS ARE AS THEY SHOULD BE AND OTHER WORDS TO DIE FOR
Genre: Southern Gothic Noir
Release: April 2026
Format: Print, Digital
Amazon | Uncomfortably Dark Horror
THINGS ARE AS THEY SHOULD BE AND OTHER WORDS TO DIE FOR is an interconnected Southern gothic noir journey from Reconstruction New Orleans to a present-day landscape of terror. Each story invests the reader in a setting and characters that traverse the fringes of the Louisiana swamps, pool halls in New Orleans, and attics filled with boxes of cherished memories, each tale patinaed with desperation and death.
An exploration of greed, vengeance, and generational trauma in tales that center Louisiana and its rich history of the wicked, the haunted, and the unforgiven who refuse to rest.
About the author
P.M. Raymond is an award-winning author and aspiring screenwriter from New Orleans who knows a thing or two about good gumbo, grits, and café au lait. She is a 2026 Killer Shorts Screenplay Semifinalist, the Sisters in Crime 2024 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award Winner, and 2024 Claymore Award and Killer Shorts Screenplay Finalist. She was named to the 160 Black Women in Horror in 2023. Her work has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Writer’s Digest, Punk Noir, Flash Fiction Magazine, Kings River Life Magazine, The Furious Gazelle, and Dark Yonder, among others.