Title: Neurotic Hell
Description: Harmon Tandler, an investigative journalist fresh out of college, works for anarchist newspaper *The Daily Dystopia*. His assignment is to investigate the suspicious Sunwest Society. After a mysterious neck injury, Harmon gradually descends into compulsive self-harm, injuring his own flesh with mutilation in a sick quest for bliss. His death, lying in his blood-drenched apartment with defamation charges written against his editor, led by conspiracy theories. To show the events that follow, his friend, Beckham Coletti, tells this tale in a journalistic following epilogue, also open to interpretation. The tale critiques rampant corruption, the improper handling of mental health, and the dangers of seeking the truth in a world so broken, culminating in an ominous atmosphere that pervades throughout.

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**“Neurotic Hell” © 2021 by Thomas Vancura is licensed under [CC BY-NC 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).**
Subjects: psychological horror, mystery, noir, short story