15 Greatest Stephen King Short Stories Of All Time
12. Sometimes They Come Back
A common theme within King's shorter fiction is the idea of uncertainty and fear, and the inability of his protagonists to escape the past. Sometimes They Come Back perfectly captures these themes in increasingly disturbing and mysterious ways.
It follows Jim Norman, a schoolteacher who has fully gotten over the death of his brother, Wayne, who was killed when they were kids by a group of violent teenagers. Now married, working as an English teacher, occasionally haunted by the night his brother died, Jim finds his students dying in peculiar ways, only to be replaced by the same teens who killed Wayne all those years ago. Only they haven't aged, and are out to kill him.
Sometimes They Come Back is one of King's earliest works, published in 1974, and already shows an author in complete control of his work and his voice. The story is fast-paced, increasingly harsh and lacking in hope, but it's nonetheless one of those tales you can't put down, no matter how much it disturbs you.