by D Kershaw
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Website: arjohnstonauthor.wordpress.com
Breathe
by Michele Freeman
Remember what you used to say? Quit crying, for christsake. Take a breath.
Not easy to do after you cracked my ribs.
Love? Yeah, right. Your fists created tattoos of your so-called love.
Black eyes.
Bruised skin.
Broken bones.
Your words hurt, too. Shattered my soul with the same force you shattered my body. You hated that I found the courage to walk away.
No, I won’t untie you. Stop yelling. We’re in the middle of nowhere.
What am I going to do with this hammer? I’m gonna hit you with it. Starting with the ribs. Now...
Take a breath.
AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR Michele Freeman writes horror and dark fiction. She loves crochet, chocolate, and zombies. She lives in Texas with her Viking husband and their adorable fur babies.
Website: www.authormichelefreeman.com
Home Run
by Dawn DeBraal
The Blue Jays hated the Cardinals. They had a better baseball diamond and sponsors. The Cardinals had official-looking jerseys while the Blue Jays had to hand number their shirts with a sharpie marker.
The Cardinals hated the Blue Jays because they wore crappy shirts, and they never had snacks at their games, and they always won at baseball.
The mothers and fathers of the Blue Jay and Cardinals hated each other. They all showed up at the field one day with bags of baseball bats no one thought to bring a ball. So, they started swinging at one another instead.
DAWN DEBRAAL lives in rural Wisconsin with her husband Red, two rat terriers, and a cat. She has discovered that her love of telling a good story can be written. Published stories with Palm-sized press, Spillwords, Mercurial Stories, Potato Soup Journal, Edify Fiction, Zimbell House Publishing, Clarendon House Publishing, Blood Song Books, Black Hare Press, Fantasia Divinity, Cafelit, Reanimated Writers, Guilty Pleasures, Unholy Trinity, The World of Myth, Dastaan World, Vamp Cat, Runcible Spoon, Dark Christmas, Siren’s Call, Iron Horse Publishing, Falling Star Magazine 2019 Pushcart Nominee.
Amazon: amazon.com/Dawn-DeBraal/e/B07STL8DLX
People Just Gotta
Learn the Rules
by Stephen Herczeg
“God damn it,” Doug shouted as a car narrowly missed his front fender, “Learn the rules.”
He tail-gated it, fuming at the idiotic driver.
It’s a simple rule. Give way to any other driver on the roundabout. Why does everybody think it’s give way to the right? Stupid idiots.
Next day in his new V8 truck, complete with steel bull-bar, Doug entered the empty roundabout. A car accelerated from the right.
Instead of braking, Doug hit the gas. The bull-bar sent the car careering into a wall.
Unrepentant, Doug explained to the dumbfounded police.
“People just gotta learn the rules.”
STEPHEN HERCZEG is an IT Geek based in Canberra Australia. He has been writing for over twenty years and has completed a couple of dodgy novels, sixteen feature length screenplays and numerous short stories and scripts. His horror work has featured in Sproutlings, Hells Bells, Below the Stairs, Trickster’s Treats #1 and #2, Shades of Santa, Behind the Mask, Beyond the Infinite; The Body Horror Book, Anemone Enemy, Petrified Punks and Beginnings. He has also had numerous Sherlock Holmes stories published through the Belanger Books - Sherlock Holmes anthologies.
Amazon: amazon.com/-/e/B07916SQQS
Facebook: stephenherczegauthor
Target of Hate
by Tracy Davidson
I pick my vantage point, set my sights. No-one notices me. No-one ever notices me.
The object of my hatred comes into view. Betrayal is an ugly thing. It doesn’t matter how small or large the betrayal is. Without trust, without honour, what is there?
I don’t enjoy my hatred. I never asked for it. Ironically, I hate it.
Hate is invasive. It latches on to your insides. It grows, spreads, festers. Given enough time, it destroys a person’s soul. Unless...unless it’s allowed out to play.
I let mine out today. On a grassy knoll in Dallas. November, 1963.
TRACY DAVIDSON lives in Warwickshire, England, and writes poetry and flash fiction. Her work has appeared in various publications and anthologies, including: Poet’s Market, Mslexia, Atlas Poetica, Writing Magazine, Modern Haiku, The Binnacle, A Hundred Gourds, Shooter, Journey to Crone, The Great Gatsby Anthology, WAR and In Protest: 150 Poems for Human Rights.
Melanie’s Choice
by Lynne Phillips
The identical twins had opposite tastes. Melanie loved pretty dresses and dolls. Madeline preferred trousers and toy guns. Melanie would throw a tantrum if she didn’t get to choose. When they were young, Madeline resented her sister but complied.
As teenagers, Melanie woke early and played Jazz. Madeline preferred Heavy Metal and sleeping late. Madeline’s resentment festered, she vehemently hated her sister and planned to be free of her control forever.
As she plunged a knife into her sleeping sister, the realised as a conjoined twin that was not her best idea and once again Melanie would get to choose.
LYNNE PHILLIPS, a retired teacher, lives in the beautiful Northern Rivers Region of New South Wales Australia. Her stories, across all genres, have been published in anthologies and various online magazines. Her priority is spending time with her family. Her passions are reading, writing and keeping fit.
Pincushion
by Brian Rosenberger
He loves me. He loves me not.
A silly game we played as children to determine if our home room crushes cared for us the way we cared for them.
He loves me...
Alex and I loved each other. We told each other daily. A constant reminder. For almost seven years.
Until we didn’t. Alex became distant. Alex said he loved another. She was his soulmate.
He told me the same once.
He loves me not...
I stick the needle into the tiny doll till my hand hurts, praying it pains his soul as much as he has pained mine.
BRIAN ROSENBERGER lives in a cellar in Marietta, GA (USA) and writes by the light of captured fireflies. He is the author of As the Worms Turns and three poetry collections. He is also a featured contributor to the Pro-Wrestling literary collection, Three-Way Dance, available from Gimmick Press.
Facebook: HeWhoSuffers
Copycat
by V. Mylynne Smith
Nancy, my coworker, was obsessed with me. She permed her hair to look like mine. Her spray tanned skin mirrored my own. The acrylic nails on her fingers were identical to mine. She wanted to take my place. I loathed her for it.
Nancy’s house erupted into flames...after I poured gas on it and struck a match. I duct taped Nancy to the front seat of her car while her family burned. I dropped a brick onto the gas pedal and watched her ram into the hydrant nearest her house.
They took me away in cuffs, but I kept laughing.
V. MYLYNNE SMITH primarily writes thrillers, but sometimes dips a toe into horror. Her love of psychology helps her craft malicious characters with the worst intentions. She aims to create twists and turns that keep the reader guessing until the end. Smith is an Oklahoman that moved to Northwest Arkansas after meeting her husband. The pair live together in a cozy house with two pets: a pitbull named Renegade and a feisty cat named Bandit. When Smith isn’t stringing words together, you can find her in front of a mirror with make-up in hand or baking something delicious and fattening.
Revenge is Sweet
by Terri A. Arnold
I would say they’re going to live to regret the things they’ve done to me, but to be honest, none of them are going to survive what I’ve got planned. They tortured me for years and I will return the favour. I have it all worked out, I will kidnap and torture them one at a time. They’ll know I
’m coming for them, but they won’t know when; they’ll spend their days terrified, just as I did. I’ll give myself time to enjoy the torture I plan to inflict on them, I vow to be the last person they see.
TERRI A. ARNOLD is an avid reader turned writer from a small town in Nova Scotia, who has spent her life reading and wishing she was writing. Although she has written a lot in those years, she has only recently begun to submit pieces for publication. With ongoing encouragement from family and writing challenges with friends, Arnold felt the urge to try her hand at publishing.
The Porcupine Man
by Terry Miller
Roses are red, blood’s the same hue. Thorns are prickly, now he is too.
Gail watched Vince’s terrified eyes, tears tracing his flushed cheeks. How many pores are there in the human body? Perhaps she could fill each one; pores that oozed sweat as he slept with her sister, Tammy. Sewing needles weren’t just for sewing anymore, she entertained.
The trickling crimson streams dripped to the bedsheets; perhaps she’d created a new artform. Vince drifted between awake and asleep, his autonomic nervous system in a frantic fit. Gail smiled as the colour slowly faded from his cheeks. Suffering is life.
TERRY MILLER lives in Portsmouth, Ohio. His work has been featured in Sanitarium Magazine, Devolution Z, Jitter, Rhysling Anthology 2017, Poetry Quarterly, Sirens Call Ezine, The Horror Tree’s Trembling With Fear, SpillWords, Organic Ink Vol. I, Curses & Cauldrons Anthology from Blood Song Books, Forest of Fear from Blood Song Books, the Dark Drabble Anthology Series from Black Hare Press, 100 Word Zombie Bites from Reanimated Writers Press, Scary Snippets, Guilty Pleasures & Other Dark Delights, 100 Word Horrors 3, and O Unholy Night In Deathlehem from Grinning Skull Press.
Facebook: tmiller2015
Amazon: amazon.com/author/millerterryl
Ashes in the Water
by G. Allen Wilbanks
Donald stood as close to the cliffside as he dared, staring out over the waves crashing against the rocks below. He held out the metal urn containing his wife’s ashes and unfastened the lid.
When the sun touched the water at the horizon and the wind was blowing just right, he upended the urn, casting his wife’s mortal remains to their final resting place. As he watched the ashes scatter and dance on the eddies of wind on their way into the vast ocean before him, Donald smiled.
He thought to himself, that bitch was always terrified of the water.
G. ALLEN WILBANKS is a member of the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and has published over 100 short stories in various magazines and on-line venues. He is the author of two short story collections, and the novel, When Darkness Comes.
Website: www.gallenwilbanks.com
Blog: DeepDarkThoughts.com
Hate Versus Love
by Olivia Arieti
Kelly had to decide whether she loved Ross more than she hated him. It wasn’t easy; if hate prevailed, she was determined to kill him. His absence was devastating, but his affair with her best friend unforgivable. She even considered eliminating the rival, but it wouldn’t be as gratifying as seeing her husband agonising at her feet.
It didn’t matter if the bastard repented and cried, “Better dead than without you.”
Ironically, his words had triggered the murderous thought.
While one emotion was finally choking the other, she put the revolver in her bag and headed towards their final rendezvous.
OLIVIA ARIETI has a degree from the University of Pisa and lives in Torre del Lago Puccini, Italy, with her family. Besides being a published playwright, she loves writing retellings of fairy tales, and at the same time is intrigued by supernatural and horror themes. Her stories appeared in several magazines and anthologies like Enchanted Conversations, Enchanted Tales Literary Magazine, Fantasia Divinity Magazine, Cliterature, Medieval Nightmares, Static Movement, 100 Doors To Madness Forgotten Tomb Press, Black Cats Horrified Press, Bloody Ghost Stories Full Moon Books, Death And Decorations Thirteen O’Clock Press, Infective Ink, Pandemonium Press, Pussy Magic Magazine.
Have a Nice Fall
by Clint Foster
His face is practically purple as he screams at me, veins throbbing in his temples and neck. Today is the day. I had decided. No more working for a man who degrades me, who tears me down, who sees all the bad in me and never even a sliver of the good. Today is the day he learns just how bad I can be.
He finishes and I smile, devoid of my last grain of patience.
“What’re you grinning at, you—”
I can imagine what he would’ve called me, but the fall from his fiftieth floor window shuts him up.
CLINT FOSTER lives with his herd of four cats, beloved Basset, Zero, and wonderful wife, Nik. He loves to tell stories just as much as he loves to read them, and is excited to share his work. A longtime consumer of media of all kinds, he enjoys giving back what he hopes everyone else thinks are good stories.
Facebook: ClintFosterAuthor
Love Me Once
by Umair Mirxa
Lucien pushed Katelyn up against the wall and placed a palm across her mouth to keep her quiet.
“Why couldn’t you choose me?” he snarled in her ear, resting his forehead against a tear-stained cheek. “All you had to do was love me once. Instead, you’ve turned my feelings for you into this...this ugly hatred I cannot control.”
He ignored her muted pleas and desperate whimpers as he fiddled with his belt and drew, with difficulty, the dagger there.
“I would have kept you happy, you know?” he said, now abruptly calm even as he slit her throat open.
UMAIR MIRXA LIVES and writes in Karachi, Pakistan. His first published story, ‘Awareness’, appeared on Spillwords Press. He has since had stories accepted for publication in anthologies from Zombie Pirate Publishing, Blood Song Books, Black Hare Press, Iron Faerie Publishing, Clarendon House Publications, Fantasia Divinity Magazine & Publishing, and The ReAnimated Writers Press. He is a massive J.R.R. Tolkien fan, loves everything to do with mythology, fantasy, and history, and wishes with all his heart that dragons were real. When he’s not writing, he enjoys reading novels and comic books, playing video games, listening to music, and watching movies, TV shows, and football as an Arsenal FC fan.
Website: umairmirxa.com
She Even Took My Hand Cream
by Stephen Herczeg
I can’t believe it, my seat’s not even cold.
That loud, horrible woman took my seat, my desk, my cupboard. That screeching voice, it never stopped. Every day, from clock on till home time. Never ending. Grating on my mind. There were days I just wanted to stick knives in my ears.
I always knew she wanted my window desk. The view was to die for, but I never meant it literally.
Now I’m stuck. I can still hear her. I will make her pay. I’ll haunt her dreams or something.
Oh, come on, she even took my hand cream.
STEPHEN HERCZEG is an IT Geek based in Canberra Australia. He has been writing for over twenty years and has completed a couple of dodgy novels, sixteen feature length screenplays and numerous short stories and scripts. His horror work has featured in Sproutlings, Hells Bells, Below the Stairs, Trickster’s Treats #1 and #2, Shades of Santa, Behind the Mask, Beyond the Infinite; The Body Horror Book, Anemone Enemy, Petrified Punks and Beginnings. He has also had numerous Sherlock Holmes stories published through the Belanger Books - Sherlock Holmes anthologies.
Amazon: amazon.com/-/e/B07916SQQS
Facebook: stephenherczegauthor
Janus Lot’s Wife
by Paula R.C. Readman
“What’s the answer to the riddle of the sentinels?” my wife snarled, while staring at the stone circle.
I shrugged, knowing once she became wolfish with a bone between her teeth, silence was best.
“You’ve no balls!” she barked.
I realised her conversation wasn’t about the stones.
“Too busy looking backwards, aren’t you?”
She�
��s right. I began to walk away, a peaceful life awaited me.
“Hey, come back here, Janus Lot?”
As I drove away, she became rigid with anger that I’d left. Not quite a pillar of salt, but enough to leave a nasty taste in her nagging mouth.
PAULA R.C. READMAN learnt ‘How to Write’ from books which her husband purchased from eBay. After 250 purchases, he finally told her ‘just to get on with the writing’. Since 2010, she’s had 34 stories published.
Blog: paulareadman1.wordpress.com
The Plunge
by J.M. Ames
You won’t know what happened. The air will be crisp with autumn and salted by the Pacific. Spray from the waves that will batter the pylons will dance and swirl about your feet as you meander to the fate that will await you. Perhaps you will hear the footsteps behind you at the last second, perhaps not. Either way, you will realise what is happening when her gloved hands plunge the knife into your spine and shove you over the railing. Her cries of your eternal damnation will fill your ears, and then the seawater will as well. Then darkness.
