Hate

by D Kershaw

  Amazon: amazon.com/author/nerisha_kemraj

  Facebook: Nerishakemrajwriter

  Hate in Half the Time

  by Michael D. Davis

  You don’t have to know someone long to get a feeling about them. Love can grow in seconds over a few chance glances, hate does the same only in half the time. It could be the twitch of an eyebrow, the nod of a head, or just a few simple words.

  I’d only known Jason for a few months, but the hate was already growing in me like a tumour. It wasn’t until he said something that he couldn’t take back that I knew what I had to do. It was the day that he said, “Mommy,” instead of “Daddy.”

  MICHAEL D. DAVIS was born and raised in a small town in the heart of Iowa. Having written over thirty short stories, ranging in genre from comedy to horror from flash fiction to novella he continues in his accursed pursuit of a career in the written word.

  Heart Pain

  by A.S. Charly

  Kate took another sip of water—her second glass—while drumming her fingertips on the restaurant table.

  Can’t even bother to message me.

  Her eyebrows rose when her husband made an entrance...but then stopped to chat with a pretty waitress.

  Sure, keep me waiting.

  When he finally sat with her, he smiled apologetically.

  “Sorry, Honey. The traffic, you know.”

  “No worries.”

  “Could I have one of your headache pills? I got an awful one.”

  She nodded and handed him the package. It wasn’t her problem that they didn’t fit his heart medication, not her fault he never read any descriptions.

  A.S. CHARLY loves to lose herself in fantastical worlds far away between the stars, filled with magic and wonder. She also writes and draws when her head is not stuck in the clouds. Her writing has been published in various anthologies and online publications.

  Facebook: A.S.Charlydreams

  Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/a.s.charly

  Garrett

  by Gabriella Balcom

  “You’re mine forever,” I told Ella after we began dating. “Even if the world ends.”

  She said I was super intense and overdramatic, but her eyes sparkled. “Those are some of the things I love about you,” she added, laughing like this was the funniest thing ever.

  When I told Ella I wasn’t exaggerating, she swore she’d never leave me or be unfaithful, either.

  She slept with another man right after we got engaged, though.

  That’s why no one will ever find what’s left of Ella. Of her lover, either. Like I told her in the beginning, she was mine.

  GABRIELLA BALCOM lives in Texas with her family, loves reading and writing, and thinks she was born with a book in her hands. She works in a mental health field, and writes fantasy, horror/thriller, romance, children’s stories, and sci-fi. She likes travelling, music, good shows, photography, history, interesting tales, and animals. Gabriella says she’s a sucker for a great story and loves forests, mountains, and back roads which might lead who knows where. She has a weakness for lasagne, garlic bread, tacos, cheese, and chocolate, but not necessarily in that order.

  Facebook: GabriellaBalcom.lonestarauthor

  Light Bulb

  by Brian Rosenberger

  It’s dark.

  Day and night blend. I calculate time by when I eat and when I fuck.

  Todd was older than me, in shape, handsome. Over drinks, we exchanged small talk and later bodily fluids.

  He called the following day and the day after. We were dating.

  Todd suggested we try a threesome. I was young and naive.

  Then I was having sex with his friends. Then complete strangers.

  Todd didn’t even watch, just took the cash.

  A light bulb tells me it’s time to eat, time to fuck.

  The broken bulb was for my wrists.

  Now it’s for Todd.

  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

  Mean Girls

  by A.R. Dean

  Addison is the cruellest girl at school. Her pranks go beyond simple teasing. It started with names and ended today with me being covered in canned dog food.

  I weep at home and allow my rage to plan my vengeance.

  My target stumbles home from a party Saturday night. I hold her ex-boyfriend’s baseball bat tight in my gloved hands. I stalk her patiently until she stumbles into an alley.

  I let my anger free as I beat her bloody. I drop the bat and flee. I leave her alive. Mean girls always devour their own when they are weak.

  A.R. DEAN is a dark and twisted soul. Dean has spent their whole life spreading fear with the tales from their head. Best known for stories that terrify and show the evilest side of human nature. So, look for Dean haunting your local cemetery or under your bed, because they’re here to spread the fear. Turn off your lights and enjoy a scare. Dean is being published in Black Hare Press’s Beyond and Unravel Anthologies. Keep a lookout for more stories.

  Facebook: A.R. Dean Author & Ghoul

  Guess My Name

  by McKenzie Richardson

  They thought they had seen the last of me. What fools these mortals are. We made a deal, a perfectly fair, binding deal. And that horrid miller’s-daughter-turned-queen cheated.

  I slink from my hollow tree home, grabbing my cap on the way out. Its colour has faded a bit to a ruddy brown. Many years have passed since I last dyed it, its fabric long overdue for a coat of fresh blood.

  Then I creep through the forest toward the castle.

  I was promised a child, and a child is what I shall collect. Our deal never specified dead or alive.

  MCKENZIE RICHARDSON lives in Milwaukee, WI. Her horror stories have been featured in various anthologies including Evil Lurks, Pandemic, and After: Undead Wars. She has also published a variety of poems and flash fiction pieces.

  Facebook: mckenzielrichardson

  Blog: www.craft-cycle.com

  Honour

  by Nicola Currie

  It could not be an easy death. Not after what he did to my sister.

  After we had castrated him, we took his eyes, his tongue, his fingers. I burst his ear drums with an untwisted clothes hanger.

  Nothing but dark and silent pain. Father and I left him in a disfigured heap, out in the fields where wild animals would find him. I took pictures to show my sister what we had done for her.

  “Monster,” she called me, and fainted. I welcomed it. Her distress would scare her from further disobedience, and the wild animals that would follow.

  NICOLA CURRIE is from Cambridge, UK where she works in educational publishing. She has published poetry in literary magazines, including Mslexia and Sarasvati, and short stories in various anthologies. She has also completed her first novel, which was longlisted for the Bath Children’s Novel Award.

  Website: writeitandweep.home.blog

  The Thanksgiving Feast

  by Mark Kodama

  I sat across the dinner table, listening to his drivel about his promotions, his children and his philosophies. It was taking all of my willpower and self-restraint not to pick up the bowl of hot gravy and dump its entire contents on his head. I ate little of the turkey his wife cooked. It was so dry that it nearly choked me. Afterwards, on our way home from the Thanksgiving feast, my wife asked me why I could not be successful like my little brother. That night, as I lay awake, I resolved to put him out of his misery.

  MARK KODAMA is a trial attorney and former newspaper reporter who lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and two sons. He is currently working on Las Vegas Tales, a work of philosophy, sugar-coated with meter and rhyme and told through stories. His short stories and poems have been published in anthologies, on-
line magazines and on-line blogs.

  Stale Mate

  by Dawn DeBraal

  After forty years of marriage, Karen couldn’t look at Biff without dry heaving.

  He was such a catch in high school. Little did she know Biff would flame out after a few years, just as she started to blossom.

  He drank too much, gained thirty-seven pounds, belched the Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on command; something she used to laugh at but now detested. It seemed everything she knew about him—and that was a great deal—was no longer endearing to her. She needed to get rid of Biff before she went nuts.

  Too late. While he slept, she smothered him.

  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

  Zero Hour Contracts

  and Bad Managers

  by Kevin J. Kennedy

  I hate my job. I don’t mind the work. It’s the people I work with. I hate incompetent managers, lazy team mates, outdated rules and policies, and the unfairness of how the hours are divided up on zero hour contracts. My boss picks his favourites. That generally means that if you have big tits and no brains, you get all the shifts. I’m going to change that though. That fat fucker has seen his last day. I got zero hours today, again. After he finishes tonight, I am going to take his life. Hopefully, the next manager will be fairer.

  KEVIN J. KENNEDY is a horror author & editor from Scotland. He is the co-author of You Only Get One Shot & Screechers, and the publisher of several best selling anthology series; Collected Horror Shorts, 100 Word Horrors & The Horror Collection, as well as the stand alone anthology Carnival of Horror. His stories have been featured in many other notable books in the horror genre. He is an active member of the Horror Writers Association. He lives in a small town in Scotland, with his wife and his two little cats, Carlito and Ariel.

  Website: www.kevinjkennedy.co.uk

  Amazon: : amazon.com/Kevin-J.-Kennedy/e/B016V0NA7M

  Steel Clarity

  by Kimberly Rei

  “Hatred is a child’s emotion.”

  Mother’s voice rang in my ears, jarring as ever. As I grew, I understood what she meant, but also how wrong she was. Hatred, wielded properly, was a refined emotion. It brought focus and clarity. It burned away all guilt and left a clean vision of the path ahead.

  Blood fell from the tip of my sword. The body in front of me crumpled, inelegant. When the constable asked, Mother couldn’t explain why all her suitors, every one of them a gold digger, kept vanishing after the first date.

  It wasn’t her story to tell.

  KIMBERLY REI has been writing for as long as she can remember. At five years old, her parents gifted her with a set of Children’s Classics that she had no hope of reading. Yet. The potential alone sparked a love of words that has never wavered. Kim has taught writing workshops and edited novels for Authors You May Recognize. She has published several short stories and now can’t stop chasing paper dragons. She currently lives in Tampa Bay, Florida with her wife and an abundance of gorgeous beaches to explore.

  Happy Anniversary

  by Stuart Conover

  Winslow knew it was time.

  Another year had passed.

  He made it down the castle’s spire.

  Legs not quite what they used to be.

  Nothing was these days.

  Still, the journey had to be made.

  It was their anniversary.

  Down past the basement.

  Through the dungeon.

  Into the caves and down.

  A torch his only light.

  Finally, the coffin.

  She lay beneath the stone slab.

  Motionless.

  Dead to the world.

  Chained down.

  Her eyes fluttered.

  “Have you forgiven me my love?”

  He gazed down at her eternal beauty.

  Possibly for the last time.

  “Never.” He whispered.

  Burying her once more.

  STUART CONOVER is a father, husband, rescue dog owner, published author, blogger, journalist, horror enthusiast, comic book geek, science fiction junkie, and IT professional. With all of that to cram in daily, we have no idea if or when he sleeps or how he gets writing done! (We suspect it has to do with having evil clones.) Stuart is a Chicago native and runs the author resource Horror Tree.

  Lifting the Veil

  by Paula R.C. Readman

  As I lifted the lace veil from your face, I drank in your beauty. Without a care, you held on tight to the flowers that perfumed the air.

  “I do,” you said, making my heart soar, while all around us, our wedding party cheered.

  That night, reality unveiled the truth as you muttered in your sleep, words of love that were not for me.

  Fear blinded my anger as you broke my heart. In the darkness, I pushed a pillow down. You lashed out, and scattered our wedding vows among the petals from the bouquet as death tore us asunder.

  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

  Doll Making

  by A.R. Johnston

  “Careful stitches, slowly... It has to be just right. It won’t work otherwise.”

  “Are you sure about this? This will work?” She carefully pulled the red thread, pulling the needle through the doll.

  “Of course it will work. Have I ever steered you wrong?” the vodoun priestess scoffed at her. “He’ll feel the pain. All the pain that he has given to you will soon be replayed upon him through this doll. You just have to want it enough or it won’t work.”

  She paused to look at the doll and to the priestess.

  “He has to pay for the pain.”

  A.R. JOHNSTON is a small-town girl from Nova Scotia, Canada. She is known to write mostly urban fantasy, though she goes where the muses lead her and you never know where that may be. She is a lover of coffee, good tv shows, horror flicks, and a reader of good books. She pretends to be a writer when real life doesn’t get in the way. Pesky full-time job and adulting!

  Facebook: arjohnstonauthor

  Website: arjohnstonauthor.wordpress.com

  Blood Soaked Competition

  by Mark Mackey

  Pickaxe.

  Hatchet.

  Chainsaw.

  Hunting knife.

  With these four dangerous toys, Amara Winsore eliminated her competition—otherwise known as her ex-boyfriend and his crew—for the student short filmmaking contest.

  She hated him with a fiery passion for breaking her heart, deciding the cheerleader squad captain was the one he desired.

  She killed him, and them, off one by one.

  Spilled buckets of blood.

  Saved him for last.

  Then set up the cheerleader squad captain to take the blame; she’s rotting away in prison forever.

  And now Amara’s dream of being the next Jenna Beckers, her filmmaker idol, is finally realised.

  MARK MACKEY is a speculative fiction writer who now resides in Rockford Illinois after spending an abundance of time in Chicago. The author’s stories can be found in various anthologies, some charity, some not, including some belonging to Australian publisher, Black Hare Pres, and Suicide House Publishing, now known as Nocturnal Sirens Publishing, headed by Natalie Brown.


  Plotting

  by A.R. Johnston

  He thinks he can get away with this? We’ve been together this long, and he thinks he can just go ahead and say such things? Simply leave his phone around so I see the texts? Really? I should just leave things and not say anything? Not bloody likely.

  Why shouldn’t I be happy? What won’t I do to make sure that karma visits? What won’t I do to make sure the threefold law comes back to him? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Oh my, what fun we shall have. Payback will be a bitch.

  A.R. JOHNSTON is a small-town girl from Nova Scotia, Canada. She is known to write mostly urban fantasy, though she goes where the muses lead her and you never know where that may be. She is a lover of coffee, good tv shows, horror flicks, and a reader of good books. She pretends to be a writer when real life doesn’t get in the way. Pesky full-time job and adulting!