Horror Girls

by Jackson Dean Chase

  As soon as the sun set, Will was back in my head, smothering me with phantom kisses and telling me how much he missed me. I told him I loved him. Just blurted it out. He had to know what he meant to me, had to know how I felt, what I would always feel.

  Will kissed me, soft and sweet. “Will you marry me, Beautiful?”

  “That might be kind of hard,” I joked, “seeing as how you're invisible and all.”

  Will laughed. “Not that kind of marriage,” he said. “A spiritual one, the kind that means we're together forever.”

  “Yes,” I said, “I'll marry you! Tell me what I have to do. I'll do anything.”

  “You have to let me in,” Will said.

  I felt my cheeks heat up. “I thought I did that last night.”

  “No,” Will said, “not like that. That was temporary. I need you to let me into your body permanently.”

  “But won't that be weird?” I asked.

  “No, it will be glorious! It will mean we can be together forever, even when the sun is up. It will mean we can enjoy each other always, and that no one can ever take you away from me.”

  I shuddered, suddenly scared. “Who would want to do that?” I asked. “Nobody even knows about you!”

  “Not yet,” Will said, “but people know about you, and they might think you're going crazy if they find out about me…”

  I realized Will was right. Mom was already suspicious, and now Dad was too. How long would it be before my teachers and the kids at school figured it out?

  “I don't want to frighten you, Beautiful,” Will said, “and I hate to rush you into anything, but we should get married before something bad happens. I'm tied to the board, and if they take you away from me, I won't be able to follow. I need to be inside you to make our marriage real.”

  “What do I have to do?” I asked. “Tell me.”

  I couldn't believe it was so easy to marry a ghost. I was about to say the words when Mom knocked on my door and ruined it. I screamed at her and she went away.

  The worst part was Will was gone and wouldn't come back. I tried to contact him, but nothing worked. Not even cutting his name in my arm. I cried myself to sleep, but my dreams were nightmares imagining my life without Will. Without love. A life where I'd never be Beautiful again…

  Chapter 9: Monday, October 30th

  Well, Diary, it's no surprise I stayed home pretending to be sick. Although the truth is, I am sick. Heartsick. I hate Mom for wrecking my relationship, and I've promised myself I'll do anything Will wants as soon as he asks me from now on. I can't take the chance of losing him again.

  Mom came in to check on me after work, so I fake-coughed and said I might need another day to get better. She brought me some soup. I poured it down the toilet. I don't need food. I need love.

  The sun went down and Will didn't come like I hoped he would. I heard the phone ring, but let Mom answer. It's not like anyone would be calling for me.

  I tried super-hard to talk to Will, both with my mind and Ouija board. After a few hours, he came to me.

  “Will!” I gasped. “You came back.”

  “Of course. I never wanted to leave, but I had to follow your parents long enough to know if we were safe.”

  “Why?” I asked. “What are they up to?”

  “They are talking about getting you mental help,” Will said. “It is just as I feared. They do not love you. They want to tear us apart.”

  “Then we have to get married,” I said. “Right now!”

  As I said the words of my wedding vow, I felt Will's familiar weight, his mouth working, hands touching, and then Will wasn't on me so much as in me, and it was like before, only better because he would never leave…

  Chapter 10: Tuesday, October 31st

  Dear Diary,

  The girl sleeps while I wear her flesh. I am writing this entry in the blood of her mother, who even now lies dead at my feet. I write this because you cannot stop me, and because it amuses me for you to know the truth. My name is not Will, but that is what I am: the will to live, to seduce, to destroy. To exist. I cannot die, yet cannot truly live except through others. Some call me parasite, incubus, demon, but I am much more than that.

  I am that which lurks in the shadows between worlds, that which lusts and hungers! To love me is to invite death! To let me in is to know the ultimate degradation, the slavery of self and soul. Some mortals even enjoy the process. They welcome it, and I am happy to oblige.

  There are more spirits like me, watching. Waiting for you to suffer that one moment of weakness that opens the door to our world, to you believing in us the way we believe in you. All it takes is one simple “Yes”—a single invitation—for you to become our plaything.

  Now I must go and take what pleasures I can with this miserable body before I cast it aside. And when I return to the Void, to that icy blackness of my home, I will take this girl's soul with me because there was one thing I did not lie about:

  Her soul is beautiful… and delicious.

  THESE TEETH WILL LOVE YOU

  Where one world ends, another begins.

  You see it at the forest's edge,

  trading the lies of man

  for the truth of nature.

  Death is different here.

  For the beasts will say,

  “These teeth will love you,

  these claws caress,

  and when it's over, it's over.”

  The beasts are merciful,

  unlike men.

  They cannot lie, cannot pretend to be

  that which they are not.

  And when they have finished with you,

  there are no long years of torment,

  no anger or regret…

  There is only

  THE END.

  THE TRUTH ABOUT BIGFOOT

  The most iconic monster of the Pacific Northwest is the Sasquatch, better known as “Bigfoot.” It has haunted the thick forests and mountains for hundreds of years, perhaps millions. Yet no specimen has ever been captured or killed. Why? Is it because Bigfoot isn't real, or because it's more than an animal?

  Chapter 1: YOU BETTER RUN

  Heidi Graham thought the woods were stupid. Stupid and boring and dumb. They surrounded her Dad's vacation cabin on all sides except for a narrow dirt road leading down the mountain. Back to civilization with its fast food and TV and boys.

  Heidi missed Seattle. She missed her friends. She missed everything. There was nothing to do here except get burnt by day and eaten by night. Between the sun and mosquitos, there wasn't a part of her that hadn't suffered since coming here. And to top it off, she'd gotten her period.

  After yelling at Dad for half an hour, she'd finally convinced him to make the half-hour trek to the trading post to get her tampons and Midol. Although it seemed like he was doing it more to get away from Heidi and her temper than to get her what she needed.

  Another wasted summer, she thought glumly. Dad's such a jerk. She sat on the cabin's front porch sipping her Diet Pepsi, wishing she was anywhere but here.

  Ever since the divorce, Dad had custody for two weeks every summer. Which would be fine if he took Heidi to Paris or someplace fun, but no! Dad had changed since the divorce. He was in love with the Great Outdoors, and rugged, manly things. In a way, Heidi didn't blame him because her father had been fat before the divorce. Now he was working out, driving a cool muscle car, and acting like a man, not the wimp Mom had made him during the sixteen years they were married.

  They were only married because Mom got knocked up, and they only stayed together as long as they did to try and be good parents. But they weren't. Not really. Heidi knew they loved her, each in their own messed-up way, and she thought she loved them back, but sometimes (like now) she wasn't so sure she did. Heidi wasn't sure she could love anybody because the truth was, she didn't love herself.

  She wasn't smart and she wasn't pretty. Nothing came easy for her. She wanted to be an actress, but couldn't get a part in the school play. She wanted
to be a writer, but flunked English. And she was bad at math, so there was no way she could run a business.

  Heidi felt her only chance was to marry someone rich and important who could make her rich and important too, but what person like that would want a girl like her? One who couldn't even control her temper?

  Heidi crushed her soda can and threw it at the treeline. It disappeared into the bushes. She smiled, but it wasn't pretty. Thousands of years from now, that can might be the only evidence she had ever existed.

  “I hate this place!” Heidi screamed. “I hate my whole stupid life!”

  A flock of crows erupted from a nearby evergreen, black shadows against blue sky. They cawed and cried and flapped their displeasure.

  Heidi didn't care. She stomped off the porch and threw a rock at them. “Yeah, you better run!” she yelled, then in a softer, sadder tone, she added, “I'd run too, if I could…”

  The birds didn't answer, but something in the bushes did. Something big and snuffling with a foul stink. Branches cracked under its heavy feet. The entire world went silent, except for it and the hammering in Heidi's chest.

  What the hell was out there?

  She picked up another rock, one that filled her fist. It felt good, gave her some small measure of confidence. Enough not to run. Wild animals chased you if you ran—even a city girl like Heidi knew that—and she wasn't sure she could make it inside the cabin before whatever was in the bushes caught her.

  Dad wouldn't be back for an hour. Heidi was completely isolated. No neighbors, no phone service. Now she wished she'd been nicer to Dad, had insisted on going with him instead of driving him away. She'd acted like a real bitch.

  Oh my God, she realized. I'm just like Mom.

  The sudden motion in the bushes tore the thought from her mind. A large beast emerged, a hulking hairy brute with a face more man than ape. It towered eight feet tall, staring at Heidi with beady yellow eyes. Its blackish-gray lips curled back, revealing sharpened ivory fangs. Drool came out, and a long, slow grunt.

  Holy shit! I just met Bigfoot.

  Heidi raised her arm, ready to throw the rock and run for her life. Only she knew the cabin door wouldn't keep it out. And even if it did, there were the windows. So easy to smash. So easy to reach in and grab her.

  That left the woods to her left or the road to her right. Her gaze drifted toward the road, then rejected it for being too easy for Bigfoot to catch her on. She looked at the woods. It might be her only chance. If she could outrun the monster, find someplace to hide until Dad got back…

  Bigfoot cocked its head, sniffing in Heidi's direction. It wasn't her perfume or the bug spray that had draw the beast to her. It was her period. Bigfoot could smell the blood on her, like a wolf or a bear could. Women weren't supposed to go in the woods when they're menstruating. It drives animals wild, makes them want to attack what they think is an injured animal. Easy pickings.

  But Heidi was anything but easy. She took a step back, aimed, and threw. Bigfoot caught the rock in one blackish-gray hand. It stared at the rock, then at her.

  Heidi smiled nervously.

  Bigfoot smiled too, only his was full of fangs.

  Chapter 2: BRIDE OF THE BEAST

  When Heidi woke, she was slung over Bigfoot's shoulder. Her head hurt. They were moving through the forest, up into the higher elevations. Toward the mountains.

  Heidi wanted to scream, wanted to struggle, but was worried what would happen if she did. This thing was fast and powerful. She couldn't outrun or outfight it. So she pretended she was unconscious and hoped she'd have a chance to escape.

  If I survive this, she thought, I'll be famous! People will know I exist, that I matter. It was the only consoling thought she had as the creature carried her into its lair.

  The cave was dark and lonesome, full of the monster's musk. Bigfoot set Heidi down. She kept her eyes shut and tried not to flinch as she felt its rough hands move over her body, tugging at her clothes. It was making a low, whining noise as it struggled with her buttons and belt.

  With slow horror, Heidi realized what Bigfoot wanted. Her. She got ready to fight. Maybe she wouldn't win, but that didn't matter. She had to try.

  Bigfoot stopped pawing at her. A new sound filled the cave. A helicopter. Heidi was saved! Dad must have returned from the trading post, found her missing, and called the park rangers. They'd shoot Bigfoot and rescue her and then she could go on TV and be famous.

  Bigfoot didn't like the noise. It got up and moved away from her toward the mouth of the cave. Heidi opened her eyes. There was no way she could get past it, no way she could scream loud enough for the pilot to hear.

  To her relief, Heidi saw the cave wasn't a dead end. It kept going, a long, dark, passage into the earth. She'd have to risk it. Maybe there was another way out, or someplace to hide.

  There's no place to hide, she reminded herself. It can smell me.

  Heidi got up and moved cautiously toward the tunnel, but not quietly enough. Bigfoot whirled, roared, and came after her with a loping, beast-like stride. Heidi ran. The tunnel grew dark and she was blind, bouncing off the rock walls. Heart beating, lungs burning.

  There's got to be a way out! I can't let it catch me.

  The air changed, becoming thick and warm. Heidi's ears popped. Strange colors danced in her head. She knew she was falling, knew something wasn't right. She felt like she was swimming through cotton and then she knew nothing at all.

  Chapter 3: IMPORTANT AT LAST

  The first thing Heidi sensed was the smell. Like Bigfoot, but worse. A thousand times worse. She opened her eyes and saw she was in a much larger cave, one filled with dozens of creatures like the one she'd seen. They grunted and scratched themselves around several large fires.

  Only there were other girls here, heads down, hopeless. They were slaves put to work picking lice out of the monsters' fur, cooking food, weaving baskets. They were dirty, smelly, wearing rags, but otherwise human. They were exactly like Heidi, only they were heavily pregnant.

  “That'll be us soon,” a voice next to Heidi said. “Take my advice: When it's your turn, don't fight.”

  Heidi turned and saw a girl about her age, maybe a year or two year older. She was wearing hipster glasses with one cracked lens. A purple bruise covered half her face and there was dried blood plastered down her once-white top.

  “Where are we?” Heidi asked.

  “Hell,” the other girl said, “or something like it.” And then she laughed. She sounded more than a little insane.

  “Screw this.” Heidi moved away from her, scanning the cave for an escape. She could see an exit, the purple twilight of the outside world plainly visible.

  Was escape really that easy?

  The other girl crawled after her, giggling a bit. “I'm not crazy,” she said. “I've just seen too much. I know too much. And if you try to leave, you'll know it too.”

  “Shut up,” Heidi said. “Leave me alone!”

  The other girl rolled her eyes. “I warned you. It's better not to know.” And then she laughed again. Shrill and bitter and definitely insane.

  Heidi moved toward the exit. What was weird was no one tried to stop her. The monsters watched her. The girls watched her. And then they went back to whatever they were doing, as if what she did didn't matter. But it did matter! It mattered to Heidi.

  I'm going to walk right out of here, she thought, and then I'm going to run, and I'm not going to stop until I'm back at Dad's cabin, and maybe not even then. I might never stop running.

  But Heidi did stop. She stopped when she saw what lay beyond the cave, what the purple sky painted in the valley below. Everything was wrong. The plants, the animals. They were all monstrous, prehistoric! And where were the lights? There was no sign of civilization because this was civilization.

  The first civilization.

  Somehow, the cave had led Heidi back in time. And Bigfoot wasn't Bigfoot. Bigfoot was some kind of caveman who'd found a portal through time. That's why no
one could ever catch him. And Bigfoot only came to the future for one reason: He needed human girls to breed, needed to impart Heidi's modern-day intelligence into his beast-babies so they could grow up and have babies of their own. Babies that would eventually become people like Heidi.

  I'm finally important, she thought. I'm going to give birth to the human race.

  Heidi laughed then. She laughed a long time.

  WHISPERING

  In the icy dark, one hears things:

  spirits whispering of what was,

  what is, and what will be…

  To listen for a moment is interesting,

  but to listen too long is madness—

  the kind that can only be cured by the grave.

  COME TO THE CEMETERY

  Ghost stories have always been popular, and for good reason. We fear death, yet are fascinated by it. Since no one can know for sure what happens after we die, people are always curious to hear about ghosts, whether they return to haunt a location, complete unfinished business, or simply possess the living. What the ghost in this story wants, I'll leave to your imagination‌…‌

  Chapter 1: A DEADLY MYSTERY

  I never did like cemeteries. It wasn't anything in particular that gave me the creeps, more like a whole lot of things: the way the wind sighed between the branches of the gnarled old oak trees, or the whispering of the blades of grass where they grow long between the rows, or the crumbling tombstones sticking out of the earth like broken teeth. And then there was the weird quiet of the place, the deathly silence. Only it wasn't just the silence, it was the sound hidden inside that got to me‌—‌the sound of my body slowly dying. The air going in and out, blood pumping, heart beating. Knowing that sooner or later, my next visit would be my last. It didn't exactly make for a good time.

  But I had to come to Duskhaven Cemetery because my friends were dying. It was expected of me. One by one, month by month, and always on the night of the new moon. First Donna, then April, then my best friend, Kim. The bodies were found in the cemetery, always on the same grave.