***
The doctor returned to find two men with Sheila instead of one.
Mark said, “I’m her husband.”
Stan hated the lack of hesitation, hated how easily the lie came, though he’d done the same thing himself only a moment ago. He’d lied to Sheila, too, and now look at her. Who was worse? Who was really responsible for putting her in hospital?
The doctor clipped a scan to a light board and flicked a switch to show them Sheila’s brain.
“She has a subdural haematoma,” he said. “I’m afraid we’re still in the dark when it comes to how the brain works, but a subdural haematoma—” he pointed at an area on the scan, “—is when blood collects between the skull and brain.”
Stan looked at the scan and saw only the shapes of ridges and troughs, like the ranges and trenches of an ocean floor.
“We’ve tried to remove the excess fluid to relieve the pressure,” the doctor said, “But only time will tell.”
Pressure, thought Stan. Too much pressure. Like offering her a new job. Like pushing her towards a new relationship. She wasn’t ready, he knew she wasn’t ready, but he thought he could help. He thought it would give her something positive to focus on, and with Mark only involved post-production Stan didn’t foresee any problems. He should have, but he didn’t.
“She was probably getting out of the bath,” the doctor was explaining to Mark. “Some people who attempt suicide change their mind part way through. By then she would have already been weak with blood loss, slipped, and hit her head.”
Sheila had not changed her mind. Stan knew that. He’d arrived shortly after the ambulance and seen for himself; there had been more blood than bathwater. She’d done it properly this time, a lengthways cut, with a packet of aspirin to thin the blood. This was no cry for help. The only cry she’d made was one to Stan, a last minute thought, evident in the wet bloody footprints leading to the empty cradle of a phone that lay broken on her bathroom tiles. She’d only managed half a goodbye.
The doctor looked down at Sheila. “We won’t know for sure what happened until she wakes up and tells us herself,” he said. He’d avoided if, Stan realised, but he heard the word anyway.
If she wakes up.
***
The Nautilus had righted itself but it was still moving, still descending. Sheila clambered back into position, ready to bring them up again, and yelled at Tom to get on the radio.
Tom was gone.
“Tom?”
The vehicle shook, and an awful groan of metal reverberated inside. With a heavy thump they hit something and Sheila was shaken out of her seat again. Then the Nautilus was still. She was on a ledge, balanced precariously on the edge of it.
She grabbed the radio and called up to Stan.
“They’re all the fucking same,” she told him.
“Sheila? Sheila? Are you okay? What happened?”
“Tom’s gone,” she said, “Didn’t stick around long once the trouble started, did he?”
He didn’t answer that. Maybe she hadn’t pressed the button properly.
“ . . . he’s a good man,” Stan was saying, “Australian. You’ll like him. You know?”
Sheila scratched at the bandages on her arm. He’d said all of that already, hadn’t he?
“Plenty more fish in the sea, eh, Stan?”
It was too hot for bandages. She pulled at them, thinking, somebody open a fucking window or something.
“He said you had some sort of . . . episode.”
There was another voice behind Stan’s. His words came to her as an unpleasant echo she thought she knew.
“Who’ve you got with you?” she demanded.
Mark said, “Sheila, it’s me. Come back.”
She slammed the radio down. Did it again. Again. Then took it up and hoped it still worked.
“Why aren’t you down here with me?” she asked. “Too claustrophobic? Not enough room in here for us and your ego?”
But it was Stan’s voice that replied.
“Sheila?”
“Why didn’t you tell me, Stan? Why’d you keep me in the dark?”
There was a pause before he answered. “He’d told me it was over.”
“Not that, I don’t care about that. The fucking job. Couldn’t I just do something on my own?”
She moved to the front of the vessel. It rocked, shifted, slid.
And fell again.
The Nautilus turned as it descended into the Mariana Trench, slow circles at first but quickening, like water spiralling down a plug hole. One by one the lights popped, crunched, flattened by pressures they could no longer take, but there was enough for her to see the chasm walls rushing by outside. One of the viewports cracked with a sharp splintering sound, hissed, then gushed water. I’m going under, she realised. This is it. I’m going under.
Even without the transponder—the radio, the fucking radio—Sheila heard voices. They sounded excited, or panicked, she couldn’t tell which, couldn’t care, but she ignored them. The water rose around her body but she ignored that as well, just as she tried to ignore the blood that slicked her arms. Each one was opened up from wrist to elbow, spilling her ink in crimson clouds she saw only as black.
I’m going under.
The steady ping of the echosounder, previously only a background noise, suddenly became everything to her, the only sound, and it took her, down and down and down, becoming a single long flat note that followed her into where the dark was deepest.
***
The brightest bioluminescence came up to meet her.
Sheila steered a course towards it.
BIOGRAPHIES
Stephen Bacon’s fiction has appeared in various magazines and journals such as Black Static, The Willows, Crimewave, Shadows & Tall Trees, and in the anthologies Murmurations, Where the Heart Is, Horror For Good, several editions of the Black Books of Horror, Alt Dead, The First Book of Classical Horror Stories, Dark Minds and Darker Minds, and the final three editions of Nemonymous. His website is www.stephenbacon.co.uk. His debut collection, Peel Back the Sky, was published by Gray Friar Press in 2012. Forthcoming is a story in Ill at Ease 2 (Penman Press) and a chapbook called The Allure of Oblivion, which will be published by Spectral Press in 2014. He lives with his wife and two sons in South Yorkshire, UK.
Jasper Bark finds writing author biographies and talking about himself in the third person faintly embarrassing. Telling you that he’s an award winning author of four cult novels including the highly acclaimed ‘Way of the Barefoot Zombie’, just sounds like boasting. Then he has to mention that he’s written 12 children’s books and hundreds of comics and graphic novels and he wants to just curl up. He cringes when he has to reveal that his work has been translated into five different languages and is used in schools throughout the UK to help improve literacy, or that he was awarded the This Is Horror Award for his recent anthology ‘Dead Air’. Maybe he’s too British, or maybe he just needs a good enema, but he’s glad this bio is now over.
G.N. Braun is an Australian writer raised in Melbourne’s gritty western suburbs. He is a trained nurse, and holds a Cert. IV in Professional Writing and Editing, as well as a Dip. Arts (Professional Writing and Editing). At graduation, Braun was awarded ‘Vocational Student of the Year’ and ‘2012 Student of the Year’ by his college. He writes fiction across various genres, and is the author of short stories ‘Boneyard Smack’, ‘Bubba wants YOU’, ‘Insurrection’ and ‘Santa Akbar!’. He has a short story—‘Autumn as Metaphor’—in the charity anthology Horror For Good and a short story—‘Brand New Day’—in Midnight Echo #7, and has had numerous articles published in newspapers. He is the current president of the Australian Horror Writers Association, as well as the past director of the Australian Shadows Awards. He is an editor and columnist for UK site This is Horror, and the guest editor for the upcoming Midnight Echo #9. His memoir, Hammered, was released in early 2012 and has been extensively reviewed. He is the owner of Cohesion Editing and Proofreading
.
Tonia Brown is a southern author with a penchant for Victorian dead things. She lives in the backwoods of North Carolina with her genius husband and an ever fluctuating number of cats. She likes fudgesicles and coffee, though not always together. When not writing she raises unicorns and fights crime with her husband under the code names Dr. Weird and his sexy sidekick Butternut. You can learn more about her at: www.thebackseatwriter.com.
Ray Cluley’s stories have appeared in various dark places. His most recent work has appeared in Black Static and Interzone from TTA Press, Shadows & Tall Trees from Undertow Books, and the Darker Minds anthology from Dark Minds Press. He has a story forthcoming in Crimewave and another in the Edgar Allan Poe anthology, Where Thy Dark Eye Glances, from Lethe Press. A novelette with Spectral Press is due in 2014. His story ‘At Night, When the Demons Come’ was selected by Ellen Datlow for her Best Horror of the Year anthology, and this year ‘Night Fishing’ was selected by Steve Berman for Wilde Stories 2013. He writes non-fiction too, but generally he prefers to make stuff up. You can find out more at www.probablymonsters.wordpress.com.
Carole Johnstone is a Scot living in Essex. Her first published story appeared in Black Static #3 in early 2008. She has since contributed stories to PS Publishing, Night Shade Books, Gray Friar Press, Morrigan Books, Apex Book Company and many more. She has been reprinted in Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, and God of the Gaps (Interzone #238) is to appear in Proxima Books’ Best British Fantasy 2013. Her first novella, Frenzy, was published by Eternal Press/Damnation Books in 2009 and her second, Cold Turkey, is part of TTA Press’ forthcoming novella series. She is presently at work on her second novel while seeking fame and fortune with the first. More information on the author can be found at www.carolejohnstone.com.
Benedict J Jones is from South East London and mainly writes crime and horror fiction. Since he was first published in 2008 he has seen work appear in Out of the Gutter, Encounters Magazine, Delivered, One Eye Grey, Big Pulp!, Pen Pusher, Shotgun Honey, the Western Online and many other venues, including two anthologies from Dark Minds Press. His website can be found at www.benedictjjones.webs.com.
Kevin Lucia is a Contributing Editor for Shroud Magazine, a podcaster for Tales to Terrify and a blogger for The Midnight Diner. His short fiction has appeared in several anthologies. He’s currently finishing his Creative Writing Masters Degree at Binghamton University, he teaches high school English and lives in Castle Creek, New York with his wife and children. He is the author of Hiram Grange & The Chosen One, Book Four of The Hiram Grange Chronicles, and he’s currently working on his first novel. Visit him at www.kevinlucia.com.
Tracie McBride is a New Zealander who lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three children. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in over 80 print and electronic publications, including Horror Library Vols 4 and 5, Dead Red Heart, Phobophobia and Horror for Good. Her debut collection Ghosts Can Bleed contains much of the work that earned her a Sir Julius Vogel Award in 2008. She helps to wrangle slush for Dark Moon Digest and is the vice president of Dark Continents Publishing. She welcomes visitors to her blog at www.traciemcbridewriter.wordpress.com.
Gary McMahon’s short fiction has been reprinted in both The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror and The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror. He is the acclaimed author of the novels Rain Dogs, Hungry Hearts, Pretty Little Dead Things, Dead Bad Things and the Concrete Grove trilogy. He lives with his family in Yorkshire, trains in Shotokan karate, and likes running in the rain.
Blaze McRob has penned many titles under different names. It is time for him to come out and play as Blaze. In addition to inclusions in numerous anthologies, he has written many novels, short stories, flash fiction pieces, and even poetry. Most of his offerings are Dark. However dark they might be, there is always an underlying message contained within. Join him as he explores the Dark side. You know you want to. Visit Blaze at his Amazon Author Page and his website: www.blazemcrob.com.
William Meikle is a Scottish writer with fifteen novels published in the genre press and over 250 short story credits in thirteen countries. His work appears in many professional anthologies and he has recent short story sales to NATURE Futures, Penumbra and Daily Science Fiction among others. His eBook The Invasion has been as high as #2 in the Kindle SF charts. He now lives in a remote corner of Newfoundland with icebergs, whales and bald eagles for company. In the winters he gets warm vicariously through the lives of others in cyberspace, so please check him out at www.williammeikle.com.
Joe Mynhardt is a South African horror writer, editor, publisher and teacher with over sixty short story publications. He has appeared in dozens of publications and collections, among them For the Night is Dark with Gary McMahon and Armand Rosamilia. He will also appear in The Outsiders and Children of the Grave alongside great authors such as Simon Bestwick, Joe McKinney and others. Joe is also the owner and operator of Crystal Lake Publishing. His editorial debut, Fear the Reaper, will be available by Halloween 2013. His own collection of short stories, Lost in the Dark, is now available through Amazon. Joe’s influences stretch from Poe, Doyle and Lovecraft to King, Connolly and Gaiman. In his spare time Joe blogs about haunted buildings and the horror writing craft. He is a moderator at MyWritersCircle.com and an Assistant Submissions Editor at The South African Literary Journal, New Contrast. Read more about Joe and his creations at www.joemynhardt.com or find him on Facebook at Joe Mynhardt’s Short Stories’.
Scott Nicholson is the international bestselling author of more than 30 books, including The Home, The Red Church, Liquid Fear, Disintegration, and After: The Shock. He’s also written comics, screenplays, and children’s books. Nicholson’s website is www.hauntedcomputer.com.
Armand Rosamilia is a New Jersey boy currently living in sunny Florida, where he writes when he’s not watching zombie movies, the Boston Red Sox and listening to Heavy Metal music . . . The ‘Dying Days’ extreme zombie series is growing all the time, and he currently has over 50 releases on Amazon. His ‘Miami Spy Games’ series by Hobbes End Publishing and ‘Tool Shed’ horror novella from Angelic Knight Press are his most recent releases. You can find him at http://armandrosamilia.com and e-mail him to talk about zombies, baseball and Metal: [email protected].
Daniel I. Russell has appeared in various magazines and anthologies such as Pseudopod, The Zombie Feed from Apex, Festive Fear: Global Edition, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and will appear in Shadow Award winner Brett McBean’s Jungle trilogy. He is the author of novels Samhane (Stygian Publications and in Germany, Voodoo Press), Come Into Darkness (KHP Publications and Voodoo Press) and Critique and The Collector Book 1: Mana Leak (both Dark Continents Publications). He is the current vice president of the AHWA and former associate and technical editor of Necrotic Tissue Magazine, and guest editor of Midnight Echo. Daniel lives in country Western Australia with his partner and four children, if he includes the Xbox in that count.
Jeremy C. Shipp is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Cursed, Vacation, and Attic Clowns. His shorter tales have appeared or are forthcoming in over 60 publications, the likes of Cemetery Dance, ChiZine, Apex Magazine, Withersin, and Shroud Magazine. Jeremy enjoys living in Southern California in a moderately haunted Victorian farmhouse called Rose Cottage. He lives there with a couple of pygmy tigers and a legion of yard gnomes. The gnomes like him. The clowns living in his attic—not so much. You can learn more about Jeremy at www.jeremycshipp.com.
John Claude Smith has had over 60 short stories published, the latest being in White Cat Magazine, Grave Demand, and SQ Mag online. He also has had 10 poems and over 1,100 music journalism pieces published. His first collection, The Dark is Light Enough for Me, was released late 2011. He is currently working on a second collection and revisions on a novel while another novel gets shopped around to publishers. Busy is good. He splits time between the SF Bay Area and Rome, Italy. Twitter: @wickdplayground.
Award-winning author and graduate of Northwe
stern University, Robert W. Walker created his highly acclaimed INSTINCT and EDGE SERIES between 1982 and 2005. Rob since then has penned his award-winning historical series featuring Inspector Alastair Ransom with City for Ransom (2006), Shadows in the White City (2007), and City of the Absent (2008), and most recently placed Ransom on board the Titanic in a hybrid historical/science fiction epic entitled Titanic 2012—Curse of RMS Titanic. Rob’s next, Dead On, a PI revenge tale and a noir set in modern day Atlanta. More recently Bismarck 2013, an historical horror title, The Edge of Instinct, the 12th Instinct Series, and a short story collection entitled Thriller Party of 8—the one that got away. Rob’s historical suspense Children of Salem, while an historical romance and suspense novel, exposes the violent nature of mankind via the politics of witchcraft in grim 1692 New England, a title that some say only Robert Walker could craft—romance amid the infamous witch trials. Robert currently resides in Charleston, West Virginia with his wife, children, pets, all somehow normal. For more on Rob’s published works, see www.RobertWalkerbooks.com www.HarperCollins.com www.amazon.com/kindle books. He maintains a presence on Facebook and Twitter as well.
Ross Warren is the editor of the 2011 anthology Dark Minds and the co-editor, with Anthony Watson, of the 2012 anthology Darker Minds. Alongside Anthony he runs Dark Minds Press. A third anthology, titled of course Darkest Minds, is currently open for submissions. www.darkmindspress.com Ross’ most recent story, ‘The Day of the Trifles’ was a finalist in the 2012 South Wales Short Story Competition and can be found in the anthology The Countess and the Mole Man from Candy Jar Books. Ross lives in Cheltenham, England with his wife Katarzyna, son Joseph and rather more books than he knows what to do with.
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