by D Kershaw
A sergeant took Ursula away before his colleagues brought out the dozen young girls she’d held captive from her basement.
UMAIR MIRXA lives in Karachi, Pakistan. His first published story, ‘Awareness’, appeared on Spillwords Press. He has also had stories accepted for anthologies from Zombie Pirate Publishing, Blood Song Books, Fantasia Divinity Magazine and Publishing, and Iron Faerie Publishing. He is a massive J.R.R. Tolkien fan, and loves everything to do with fantasy and mythology. He enjoys football, history, music, movies, TV shows, and comic books, and wishes with all his heart that dragons were real.
Website: www.umairmirxa.com
Facebook: UMirxa12
Cold Case
by Vonnie Winslow Crist
Del Winters had been dead for twenty years when Detective Sylvester was assigned her cold case.
The file stated she’d been found in her car, poisoned. He glanced at the bagged evidence, spotted a restaurant receipt dated the day before Del’s body was discovered. It had been signed by her waitress, Lucy Tillis.
Having been to the wedding, he knew Lucy Tillis had married Del’s widowed husband, Richard. In fact, Lucy and Richard Winters still lived in town.
Detective Sylvester chuckled. “Time to visit the happy couple.”
He wondered which co-conspirator would throw the other one under the bus first.
VONNIE WINSLOW CRIST is author of The Enchanted Dagger, Owl Light, The Greener Forest, Murder on Marawa Prime, and other award-winning books. Her fiction is included in “Amazing Stories,” “Cast of Wonders,” “Outposts of Beyond,” Killing It Softly 2, Defending the Future - Dogs of War, Midnight Masquerade, Chaos of Hard Clay, and elsewhere. A cloverhand who has found so many four-leafed clovers she keeps them in jars, Vonnie strives to celebrate the power of myth in her writing.
Website: www.vonniewinslowcrist.com
Paper Trail
by Paul Warmerdam
“They told me to follow the money, so that’s what I did.” The voice came from somewhere in the back of the dark room. “All I learned is that it goes around in circles.” The speaker was pacing.
“On paper, you’re a hard man to track down.” The light was suddenly turned on, blindingly bright. “There’s no paperwork getting between us now.” The room was small and unfamiliar.
“You have to understand that there’s no going back for me now.” The detective stepped around to face the chair. “Start talking.” He threw his badge into the corner of the room.
PAUL WARMERDAM is a Dutch-American with decades of experience writing stories, who only recently decided to start submitting them. He lives in the Netherlands, where there’s plenty of rainy hours shut indoors with a story in mind.
Doggy Done
by D.J. Elton
“Puppy!” Only five, he’s in front of me, arms outstretched like Jesus. A Chinese man jumps the queue. The airport quietness, feeling nervous.
“Leave the dog, Son.” The officer’s in control. My lower gut wiggles. Please, body, don’t betray me now.
Mr Chinese drops off behind, scowling at me. The kid is leaning on my suitcase. I can feel the tape, plastic and crystals inside my thighs rubbing raw.
“Puppy!” Dog at my feet, sniffing intensified. I’m fisting my hands.
“Miss, step this way, please.” Oh my God. He connects with my eyes. I know he knows, and I’m done.
D.J. ELTON writes fiction and poetry, and is currently studying writing and literature which is improving her work in unexpected ways. She spends a lot of time in northern India and should probably live there, however there is much to be done in Melbourne, so this is the home base. She has meditated daily for the past 35 years and has worked in healthcare for equally as long, so she’s very happy to be writing, zoning in and out of all things literary.
Twitter: @DJEltonwrites
International Waters
by Peter J. Foote
“Commander, we have a problem on the space elevator.”
Putting down his coffee, “Please tell me the President isn’t complaining about being weightless?”
Pale-faced the lieutenant responds, “She’s dead, along with her team. Shot. No sign of a weapon nor the murderer.”
The Commander barks commands. “Contact ground control and tell them—”
“It gets worse, Commander,” the lieutenant interrupts.
“Worse? How?”
“Sensors log her time of death just as the elevator left Earth’s atmosphere and entered space, so...”
“She died in no-man’s-land. This will be a bureaucratic mess.” The Commander shakes his head and mutters, “There goes my pension.”
PETER J. FOOTE is a bestselling speculative fiction writer from Nova Scotia. Outside of writing, he runs a used bookstore specialising in fantasy & sci-fi, cosplays, and alternates between red wine and coffee as the mood demands. His short stories can be found in both print and in ebook form, with his story “Sea Monkeys” winning the inaugural “Engen Books/Kit Sora, Flash Fiction/Flash Photography” contest in March of 2018. As the founder of the group “Genre Writers of Atlantic Canada”, Peter believes that the writing community is stronger when it works together.
Twitter: @PeterJFoote1
Website: peterjfooteauthor.wordpress.com
Jean MacBeth
by Simon Clarke
Jean looked down at her ripped nightgown, she had been rubbing his blood into her chest. This won’t do, she thought. She glanced at the knife sticking out of George King’s left eye, opened the front door, started wailing and began staggering to the road.
They arrested her husband; the knife was his. She had been promised to King in exchange for promotion. Bastards.
In hospital a nurse lay her hand on Jean’s. “You don’t need to keep rubbing yourself, it’s clean now.”
Jean sat expressionless in court. He was to be executed.
I hope you suffer, dying for nothing.
SIMON CLARKE was born in and raised and currently resides in East Anglia, United Kingdom. He has been writing fiction for at least five years and regularly submits to UK and international publications as well as reading short pieces and poetry at open mic events. He is currently working on his first novel and continues to write short stories and poetry.
Little Pipe Creek
by Jacob Baugher
We caught the kidnapper at midnight by Little Pipe Creek. The K-9 unit found him. My client’s girl is with him. She hides behind his leg.
Finally, a lucky break.
“Let her go, Larry.”
“I can’t.” He tries to run.
“Fassen!”
There’s a bark, a gurgling scream, then nothing.
Moonlit-silver mist rises from the brimming water. I step through the blood. She’s sobbing, hair stuck to her face.
“Please, don’t make me go back to daddy.”
My flashlight illuminates her purple bruises.
“It’s ok.” I take her hand. “You’re safe now.”
“I was safe before.” She pulls away and cries.
JACOB BAUGHER teaches Creative Writing at Franciscan University of Steubenville. When he’s not teaching or coaching the track team, he can be found in the Cuyahoga Valley hiking with his wife and son or brewing beer on his front porch. He’s received honourable mentions for his work in the Writers of the Future contest and he co-edits a series of Fantasy and Science Fiction anthologies titled Continuum.
Hook, Line, and...
by Greg Thomas
Detective Mark was never able to make sense of why the killer texted him out of the blue to confess. He wasn’t even a detective at the time, just a beat cop.
Not that it made much difference now.
Still, as he looked at Red’s lifeless body still smoking in the chair, he couldn’t help but wonder. This case had jump started his career.
Looking back at the message still stored in his phone he read it again.
MY NAME IS R. HERRING AND I KILLED THOSE
PEOPLE
Just then, another message came through from the long inactive number.
DUMBASS
GREG THOMAS is a husband and father of five who supports his creative habits by holding down a regular gig as a college dean in rural Wyoming. In addition to writing short stories and screenplays, Greg also enjoys amateur woodworking, thrift-store shopping, and masquerading as a shade-tree mechanic. His future plans include winning the lottery and writing the next great American horror movie, although he realizes only one of these goals is realistic.
Facebook: gregwrotestuff
Desperation
by Annie Percik
The evidence is all there. I know who did it. But I don’t think I want to bring her in. I remember when we interviewed her at the time; so small, so thin, such wide eyes. Those eyes were full of desperation. Is it so necessary for this crime to be solved? I don’t think justice will be served by putting her away. The items were insured, the owner has money to spare. If ever there was a victimless crime, this is it. I look through my notes, exchange a knowing glance with my partner and turn on the shredder.
ANNIE PERCIK lives in London with her husband, Dave, where she is revising her first novel, whilst working as a University Complaints Officer. She writes a blog about writing and posts short fiction on her website. She also publishes a photo-story blog, recording the adventures of her teddy bear. He is much more popular online than she is. She likes to run away from zombies in her spare time.
Website: www.alobear.co.uk
Website: aloysius-bear.dreamwidth.org
Seegrist Syndrome
by Bob Adder
I was ready.
I had prepared for this day for many years. I had my tools, I had the place, and I knew my timings.
Wednesday had come, I walked into the quaint shopping centre located on the edge of the bustling city.
The voices were back, people were loud and surrounding, closing in.
I didn’t like it. They are talking, why don’t they like me? What have I ever done to them?
I couldn’t take it anymore. I held up my arms, aiming straight.
The voices screamed around in my head. I squeezed the trigger and the gun recoiled.
BOB ADDER is an aspiring author and superhero geek from Melbourne, Australia.
The Break Up
by Dawn DeBraal
Rae Ann sat in her car, watching from across the street as her boyfriend held the door open for his friend.
She suspected Darrell was seeing someone else, but he told her she was all wrong, he only had eyes for her.
She wanted so badly to believe him, but when she saw them crossing the street together, something in her snapped. She found herself starting her car, slipping it into gear, and pulling away from the curb. Her foot touched the accelerator, flooring the pedal. Tyres squealed as the car struck them both.
This is how they broke up.
DAWN DEBRAAL lives in rural Wisconsin with her husband, two rat terriers, and a cat. She successfully raised two children (meaning they didn’t return to the nest!) After many years serving the government at the Federal and County level, she recently retired. Having extra time on her hands she started to write after a paralyzed vocal cord took her ability to speak for two months. Not finding her voice, she discovered that her love of telling a good story could be written. Her works have been published in Palm-Sized Press, Spillwords, Mercurial Stories, Potato Soup Journal, and Blood Song Books.
Mystery Girl
by Kent Swarts
Sondra’s death at eighteen was astonishing, and so was the way she died—eviscerated. She was sweet, generous, and personable. When the police interrogated the guys I hung with and me, we found out she dealt in drugs, whored and stole. How she had done these things and maintained dignity, we had no idea.
Maybe it was just the ghetto.
But no one was charged with the crime.
While we hunted for her slayer, we found she’d quit school to have a kid.
With this, we became dedicated to discovering who this mysterious girl really was.
Screw the murderer!
KENT SWARTS is a retired aeronautical engineer and is an enthusiastic astronomer. He edits the astronomy club’s newsletter. He has been published in four anthologies and has one published novel, The Fate of the Charles Wilkes, a sci-fi story. He lives in Waco, TX.
Captain
by Chris Bannor
Nights like this make me question why I moved to the city. I could have lived the semi-quiet life of a small-town cop. This is my life though; my calling.
For those who know how to read it, the blood at the scene leaves behind a story. I’m the one they call when the act is so bloody it makes the trail tainted.
They call me the Bloodhound because they say I never give up on a case. Tonight though, the blood is muddied. There are too many clues, not enough cops to follow, and a horrifying deadline ticking away.
CHRIS BANNOR is a science fiction and fantasy writer who lives in Southern California. Chris learned her love of genre stories from her mother at an early age and has never veered far from that path. She also enjoys musical theater and road trips with her family, but is a general homebody otherwise.
Twitter: @BannorChris
On a Dare
by Jason Holden
The bell buzzed as Mickey entered, alerting the man who owned the shop. His friends waited outside to see if Mickey would complete the dare. His heart racing, he slipped the Mars bar up his sleeve. A hand clasped his shoulder and he was dragged into the back room of the shop. Something tripped him as he was propelled backwards into the room. The lock clicked shut. Mickey checked his phone. No signal. He shone the light on the thing that tripped him and dropped the phone, the light from the screen illuminating the face of another long dead shoplifter.
AFTER GIVING UP A FULL-time job as a quarry operator so that his wife could follow her dream career as an academic in the field of chemistry, Jason Holden and his family left England and temporarily moved to Spain where they currently reside. While there, he took on the role of full-time parent and began to create stories for his daughter. Now that she is in school, he creates stories for himself and hopes to share those stories with others.
Charlie
by Scott Wheelock
Drake couldn’t imagine how any bullets hadn’t hit him. He had to keep Charlie quiet, or he was dead meat. All he could do was to grab the kid and try to get off the estate grounds. Drake shook his head, lifting his finger to his lips. “Shhh.”
Charlie screamed. For a two-year-old, he sure had a pair of lungs on him. This wasn’t going to work.
Drake snapped his neck—crackkkkk—and shoved him into his knapsack. If he cut off a finger and put it on ice, he should still be able to get a fortune for him.
SCOTT WHEELOCK is a painter, writer and teacher living in Philadelphia. Recently, his short story The Crimson Tear was selected for the anthology “Quoth the Raven” published by Camden Park Press, and his story Blood Pigs and Soil was chosen for the upcoming Night Sky Anthology “13 Postcards from Hell.”
Website: www.scottwheelock.com
Necrophagia
by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
His skills as a pathologist amaze. The most subtle poisons, the most perplexing injuries and diseases. The fine line between natural death and murder most foul. He is always right.
Their bodies speak to him. The young woman, aged before her time by drugs. The old man, scarred by years of neglect. The child, killed before the car went into the water. The dead tell him their secrets.
He cuts open their lives, peels back the lies and exposes the truth.
And when no one looks, he takes a piece of the beloved dead and becomes one with them.
DONALD JACOB UITVLUGT lives on neither coast of the United States, but mostly in a haunted memory palace of his own design. His short fiction has appeared in numerous print and online venues, including Cirsova Magazine and the Flame Tree Press a
nthology Murder Mayhem. He works primarily in speculative fiction, though he loves blending and stretching genres. He strives to write what he calls “haiku fiction,” stories that are small in scale but big in impact.
Website: haikufiction.blogspot.com
Twitter: @haikufictiondju
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Huge thanks to all the authors who have contributed to UNRAVEL, the fifth book in the Dark Drabbles series. This theme was out of the comfort zone for a lot of you, but you all gave it a real go, and we saw some amazing pieces if tiny fiction land in our inbox—and from some new faces too.
We are lucky to be surrounded by great authors, and we’ll continue to showcase their work for as long as they allow us to.
As always, a special thank you to you, our loyal readers, who continue to support our work.
www.blackharepress.com
