Dawn DeBraal
Dawn DeBraal lives in rural Wisconsin with her husband Red, two little dogs, and a cat. She has discovered that her love of telling a good story can be written.
How to Deal with Stress
by Crystal L. Kirkham
A co-worker once asked me how I deal with a job that makes them want to gouge their eyes out.
“Well,” I explained, “a sensible person would give up the will to live, start stress eating away the pain, and then go home to drink themselves into a stupor.”
“Is that what you do?”
“No,” I said, “I’m not sensible.”
“So, what do you do?”
I smiled and pull a jar from the drawer of my desk. A dozen eyeballs stare at us from within the clear liquid. “I gouge out the eyes of the people who piss me off.”
Crystal L. Kirkham
Crystal L. Kirkham resides in rural Alberta. She’s an avid outdoors person, unrepentant coffee addict, part-time foodie, servant to a feline, and companion canines. She’s a multi-genre speculative fiction writer who believes in following the story where it takes her.
Find out more on her and her work at www.crystallkirkham.com
Don’t Wear Black
by Charlotte O’Farrell
In life, Aunt Maud had no time for traditional funerals. “I want mine to be jolly! A celebration of my life. Nobody dresses in black!”
When the day came, Richard cried all the way to the church. Everyone turned to him as he walked in. He paid his respects by the coffin, then sat in the pews. As people whispered and stared at him, he began to wonder if he’d taken Maud’s words about the dress code too literally.
Still, it was nice to dress as a clown at times. It seemed silly to only wear the costume at Halloween.
Charlotte O’Farrell
Charlotte O’Farrell is a horror writer and lifelong horror fan. She writes daily flash fiction on Twitter and Facebook and her stories have appeared in several anthologies and magazines.
She lives in Nottingham, UK with her husband, daughter and cat.
Nevermore
by Shawn M. Klimek
“It’s a parasitic twin,” Patty said. “It’s ugly, I know. Are you disgusted?”
“It’s…”
“You hate it, don’t you!” she bawled.
“No, I’m just surprised.”
“I just wanted there to be no secrets before our wedding,” she said, wiping a tear. “Do you still love me?”
I smiled and squeezed her hand. “What do you think, Nevermore.”
“Oh, John.” She kissed me passionately, then suddenly pulled away to study my face.
“Wait. Do you mean you’ve never loved me more? Or that you will love me nevermore?”
“Oh, neither,” I said, lifting my shirt and pointing, “I was asking Nevermore.”
Shawn M. Klimek
Shawn M. Klimek is the middle child of seven creative siblings, a globetrotting, U.S. military spouse, award-winning author and poet, and butler to a Maltese. More than one hundred of his works have been published since 2018, including stories in BHP anthologies, Deep Space, Eerie Christmas, and a full five stories in each of the first six books in the internationally best-selling, Dark Drabbles series.
Find his books on Amazon: Shawn Klimek; a complete index of his publications (plus bonus reads) at A Jot In The Dark; and follow his ongoing writing adventures at https://facebook.com/shawnmklimekauthor/.
Dinner Plans
by Raven Corinn Carluk
“What should we eat?”
“Dunno. What ain’t we ‘ad lately?”
“Chinese?”
“Jus’ be ‘ungry in an ‘our.”
“Thai?”
“Too spicy. ‘ad a bubble in me guts fer a week after last one.”
“New gyro shop opened around the corner.”
“Ya know, I don’ even wanna go out.”
“‘I don’ wanna go out. I don’ wanna hunt fer food.'”
“Oy. Don’t be sucha bitch.”
“Well it’s not like they have Uber Eats for vampires, do they?”
“…huh. They don’.”
“You have your thinking look on again.”
“Why don’ we just eat a delivery driver?”
“Oh, I do love a surprise meal.”
Raven Corinn Carluk
Raven Corinn Carluk writes dark fantasy, paranormal romance, and anything else that catches her interest. She’s authored five novels, and has appeared in various short story and microfiction anthologies. Keep up-to-date with her and enjoy many free reads on RavenCorinnCarluk.Blogspot.Com