The Burial Plot

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by Susmita Ramani

 

Waking, I’ve never experienced such absolute darkness and silence. Peeling apart my clasped hands, I feel around. Above me and to my sides is wood. Below me is satin. I smell fresh earth. I can’t stop sweating and shaking, feeling waves of heat like I’m being dipped into boiling water. I take deep breaths and hold them, focusing on each inhale, to avoid hyperventilating. I have an hour, maybe two. Positioning my hands, palms out, in front of my chest, I press upward. Nothing. Again. After some amount of time, I hear a sound: wood splintering.

It’s like angels singing.

Susmita Ramani

Susmita lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with their husband and two children. Their work has appeared in The Daily Drunk, Nymeria Publishing (winner of March 2021 poetry contest), 50 Word Stories, and Vine Leaves Press, and will appear in upcoming issues of Short Fiction Break and Secret Attic. Twitter: @susmitabythebay

 

Just Desserts by NJ Gallegos

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Susan Moore is a shy girl who she seeks revenge on her classmates at her 20-year high school reunion with delicious results!

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Dilapidated

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by Alyson Hasson

 

The doorknob slipped from her grasp as the oversized emerald door swung open, exposing the darkness within. Her heart pounded—the door should have been locked. Frigid water encompassed her feet as she stepped into the void. The walls leaned inwards around her, thick moss coating their surface.

The door slammed shut, casting her into blinding darkness. Her breath caught in her throat. The pungent scent of mildew filled her nostrils, and tinnitus stifled her hearing. A shrill scream escaped her lips as waterlogged walls draped around her. They bore down onto her, sucking the oxygen out of her lungs.

Alyson Hasson

Alyson Hasson grew up in New Brunswick, Canada, where she obtained her biology degree and a love for nature based horror. Her interest in horror movies, combined with her background in biology, spurred a curiosity that led to the drafting stories of her own. Instgram: @Alyson.Hasson 

 

Something in My Eye by Terri Hamill

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Christina and Jacqui, best friends since university, face an increasingly terrifying situation—either madness or something far beyond their comprehension.

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Where Angels Fear

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by Kimberly Rei

 

The churchyard trembled at night. Pauly said that wasn’t possible. Pauly was full of shit. Stand off the property and it was fine, but so much as one toe over the edge and there it was. The ground was afraid. The old small church was scared right down to it’s last nail. If you listened closely, if you could get past the trees rustling, you could hear the pews tremble.

No one had attended mass there in decades. Centuries, maybe.

But they still buried their dead on that land. I know. I tended the graves. And I felt them quiver.

Kimberly Rei

Kim has taught writing workshops and edited novels for Authors You May Recognize. She has three published short stories and has become a greedy beast, hungry for more. She currently lives in Tampa Bay, Florida with her beautiful, supportive wife and an abundance of gorgeous beaches to explore.  studio-rei.mailchimpsites.com

 

Clown Diary: Appendix 7 by Joe Oppenheimer

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After a big fire at a circus, a few pages of a diary are all that is left to tell the story of an immigrant running from persecution and prejudice.

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Hospital Corridors

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by Dale Parnell

 

The nurse at the main desk said my father had been moved; G-ward, at the other end of the hospital. I had missed visiting hours, but they said the rules were relaxed for certain patients. I knew what they meant.

It’s surprising how quiet a hospital can be.  Long corridors with cold fluorescent tubes flickering overhead. Naked, abandoned beds, stripped of warmth and comfort.

Once or twice I thought I heard footsteps, but I never saw anyone.

When I finally arrived at my father’s ward, the duty nurse gave me the news, and I understood whose footsteps I had heard.

Dale Parnell

Dale Parnell lives in Staffordshire, England, with his wife and their imaginary dog, Moriarty. He writes fiction, mainly fantasy, science-fiction and horror, along with the occasional poem. He has self-published two collections of short stories and a poetry collection to date, and is featured in a number of excellent anthologies. You can find Dale on Facebook at www.facebook.com/shortfictionauthor

 

Penetralia by Hari Navarro

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“Do you know what happens when you stare into television static?”
“I don’t have a television.”

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The Yellows by Tom Gammarino

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Given the choice between a contented life and a meaningful one, which do you want?

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Metaphoria by K.B. Elijah

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“Should I begin with the tale of the cannibalistic peacocks, perhaps? The molten field of liquorice mushrooms? Or maybe you’d like to hear about the obsequious coffee beans dancing to the tune of Hickory Dickory Dock?”

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