Water on Canvas

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by James S. Austin

 

Standing in the newly acquired estate, a painting captured my attention.  It held me in rapture.

Moving closer, my eyes drew to the galleon at its centre.  The sails taut, rigging displayed in sharp lines from the strain.

My smile faded to confusion.  The waves appeared rougher, spray rising off its hull.

The sea now churning in stillness.  Swollen clouds above.

Phantom phosphorescent specks began dotting the blue-green strokes.  A melodic hum arose in my head.

Trying to end this spiralling descent, cold salt water spilled from my mouth.  Coughing.  With my last moments, a great yellow eye stared back.

 

James S. Austin

Born and raised near St. Petersburg, Florida, my early years were spent in the US Army and receiving BAs in Anthropology and History. My work includes editing three anthologies, publishing gaming products, and a few published short stories, to include a coming release in Black Hare Press’s  Ancients. 

Insolence

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by Jesse Highsmith

 

Richard’s ears crackled loudly in the bubbling pot. They bobbed and swirled around the heart, fingers, and toes of the man who once shared my bed. I reserved my favourite parts of his for my necklace, though. It swung wildly between my breasts as I poured the steaming concoction over our son’s corpse and yelled the ancient incantation. If anyone could bring the boy back, I felt it would be his father. Before I could finish the ritual, the cops dragged me away. The neighbours will pay for their insolence. They called me a witch, but I’m just a mother.

Jesse Highsmith

Jesse Highsmith is an adventurous wordsmith, musician, podcast enthusiast, and internet jokester from Central Florida, US. His specialty is short-form flash fiction written within the confines of a large pesticide truck. However, he is currently writing his first novel, an otherworldly dive into death, acceptance, sacrifice, and redemption. He is also hard at work on his first foray into children’s books with former Infectious Magazine editor Sami Marshall, a project due to be completed very soon. They live in rural countryside with his son Logan, dog Snowy, and a shadow-chasing cat dubbed Sir Liam Frederick, Duke of Cuteness.

The Many Lives of Miss Creant

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by Chris Hewitt

 

Every young witch needs the protection of a good familiar, and Tara received hers on her fifth birthday. Miss Creant, Missy for short, was the blackest of black cats, and the duo bonded immediately. Unfortunately for Missy, her ward suffered with a terrible curse that would cost Missy four of her lives, eleven whiskers, and her right eye before Tara’s sixth birthday. Come Tara’s seventh birthday, Missy had sacrificed all her lovely black fur, an ear, and four more lives.

When the fateful day came, Missy welcomed death. Protecting the clumsiest witch in the world had been a tough gig.

 

Chris Hewitt

Chris resides in the beautiful garden of England, Kent, UK, and in the odd moments that he isn’t dog walking he pursues his passion for all things horror, fantasy, and science-fiction.

Blog: https://mused.blog/

Brothers

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by Chris Bannor

 

The night rumbled its greeting as the body streaked through the atmosphere. Lightning flashed across the sky, and thunder heralded its downward descent. Few who saw it would know what it was, but to the trained eye, a fallen angel was unmistakable.

Hell would not welcome such a creature, so newly lost it still reeked of the holy.

He’d fallen years ago, over something he no longer believed. He got on his motorcycle and took to the road, headed for the other. He was no longer an angel, but he would do what he could.

Even the fallen needed brothers.

Chris Bannor

Chris Bannor is a speculative fiction 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. You can follow Chris on Facebook: @chrisbannorauthor

Dunwich Desires

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by Beth W. Patterson

 

“Looks aren’t everything” is sometimes the kindest thing a person feels he or she can say. Society deemed me deformed and inbred, horrified by my colour. I often walked through thunderstorms for company.

It took that special someone to desire me, but Yog-Sothoth was not the normal lover. I thought I would savour multitudinous mouths on my flesh and the sinewy strokes of limbs reaching everywhere. Sometimes being desired means instead being turned inside out and reassembled, chewed up, digested, spat out, transformed with the power to make the Old Ones flesh.

The children are growing. The hills are alive.

Beth W. Patterson

Beth W. Patterson was a full-time musician for over two decades before diving into the world of writing. She is the author of the books Mongrels and Misfits, and The Wild Harmonic, and a contributor to over thirty anthologies. Patterson has performed in nineteen countries and never sleeps.

The Darkness Ahead

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by Brianna Witte

 

They came for me—pitchforks sharpened and torches glowing in the dead of night. I stood in front of my wood cabin, watching the townspeople march closer. Closer to the witch that had slaughtered their livestock and dried their crops with her dark, satanic magic. Closer to me—the evil they wanted to destroy.

They thought starvation was my intention: to kill them off slowly. Yet, destroying their food supply was just a tease. They had no idea what was lying in store for them.

Salem had come to burn a witch, but it was Salem that would burn instead.

Brianna Witte

Brianna is an active member of the Writers Community of Durham Region. She had received a commendation for her short story, The Hunt, in the 2019 Author of Tomorrow Award by the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation. To date, Brianna has had many short stories published in various anthologies.

On December 1, 2019, Brianna released her first book, Witches and Vampires, published by Atmosphere Press.

Celestial Game

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by Abi Marie Palmer

 

The arrow pierced the angel’s chest. Damien smirked as it plummeted towards the vast grounds of his manor. Now nobody would deny his hunting skills.

His catch plunged into the lake. Its limp husk bobbed to the surface, charred but incandescent. An exquisite specimen. When stuffed, it would look impressive in the dining hall next to the Masai lion. Now to retrieve the carcass.

The angel’s eyes snapped open. It rose above the lake with a disgruntled roar and clawed the arrow from its chest.

Damien’s servants found his body that night. It was displayed in the dining hall, stuffed.

Abi Marie Palmer

Abi Marie Palmer is a freelance proofreader and editor with an English Literature degree from Cardiff University. She is training to become a secondary school English teacher and enjoys writing in her spare time. instagram.com/abimariepalmer

Cautionary Steps

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by Colleen Anderson

 

Sergei backed away from the greyish thing with flesh rotting off its body. It staggered toward him, moaning. “—rains.”

Trembling, Sergei moved onto the muddy road, water pouring in his eyes, nearly blinding him in the darkness. If only he could reach the carriage.

“—rrrrains,” the creature uttered, lifting its blackened hand and pointing.

Sergei turned, trying to climb through the carriage door when the horse, its eyes showing white, whinnied and reared at the approaching horror. As its hooves thudded into the earth, it tore away, the carriage wheels running over Sergei’s body.

“Reinsss,” croaked the zombie.

Colleen Anderson

Colleen Anderson’s writing has appeared in many venues. She has a BFA in writing and is a recipient of BC Arts Council and Canada Council grants. Her short fiction collection, A Body of Work is available online. She will be Creative Ink Festival guest of honor in Vancouver, BC. www.colleenanderson.wordpress.com

Bleeding, Blending, An Ending With The Living Dead

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by Steven Holding

 

Slow shuffle, like a senile senior citizen. Shoulder to slumped shoulder. Your own odour, Eau de decay, bothers you no longer.

You’re at one with the crowd now.

Amidst this apocalypse, you experience an acceptance never found in life: not inside, doing time, nor in padded asylums.

The herd swerve, having heard a scream, moaning, closing in.

A young girl swings, smashing skulls, crushing brains. It’s not enough to save her.

The pack collapses while attacking.

As she’s torn in two, you catch her eye, offering a smile as you dig in.

Happy that your appetite can finally be satisfied.

Steven Holding

Steven Holding lives in the United Kingdom. His work has appeared both online and in print. Most recently, his short story “ROUTE THIRTY-THREE” won the 2019 H.E. BATES SHORT STORY COMPETITION prize for best story from a Northamptonshire writer. You can follow his work at www.stevenholding.co.uk

The Unturned

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by Nicole Little

 

Holing up in this ramshackle cabin was our first mistake, but we’d run out of options.

Now we’re surrounded.

They pound on the door seeking entrance. And though they mumble amongst themselves, no words are discernible to us through the splintered wood. The children—our poor children; they cower, clutching at their mothers ragged shirttails. The stench of fear in the room is tangible.

We know this is the end.

With a thunderous crash the door gives and the mob breaks inside.

“Aim for their heads boys!” I hear them shout as they open fire.

The humans. The unturned.

Nicole Little

Nicole Little is an award winning short story writer living in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. Her work has appeared in nine anthologies in the past year. In her spare time, Nicole has either a pen in her hand or her nose in a book. She is married with two daughters.
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