Tag Archive for: dark moments

The Midnight Feast

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by Rachel Grifno

We find him sleeping on the family’s feathers. Most are crushed under his weight, but others flutter in the winter storm. We can smell them—all the adults slain and broiled by the monster himself. We had all feared his bloodlust, but none had known his strength.

Now, he sleeps, twice as big as the rest of us. Blood has dried on his white underbelly, like a red tie. Hanging in his slumbering beak are bits of penguin meat. His own family, ours.

We survivors wait under cover of night. Anger shakes our cores, driving us to action.

We are hungry too.

Rachel Grifno

 Rachel Grifno is a journalist and teacher based out of Washington, DC. This is her first fiction piece, but she has journalism work in Bethesda Magazine, Chesapeake Family Life, and others.

 

Ice Packs

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by Carys Crossen

After decades of global warming, the new ice age left humanity gobsmacked. The oceans solidified, the forests and fields were scoured by blizzards, oil froze into black diamonds. The population halved within a year.

The penguins marched up from the south like iron filings towards a magnet. They had been shackled by hot, dry earth, but on ice they were transfigured into torpedoes, bullets.

They hunted in packs. Humans, who had held the evolutionary advantage for so long, were helpless. Their efforts to flee futile, they were knocked down and ripped apart by razor-like beaks.

It was quicker than freezing.

 

Carys Crossen

Carys Crossen is a writer from Manchester UK who writes about ghosts, wolves, magic, rebellious women and wild places. She mostly writes short fiction but is working on her first novel. She lives with her husband, daughter and their cat, who is more than a match for any penguin.

Instagram: @swintonwriter

 

His Offering

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by Evan Baughfman

The male drops his offering at the female’s feet. She examines the rock, contemplating if it’s worth starting a nest with this other penguin.

Then, she realises the gift it isn’t a stone, but a human eye.

On the beach: butchered “ecotourists,” pecked to ribbons by frustrated seabirds. Penguins are tired of oil spills, of habitat loss.

The appreciative female squawks. Her happy suitor dances.

However, a rival appears, delivering his own present—a man’s skull, dragged in by tongue.

The female returns the eye to her first admirer, now looking ahead to a future with a more impressive mate.

 

Evan Baughfman

Evan Baughfman is a middle school teacher and author. Much of his writing success has been as a playwright. A number of his scripts can be found at online resources, Drama Notebook and New Play Exchange. Evan also writes horror fiction and screenplays.

 

The Eyes

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by Liam Hogan

The nose is a smudge, the mouth a line, but the eyes…

The eyes are huge, and wide, and a soulless black.

My gaze is frozen, my hand, reaching for the off switch, rigid.

When I fed ten years of anime into the AI, I thought I knew what I’d get: copyright free digital art. But when I asked for the most terrifying image it could conjure, I never expected this…

Never expected eyes that locked onto mine, paralysing me with dread.

Never expected eyes to fall into, an abyss, dragging me down…

Never expected eyes I could never escape.

 

Liam Hogan

Liam Hogan is an award-winning, London based, short story writer.

Website: happyendingnotguaranteed.blogspot.co.uk

 

Freedom 不羈

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by Lori Green

Jun ran her fingers down the tender flesh of her arm, the scars long healed. A gift from her father.

His voice still echoed inside her skull. Buta. Nothing but a pig, an unwanted girl. Before she turned; she would have done anything for him.

No matter, the hakken had embraced her now as one of their own, a daughter of the pack. Emiko was her senpai now.

She threw her head back and howled as she raised her father’s severed head, her fangs still dripping. She let the blood pool on her tongue, savouring the sweet taste of freedom.

 

Lori Green

Lori Green is a Canadian author who enjoys writing dark fiction, horror, and poetry. When not writing, she can be found haunting the local cemetery on her morning walks. Published with Black Hare Press, Off Topic Publishing, Blank Spaces Magazine, and many more.

 

Magnetic Eyes

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by Lisa H. Owens

Kimmie will set me free, thought Digme, extracting the vial of luminescent drops hidden beneath his cassock. He’d traded hard-earned quiffles on the sorcerer’s promise of a life beyond reach of his cruel maester.

Liquid mercury—dropped upon Kimmie’s iron-gall ink eyes—begat cavernous pools of light and the animator bowed his head.

Maester Mange eagerly stroked his matted beard; Kimmie’s tempestuous eyes would make him rich.

Her image winked.

Mange gasped, pressing in for a closer look. Kimmie’s eyes glowed—fiery orbs of destruction—consuming the maester. He reappeared in the frame’s desolate background, a writhing smudge of ink.

 

Lisa H. Owens

Lisa H. Owens, an author residing in North Texas with two motley rescue dogs, has been published in several anthologies and various media outlets, including a two-year stint as a monthly humorist columnist. She credits her success to the support and mentorship of the late, great Steven Lester Carr. Her stories are often inspired by true events, usually including private jokes and family nicknames.

Website: lisahowens.com

 

Bewitched By Moonlight

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by C.L. Sidell

She stands by the river—silver hair gleaming in the moonlight, limbs pale as milk.

Haru drops the kettle, deaf to its clanging against the pebbled shore.

“Beautiful…”

The kimono-clad vixen turns. Smiling, eyes twinkling, she extends a porcelain-smooth palm.

Haru steps forward. Drawn by seductiveness. Blind to reason. Only as furred fingers encircle his wrist, does he notice the watery reflection:

Nine fluffy, silver tails part the strands of her silken mane.

Haru’s yearning swiftly yields to terror as the kitsune’s nose lengthens into a snout. Claws flash, slicing his torso from collarbone to pelvis…silencing his screams forever.

 

C.L. Sidell

A native Floridian, C. L. Sidell grew up playing with toads in the rain and indulging in speculative fiction. Her work has appeared in The Dread Machine, Factor Four Magazine, F&SF, Martian Magazine, Medusa Tales Magazine, and others.

Website: crystalsidell.wixsite.com/mysite/publications

 

Aya’s Makami

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by Pauline Yates

Aya, the transfer student, acts nonchalant, but beneath her straight fringe, her enormous eyes glisten with new-school nerves, and she clutches a diary to her flat chest like a life support. Fool. That diary begs to be read. Especially by me.

I snatch the diary from her matchstick fingers. Flipping it open, I stare into the eyes of Makami. The divine protector looks into my heart, then gives a guttural roar and swallows me whole.

I’m not alone. Another bully hunkers in the beast’s belly, her round face whiter than a tsuki moon. Somewhere above us, savage teeth snap shut.

 

Pauline Yates

Pauline Yates, Australian author of the sci-fi action/adventure, Memories Don’t Lie. Writes dark stories. Loves bright sunrises.

Website: paulineyates.com

 

Anime Killed Me Today

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by Mike Rader

You’re killing me girl,

you’re thrilling me girl,

with your pert nose

and lips like roses

love yo’ eyes

but then I spies

the dagger in your hand!

It looks awesome and

you wanna nab me

you wanna stab me

you mean to harm me girl

embalm me girl

I won’t let you girl

watch me twist and whirl

don’t wanna cartoon death

don’t wanna feel your breath

you ain’t gonna spill my blood

you ain’t gonna see it flood

oooooh, that cold steel

oooooh, it feels real

gonna die now girl

gonna expire girl

anime anime

killed me today!

 

Mike Rader

James Aitchison is an Australian author and poet.  He writes horror and noir fiction under the pseudonyms Mike Rader and JJ Munro. As James Lee, his horror and mystery stories for middle readers are bestsellers in Asia.

Website: flameoftheforest.com

 

Animalady

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by Jasiah Witkofsky

What the hell are these kids watching?!

I flip on the tube after my sons scurry off to finish their homework.

A blinding series of flashes and I nearly spill my brewski on my crotch. Damn kids!

The voices of some bratty teens squeals over the worst music I have ever heard.

For some reason, a wide-eyed, pink-haired punk starts a fight with a demon. Up-skirt shots and so much blood…

My boys should know better than watch this shit! And what’s with all the tentacles?

These damn kids are gonna be the death of me.

 

R.I.P.

Marvin Gaylord

1975-2023

 

Jasiah Witkofsky

Jasiah Witkofsky is a philosopher-gardener who spends his off hours penning dark speculative fiction and swashbuckling tales of daring and adventure. He resides at the foothill base of the magical Sierra Nevadas of Northern California with his merry band of rascals and rapscallions. His works can be found in more than ten publishers, magazines, and journal companies from all over the English-speaking world.

Facebook: @jasiahwitkofskyauthorpage