Tag Archive for: dark moments

Dying With Laughter

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by Tracy Davidson

 

If you’re gonna die, die laughing, that’s what I always say. I make sure all my clients go out that way. I prefer to call them ‘clients.’ It sounds so much more professional than ‘victims.’

Not that it’s genuine laughter of course. Poor things are usually far beyond that kind of reaction. But I’ve perfected a cocktail of gas and drugs that reduces them to hysterics. Literally. So much so, it’s too much for their weakened hearts.

My latest client has stopped laughing. His wide grin is frozen in place, forever. I cut it out, to add to my collection.

 

Tracy Davidson

Tracy Davidson lives in Warwickshire, England, and writes poetry and flash fiction. Her work has appeared in various publications and anthologies, including: Poet’s Market, Mslexia, Atlas Poetica, Writing Magazine, Modern Haiku, The Binnacle, A Hundred Gourds, Shooter, Journey to Crone, The Great Gatsby Anthology, WAR and In Protest: 150 Poems for Human Rights.

 

The Probe

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by Colleen Anderson

 

Frank awoke, staring into the large, green faceted eyes of a pale grey alien. He shrieked, scrabbling backward on the steel table where he had been lying.

The creature held a long cylindrical tube in its four-fingered hand. “Greetings, being of Earth. We welcome you.”

“A-are you going to probe me?” Frank squeaked.

Another shorter, bluish-black alien behind the other one sighed. “I told you so.”

The alien grinned, showing a ridge of cartilage. “Actually, we were hoping that you would probe us.” It turned around, bending over. The other alien handed Frank the probe.

Frank screamed and promptly fainted.

 

Colleen Anderson

Colleen Anderson’s new and forthcoming fiction and poetry are in The Pulp Horror Book of Phobias, By the Light of Camelot, Canadian Dreadful, Tesseracts 22 and others. In 2018, I edited the Alice Unbound: Beyond Wonderland anthology, and a collection of my dark fiction, A Body of Work, was published by Black Shuck Books (UK). www.colleenanderson.wordpress.com.

 

Blaster of Puppets

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by Beth W. Patterson

 

“What’s wrong? Did your sense of humour dump you too?” I was too preoccupied with my skinned knees and bleeding palms to answer Jason. Portia, his ex for whom he’d left me, continued her annoying hyena laugh.

I slowly rose from the pavement to face him. “Not at all,” I said evenly, alarm bells going off in my mind: don’t do it!

My left arm burst from my sleeve in its true tentacle form, impaling Jason where the sun didn’t shine, wetly ripping and tearing, exiting from his mouth.

“I still think hand puppets are funny,” I replied. “Don’t you?”

 

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 contributing writer to twenty-four anthologies. Patterson has performed in eighteen countries and never sleeps.

 

Forever Hungry

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by Jason Holden

 

It waits, making low groaning noises. It’s been trapped in this old house for countless years. It sustains itself by tormenting the living souls that visit here. So, it waits. It builds the fear by shaking the jars on the shelf, emanating harm from every part of its essence. It tastes their fear in the air and finally reveals its ghostly form. This should be the best part, yet once more the living are no longer afraid. It’s hard to feed off fear when you were murdered by your spouse for cheating and she glued your dick to your forehead.

 

Jason Holden

Jason is a real human. He left his old life behind so his wife could follow her dream. In doing so he found his own dream in writing. Currently he is working hard to make his dream a reality by spending any spare moment he has working on his craft.  

 

In the Middle of the Night

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by Jacek Wilkos

 

He woke up in the middle of the night. Felt a strong need to get out of bed which led him to the kitchen. He stopped by the fridge.

Hunger?

Opening the door, he heard a creak. He turned around and noticed a silhouette. A pale phantom, illuminated by the dim light from the refrigerator, smiled, revealing unnaturally long fangs.

Looking around in panic, he noticed a garlic sauce. Grabbed a bottle and, with trembling hands, aimed at the intruder. The sauce fired from the bottle splashed onto the vampire’s face.

Nothing happened. The phantom grinned and grunted: “Artificial flavour”.

 

Jacek Wilkos

Jacek Wilkos is an engineer from Poland. He lives with his wife and daughter in the beautiful city of Cracow. He is addicted to buying books, he loves coffee, dark ambient music and riding his bike. His work was published in Drablr, Rune Bear, Sirens Call eZine.

Keep up-to-date with Jacek on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Jacek.W.Wilkos/

 

Gallows Humour

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by Joel R. Hunt

 

Gonzo the Clown trembled on the gallows. The rope rubbed his throat raw, tighter with every nervous gulp.

“You know the law,” declared Judge Jolly, “If you make me laugh, you go free.”

“Right…” Gonzo squeaked, “Erm… what do you call-”

“Louder!”

“What do you call a mime in a blender?”

“I don’t know,” said Jolly, “What do you call a mime in a blender?”

Gonzo opened his mouth as the trapdoor fell away beneath him. He rasped and spat, but no words escaped.

Jolly stroked his chin.

“Not a bad set-up,” he said, “but the punchline was left hanging…”

 

Joel R. Hunt

Joel R Hunt is a writer from the UK who dabbles in the darker aspects of life, particularly through horror, science fiction and the supernatural.
He has been published in a number of short story anthologies and hopes to have released his own anthology later this year.
twitter.com/JoelRHunt1

 

How to Deal with Stress

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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

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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

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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

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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