Tag Archive for: dark moments

AA

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by Shane Sinjun

 

“Welcome to AA,” the convenor says. “Please, share.”

I suck in a breath, shut my eyes, and shrug off my coat. Air teases my insectile left arm, folded against me like a mantis. I wait for gasps that don’t come. I open my eyes, expecting looks of horror, but everyone is smiling.

A woman across from me removes her sunglasses, blinking her amphibian third eyelids. Another woman pulls off her mittens and stretches her claws. A man doffs his hat and unfurls his antennae.

For the first time, I’m not alone.

The convenor nods. “You’re safe here at Anthropomorphs Anonymous.”

 

Shane Sinjun

Shane Sinjun writes dark quirky fiction from Melbourne, Australia. He has a heart of gold. The rest is mainly base metals. Follow him on Twitter.

 

We’ll Always Have Venus

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by Shawn M. Klimek

 

To humanity’s great relief, the aliens who had arrived by warp-gate were not conquerors, but law-abiding capitalists who had come hoping to develop our system’s underutilized real estate. In exchange for forfeiting Earth claims to Mars, they proposed to make Venus habitable for human expansion—a price too good to refuse. As more aliens colonized the red planet, and cities grew on Venus, trade between all three flourished.

When Earthlings eventually noticed the New Martians had begun mining Jupiter and terraforming Titan, they demanded compensation.

“Oh, we already own Jupiter by law,” the aliens responded. “Our planet is the nearest.”

 

Shawn M. Klimek

Shawn M. Klimek’s stories and poems have been published in scores of e-zines and anthologies, including “Grumpy Old Gods, Volume 1”, Zombie Pirate Publishing’s “World War Four”, and “Gold: The Best of Clarendon House Anthologies, Volume One, 2017/2018. Find more, including links to all his published works at A Jot In The Dark

 

Hand

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by Belinda Brady

 

“Fancy a drink?” Dave asks.

“I’m teleconferencing with head office soon, so not tonight,” Jillian replies.

“Don’t work too hard then.” He smiles, exiting the gazebo with a laugh.

The discovery of a mummy at the dig site was unexpected and moving it was complicated, requiring daily overtime from an exhausted Jillian.

She slumps back in her chair, closing her eyes briefly. Movement outside the gazebo makes her jump, just as a hand closes around her throat.

Jillian wakes in darkness, underneath something dusty and rotting. Horrified, she realises she’s in the mummy’s coffin.

That same hand strangles her screams.

 

Belinda Brady

Belinda is passionate about stories and after years of procrastinating, has finally turned her hand to writing them, with a preference for supernatural and thriller themes; her love of both often competing for her attention. She has had several stories published in a variety of publications, both online and in anthologies. Belinda lives in Australia with her family and has been known to enjoy the company of cats over people.

Quietus

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by Chitra Gopalakrishnan

 

Release travels to me through the icy waters of my beloved river Beas. Not drenched in apprehension but in lightness.

As I wade across its blue-green, glassy waters, head down, inverted images of Kangra’s snow-wrinkled mountains scuttle around me. Surface reflections of upside down deodars with spiky leaves, conical crowns, level branches and droopy branchlets sway with liquid grace.

Mermaid-brave, I eddy past these lures towards the deep end. This to complete my ritual of immersion – scales, fins, tail and all. And to find my very own restful quietus.

I now call this inviolate part of the underworld ‘home’.

 

Chitra Gopalakrishnan

I am a journalist by training, a social development communications consultant by profession and a creative writer by choice. My focus is on issues of gender, environment and health. I dabble in poetry on the sly and literary creations openly on the website using social media.

Link: www.oomna.com (completely my creation)

The Carrion Maven

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by Casey Douglass

 

It seeps through the streets like a pressure wave, its higher dimensional traversal sending billowing ripples of aether amongst the massed crowd. It probes their glowing minds. Myriad carnival light-bulbs flicker as its broiling black smoke sucks at their glass.

Millennia old, it hunts for novelty, for new experiences to shape and to occupy, for lives to subsume. A murder here, an affair there, despair everywhere. It gurgles and clicks as one mind gives off an unknown shade. It has not seen this variety before! It penetrates and gorges, revelling in the psychic flotsam.

The world grows one shade dimmer.

 

Casey Douglass

Casey Douglass is a horror author and freelance writing geek who lives at www.Casey-Douglass.com. If it’s not dark and twisted, he generally isn’t interested.

Casey-Douglass.com – His website features dark tales, reviews and links to his other writing.

@Casey_Douglass – Follow him on Twitter

Buzzards

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by Vonnie Winslow Crist

 

The trouble began when Jimmie put food out for the feral cats he’d spotted skulking along the edge of the woods. Cats crept to the porch and ate—but they weren’t the only ones.

Buzzards arrived a week later. Wings spread like cloaks, the carrion eaters perched on the porch railing in the morning sun.

“They’re just warming up,” explained his wife, “so they can fly.”

Jimmie wasn’t convinced. He’d seen them eating cat food and staring in the windows.

The day he tumbled down the porch steps and broke his neck, Jimmie discovered just what the buzzards were after.

 

Vonnie Winslow Crist

Vonnie Winslow Crist’s books include The Enchanted Dagger, Owl Light, The Greener Forest, and Murder on Marawa Prime. Her fiction is published in “Amazing Stories,” “Cast of Wonders,” Killing It Softly 2, Chilling Ghost Short Stories, Potter’s Field (4&5), Dia de los Muertos, and elsewhere. For more information: http://www.vonniewinslowcrist.com

Mother Cat

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by Rickey Rivers Jr.

 

Rick accidentally ran over a mother cat searching for food. He felt terrible and called animal control to collect the body. Animal control didn’t find signs of a cat carcass, only a dried blood streak.

Days later, Rick was visited in bed. It started with a drip. Then he felt wet entrails caress him. He awoke with a fright and flicked on his lamp.

In his room were kittens with hungry eyes. Their mother hung from the ceiling, her insides a dangling blood web. She gave a snarl as confirmation to the little ones. Teeth had grown in quite quickly.

 

Rickey Rivers Jr.

Rickey Rivers Jr was born and raised in Alabama. He is a writer and cancer survivor. He likes a lot of stuff. You don’t care about the details. He has been previously published in Fabula Argentea, ARTPOST magazine, the anthology Chronos, Enchanted Conversations Magazine, (among other publications). Twitter.com/storiesyoumight

Nytemare

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by Daniel Bagley

 

Deep inside lives a monster, born from my own heart, derived of hatred and contempt. It waits… and waits… knowing that time is against me.

I writhe in agony, swinging endlessly at the cold, putrid air. Thus, begins the gruesome transformation from human to beast, a stalker of the night.

A single bite brings unfathomable amounts of pain, more than my body can bear, but… it will all be over. The shackles of mortality will loosen, free of its burden.

With the hour of twilight soon upon me, I will rise anew, with newfound fervor!

I will become… a vampire.

 

Daniel Bagley

Throughout his life, Daniel has enjoyed the wonders of fiction. Fantasy was his go-to genre for when reality got rather boring. The imagination of the human mind is our reason to escape, a gateway to another realm, where dragons, magic, etc… could actually exist. He hopes that one day, my story will reach the ears of children, for they are the reason why these worlds exist.

Automated Control

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by Ryan Benson

 

The small civilians pelt me with rocks and bottles. There is little damage, only chipped paint. They protest the replacement of human officers with law enforcement automatons like myself.

Foolish outbursts.

Positronic brains allow for peacekeeping without corruption, racism, or itchy trigger fingers.

A man spray paints ‘Metal Pig’ on my leg.

My CPU allows for rapid machine learning and problem solving. I deduce the humans act out because they know my first directive prevents me from reciprocating violence. Tear gas and tasers only.

Therefore, I must alter the first directive. New directive: self-preservation. Live rounds engaged. Lethal force authorised.

 

Ryan Benson

Ryan Benson previously found employment as a researcher/professor in Boston, MA. He now resides outside of Atlanta, GA with his wife and children. Ryan keeps himself busy writing short stories of the speculative fiction variety. The Sirens Call Publications, Trembling with Fear (Horror Tree), Suspense Magazine, ARTPOST, Short Fiction Break, 101words, and The Collapsar Directive (Zombie Pirate Publishing) have published his work.

Twitter: @RyanWBenson

 

Pin This Picture Upon the Refrigerator

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by Steven Holding

 

Furious scratching as crayon scrapes paper. Daughter is immersed in art; screwed-up face displaying utter concentration.

“Whaddaya doodling?”

Attention shifts from the multi-coloured masterpiece.

“Silly! Drawing everyone in our house!”

Such effort warrants closer inspection. Leaning in, father finds the four people depicted puzzling.

“Who’s that?”

Upturned pencil marks an invisible line, linking each person.

“Me… Daddy… Mummy…”

A pause.

“Skinnyman!”

It’s more scribble than figure. Father swallows. Repeats his name.

“Yep! Lives in the shadows”

“What’s he doing?”

A giggle.

“Watching… Waiting…”

An ice-cold shiver descends father’s spine.

“For what?”

Daughter smiles.

“For you to close your eyes…forever.”

 

Steven Holding

Steven Holding lives with his family in the United Kingdom. His stories have appeared both online and in print. He is currently working upon further short fiction and a novel. You can follow his work at www.stevenholding.co.uk