The Madman’s Song
by Darlene Holt
“On the twelfth night of Christmas, my killer gave to me:
twelve hours stalking,
eleven haunting phone calls,
ten severed fingers,
nine pleas for mercy,
eight ripped out teeth,
seven fatal stab wounds,
six organs bleeding,
five chilling screams,
four shattered ribs,
three gasping breaths,
two arms tied,
and a corpse hanging in an elm tree.”The madman’s song whisks through the brisk December breeze. The Santa-clad monster grins, crimson suit vibrant against pallid skin like the blood-speckled snow below. He saunters away, still smiling, and the world darkens—my last morsel of life draining from my dangling, mangled body.
Darlene Holt
Darlene Holt is a writer, editor, and educator. Her most recent fiction appears in Sirens Call Publications, The Raven Review, and Horror Tree’s Trembling with Fear. She especially enjoys writing drabbles with several appearing in Eerie River Publishing’s forthcoming drabble anthology Dark Magic. She currently resides in San Diego, California.