Regrets

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by Steven Lord

 

The yearning starts off in the morning as a low buzz, just beyond the limits of hearing. The shadow of an itch, not yet demanding your full attention.

By midday, it’s harder to focus. Your mind starts to wander down dark, familiar paths.

By sundown, it’s a full-throated roar. Everything you do, see, hear, warped by that single desire. Your mental protestations crumble in the face of the onslaught.

That night—every night—hot blood will mingle with hot tears of shame.

This is not what you wanted. But this is what you have. For now and eternity.

 

Steven Lord

Steven Lord is a fantasy and sci-fi author from the UK. His influences include Neal Stephenson, Stephen King and Iain M Banks. He lives in the south of England with his wife, dog and two cats and is resigned to his place at the bottom of the pecking order…

https://www.facebook.com/StevenLordAuthor/

Last Call

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by Stephanie Scissom

 

Jackson called at 9:57 a.m. Still sulking from last night’s argument, Freya almost didn’t answer.

“Babe!” he gasped. “Something bad’s happened. A plane hit my building. There’s a fire and I might not—I love you, Freya.”

The line went dead. She ran to the television and screamed as she watched the south tower fall.

Why hadn’t she turned him? He’d begged her. Now he was gone.

Her centuries weighed upon her. Devastation. Grief. She was done with this evil world.

If Jackson was burning, she’d burn, too.

Freya stepped into the September sun. Her skin began to smoke.

 

Stephanie Scissom

Stephanie hails from Tennessee, where she works nights in a tire factory and plots murder by day. She’s currently working on an apocalyptic trilogy. You can stalk her at 
https://www.facebook.com/stephaniescissom2019/

 

Razor

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by Rich Rurshell

 

I could see it in his eyes. He knew what was about to happen. It was a look of both fear and resignation. He truly loved me, I now know that for sure. He had accepted me for who I am, despite what I am. Even that never seemed to worry him…until he cut himself whilst shaving this morning.

As I entered the bathroom, he turned to me, that haunted look on his face.

“Elizabeth?”

I saw the blood running down his throat and I lost control. A frenzy. I left him lifeless. Empty.

Those eyes will forever haunt me.

 

Rich Rurshell

Rich Rurshell is a short story writer from Suffolk, England. Rich writes Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy, and his stories can be found in various short story anthologies and magazines.

Most recently, his story “A Date in the Forest” was published in Full Metal Horror 2 from Zombie Pirate Publishing, “Cody Redman” was included in Storming Area 51 from Black Hare Press, and his drabble “Naïve” was included in Beyond.

When Rich is not writing stories, he likes to write and perform music.

www.facebook.com/richrurshellauthor

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Stephen Herczeg

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Stephen Herczeg is an IT Geek, writer, actor, film maker and Taekwondo Black Belt from Canberra, Australia, who has been writing for well over twenty years, with sixteen completed feature length screenplays, and numerous short and micro-fiction stories. Stephen’s scripts, TITAN, Dark are the Woods, Control and Death Spores have found success in international screenwriting competitions with a win, two runner-up and two top ten finishes.

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Camponotus Vampiricus

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by Robert Bagnall

 

Doug sharpens Swan Vestas.  Making both ends useful, he says.  “Wait until dark.  Then you’ll see.”

We watch purple dusk turn to night through the broken sash window.

A rattle at first, then a scratch.  Doug’s flashlight scans the floor.

“Becky!”

Doug’s lit match waves a tide of them back.  I swing my miniature spear, stick it to the critter through the thorax.  It writhes.  Becky Parsons, vampire killer!

Suddenly something’s not right.  “Doug?”

By my ankles, the flashlight is carried away, turned on us.  Doug’s slumped, bitten, jerking.  I’m down to my last match.  The vampire ants have won.

 

Robert Bagnall

Robert Bagnall lives on the English Riviera, within sight of Dartmoor.  His speculative fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, websites and anthologies since the early 1990s.

 His first novel ‘2084’ was published in 2017 by Double Dragon Publications.  He can be contacted via his blog at meschera.blogspot.co.uk.

 

Nerisha Kemraj

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Short-fiction Author, and award-winning Poet – Nerisha Kemraj resides in South Africa with her husband and two, mischievous daughters.

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