Tag Archive for: drabble

New Year’s Eve, Party for One: Truth or Dare

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by Zoey Xolton

 

“Dare,” said his exotic drinking companion.

“Alright,” Rowan slurred. “Take it all off.”

The foreign beauty teased her bottom lip between her teeth. “All of it? You sure you can handle that?”

“Try me,” he said confidently.

Roxy smiled, then, one by one, peeled off her garments. Her slinky dress, bra, and G-string slipped down her legs to the floor. She winked at Rowan, before grabbing at her breasts and ripped outward. Flesh tore away, and she slid out of her human suit.

She twirled, showing off her red, demonic form.

Rowan had a heart attack.

Roxanzetherus grinned. “I win!”

 

Zoey Xolton

Zoey Xolton is a published Australian writer of Dark Fantasy, Paranormal Romance and Horror. She is also a proud mother of two, and is married to her soul mate. Writing is her greatest passion. She is especially fond of short speculative fiction and is working on releasing her own collections!
www.zoeyxolton.com

A Savage Christmas

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by Shawn M. Klimek

 

After two years imbedded with savage, aborigines, the missionary couple radioed that they had finally mastered the tribe’s primitive language.  It being December, the responding resupply package had included, besides the usual toiletries and fresh batteries, greeting cards signed by the church elders, a giftwrapped, gingerbread stable containing a chocolate nativity scene, and a letter from the bishop urging them to introduce Jesus without further delay.

“The chocolate Holy Family might help,” he suggested.

Radio silence foreshadowed tragedy: the missionaries’ bodies were never found.

The tribe’s oral history, however, cite this as the year white people introduced them to cannibalism.

 

Shawn M. Klimek

Shawn M. Klimek is the middle child of seven creative siblings, a globetrotting, U.S. military spouse, internationally best-selling writer, award-winning poet, and butler to a Maltese.  More than one hundred of his stories or poems have been published since 2018, including in BHP’s Deep Space, Eerie Christmas, and the first six books in the Dark Drabbles series. Find an index of his publications (plus bonus reads) at A Jot In The Dark

12 Drummers Drumming

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by Rowanne S. Carberry

 

Claire runs faster. Heart beating louder than the drumming that surrounds her.

Shadows move closer, the drumming more insistent.

Eyes blur with tears, sweat stings her skin, their faces flash through her mind.

She stumbles.

Sprawled on the ground, 11 people surround her.

Shrouded in black, blood pours from their eyes.

They drum faster, her heart beats with them. Blood pours from her eyes.

One final beat of the drum and her heart – it ends.

Claire is wrapped in a cloak, the 11 wait.

She rises. A drum placed in her hands she beats a rhythm. 12 of them walk.

 

Rowanne S. Carberry

Rowanne S. Carberry was born in England in 1990, where she stills lives now with her cat Wolverine. Rowanne has always loved writing, and her first writing piece published at the age of 15, but her ambition has always been to help people. Rowanne is currently studying for an MA whilst continuing to write, hoping to help people with both. Although Rowanne writes in varied genres each story or poem she writes will often have a darkness to it, which helped coin her brand, Poisoned Quill Writing – Wicked words from a poisoned quill.

 Facebook: PoisonedQuillWriting

Instagram: @poisoned_quill_writing

Eleven Pipers Piping

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by Karter Mycroft

 

I raise my flute with trembling hands, rattling my shackles. The others blow in harmony, all shivering, some crying as we slog through another piece.

The man holding the chains scowls.

“Stop dragging.”

I play faster. It is so cold I start choking.

He jerks my bonds, sending me tumbling over the music stand.

“I said stop dragging. Play in time or I’ll start making cuts.”

Tears freeze on my cheeks. I cannot remember when we started playing.

“How much longer?”

His scowl turns upward. He gestures to the corpse at his side.

“Until my love says you can stop.”

 

Karter Mycroft

Karter Mycroft is a Los Angeles-based author and co-host of The Genre Hustle podcast whose work has been published in Lovecraftiana and Murder Park After Dark.

Tenth Day

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by R.J. Hunt

 

On the Tenth Day of Christmas, my lover took my hands.

Led me into a pitch-black room, revealed her festive plans.

At first I thought my dizziness caused by heavy drinking.

But as my lover tied me down, concern crept into thinking.

She’s not my lover after all, this woman of the night.

She drugged my drink, I cannot move, or even scream my plight.

Paralysed from head to toe, this felt extremely wrong.

The lights returned, my lover smiled, clutching metal tongs.

She prised away my fingernails, each one oh-so slowly.

Squelching, bleeding, gooey nails, dropping them below me.

 

R.J. Hunt

R.J. Hunt is an Engineer from Nottingham who dabbles in drabbles and fiction. He likes dark stories, sci-fi and fantasy. He is currently working on his second draft of a story about mind-controlling Gods.

Twitter – @RJHuntWrites

Nine Ladies Dancing

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by D.M. Burdett

 

She dances for him; en pointe, lightly skimming the dark wood of the tabletop.

“Enchanting, Number Eight,” he whispers huskily. He watches from the shadows, hooded eyes black as a starless night, dark hair falling across his face.

Assemblé…changement…petit battement. A final jerky chaînés, then she is still. Eyes closed, she awaits his critique.

“Beautiful, Mon Cher,” he breathes, awestruck.

“Nine, how will you compete with such a magnificent performance?” he asks of the next girl.

Nine moans through the gag. Her watering eyes plead as he pulls the rope and the noose tightens. En pointe, she dances.

 

D.M. Burdett

D.M. Burdett initially roamed as an army brat, but now lives in Australia where she spends her days avoiding drop bears and killer spiders. She has published a Sci-Fi series, has short stories in various anthologies, and has published two children’s series. She is currently working on the first book in a dystopian series.

Website: www.dmburdett.com

Facebook: DMBurdett

Eight Maids A-milking

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by Susanne Thomas

 

Trina and Carla sat at the bottom of the tree. Their axes rested next to them, glinting and sharp in twinkling lights from the festive decorations. They had two minutes before their next contest.

Every midnight brought new tests, a present from their father. Seven days had passed so far; the rings had almost killed them. The inanimate gold hoops had almost squeezed the life out of them both.

The clock struck midnight, and mist surrounded the Christmas Tree. Eight maids stood before them with wooden milking stools in hand.

Trina and Carla gripped their weapons; another round had begun.

 

Susanne Thomas

Susanne Thomas reads, writes, parents, and teaches from the windy west in Wyoming. She’s an MFA graduate of the University of Arkansas at Monticello Creative Writing Program and she loves fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction, poetry, children’s books, science, coffee, and puns.

Website: www.themightierpenn.com

 

Death for Christmas

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by Cassandra Angler

 

On the seventh day of Christmas, my father stinks of drink, in and out of consciousness. My mother’s severed head rots in the kitchen sink. Blood once bright and flowing, now clotted clogs the drain. Everything is blurry beneath my swollen eyes, my throat horse from unanswered cries, the sound of buzzing is deafening from the flies. All I asked for was freedom from the pain, Santa failed me again. Underneath the tree is bare, and my stomach rumbles, painful and empty. My final Christmas wish, that father dies in pain, the final words that leave his lips, my name.

 

Cassandra Angler

Cassandra Angler is a lifelong resident of the buckeye state (Ohio) and a happily married mother of four. When she isn’t corralling her four minions of darkness she is busy conjuring nightmares in literary form, reading and overall trying to better the world. Cassandra has always been a fan of all things horror and macabre. Some of her influences include Eleanor Merry, Stephen King, Paige Dearth, and Brian Keene.

 

Arena of Shadows – Six Body-Parts Bleeding…

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by John Saxton

 

A dark shed: arena of shadows.

A heavyset man carefully wraps a severed leg, placing it alongside other limbs.  He adds a bright bow, before wiping bloody hands in matted beard.  With dripping shovel, he approaches the torso.

A female voice: “Santa.  Tea’s ready.”

“Almost done!” booms his jolly voice.

The neatly-written note makes him smile.

“Dear Santa,

Daddy left Mummy!  I usually want lots of parcels, but all I want this Christmas is Daddy back.

Love,

Jenny.”

 

Best of both worlds, muses the red-robed figure, as the shovel whispers down on an exposed neck, to grant a child’s wish.

 

John Saxton

Whilst also writing supernatural chillers for young adults, John Saxton has had over 50 adult short horror stories published in the independent press; including his own collection: ‘Bloodshot’.  He has also placed stories in The Wicked Library and the Terror Tales podcasts. He writes from Yorkshire, England, mainly after dark…

https://twitter.com/jsaxtonwriter

 

Five Golden Rings

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by Joel R. Hunt

 

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me five golden rings.

I don’t think she meant to.

I’d found a similar package under our bed the other night, and it had a new watch inside. I’m certain that was the gift she’d intended for me.

This other box contained five wedding rings which were identical to my own, even having the same engraved message:

Till death do us part, my dearest…

It might have been a sweet gesture, except that each engraving ended in a different name.

And the rings were still on their original fingers.

 

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.

https://twitter.com/JoelRHunt1