Tag Archive for: drabble

Love Santa

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by Kimberly Rei

 

The first gift arrived by courier. The note simply read, “Your Secret Santa is eager to meet you.”
The second gift was waiting at home the next day, hanging from the door knob. He stared at it for too long before dialing the police. They took the bloody offering, and told him to lock his doors.
The third gift sent him into hiding at the French Hen Inn on the coast, far away.
The fourth day, his phone rang.
“My true love…” A whisper, the voice long forgotten.
The maid found him clutching the phone. Fright, the obituary would read.

 

Kimberly Rei

Kim has taught writing workshops and edited novels for Authors You May Recognize. She has three published short stories and has become a greedy beast, hungry for more. 
She currently lives in Tampa Bay, Florida with her beautiful, supportive wife and an abundance of gorgeous beaches to explore. 

http://tales.studiorei.org/  

 

Dinner for Three

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by J.W. Garrett

 

A sticky red paste covered the cook who’d gone to whack off the heads of the three hens, his entrails now picked clean.

But the trio was still hungry.

Poking a path through the kitchen, the French hens searched for their own dinner on the third day of Christmas. Delicious aromas spilled from the space, a precursor no doubt to them—the intended main course.

Sometimes menus change.

Eyeing the baker, they attacked with a shriek. Eyes, liver and heart devoured, they departed, bloody claw prints the only clue left for the calling birds arriving the fourth day of celebration.

 

J.W. Garrett

J.W. Garrett writes YA fantasy from the sunny beaches of Florida. Currently, she is hard at work on the next book in her Realms of Chaos series, releasing June 2020. When she’s not hanging out with her characters, her favorite activities are reading, running and spending time with family. www.bhcpress.com/Author_JW_Garrett.html

 

The 2nd Day

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by Jason Holden

 

I’d seen the news. It’s all over Facebook, Twitter, you name it. There’s a killer out there. The twelve days killer, they call him. He sends the item through the post. If you get it. He gets you.

Soon as I opened the package and saw the turtle doves, I locked the door and called the police.

The relief when the doorbell rings and through the peephole I see the uniform is overwhelming.

“Don’t worry ma’am. You don’t need to be afraid anymore. It’s time.”

Time for what? I wonder. He draws the knife. I don’t need to wonder anymore.

 

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.  

 

The First Day of Christmas

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by R.A. Goli

 

Jonah woke, drenched in sweat, heart thumping. He’d dreamt of a killer, hacking up body parts. He wiped his sticky hands on the bedcover, leaving red smears.

There was blood under his nails. His head pounded; his memory foggy.

Did I mix up my meds? 

The Advent Calendar looked like it’d been tampered with. He tore into the first tiny door. A human eyeball stared back. The next; a finger, in another; a tongue. The last of the twelve squares held an ear and a note.

“Do you hear what I hear?”

The distant sound of police sirens grew louder.

 

R.A. Goli

R.A. Goli is an Australian writer of horror, fantasy, and speculative short stories, who enjoys reading, the occasional cemetery walk, and annoying her dog, two cats, and husband.

Check out her numerous publications including a fantasy novella, and collection of short stories at https://ragoliauthor.wordpress.com/

 

Eye of Phone

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by Liam Hogan

 

“When shall we three meet again?”

There was silence as they unzipped metal mesh bags and pulled out smartphones. It would be wrong to claim occultists don’t move with the times, but they did have to be careful. Many a witch had been lured from a protective circle by a demonic ringtone, text chime, or tinder notification.

“Wednesday’s the full moon…?”

“Can’t. Stock-take at work.”

“How about Thursday?”

The other two witches looked at the third with contempt. Everyone knew Thursday was cheap wine night down at The Wild Hunt.

“See you next Tuesday, then.”

The coven cackled in delight.

 

Liam Hogan

Liam Hogan is an award-winning London based writer. His short story “Ana”, appeared in Best of British Science Fiction 2016 (NewCon Press) and “The Dance of a Thousand Cuts” appears in Best of British Fantasy, 2018. Http://happyendingnotguaranteed.blogspot.co.uk or tweet @LiamJHogan.

 

The Kid Who Hates Baseball

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by Alanna Robertson-Webb

 

     I love coaching little league. It’s such a fun experience to watch the team improve each season, and I enjoy helping them develop their skills.

     One fifth grader, I think his name is Oliver, keeps hanging around and taunting us whenever he can. Yesterday after practice he came up to my son while we were hydrating, and water nearly came spewed from my nose when I heard their conversation.

     “Baseball sucks, and so does your team!”

     “Good thing you don’t play then.”

     “Why not?”

     “You’re an orphan, mate, so you don’t know where home is.”

     My son is now grounded.

 

Alanna Robertson-Webb

Alanna Robertson-Webb has been in love with horror and mythology since the dawn of her time. She lives with a fiance and cat, both of whom take up too much bed space (but that she loves dearly.) She’s a writer, a DND player, a reader and a LARPer.

https://www.reddit.com/user/MythologyLovesHorror/

Under the Bed

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by A.R. Dean

 

Bedtime was here again. Billy shook in fear. The scratching came from under the bed. He pulled the covers up high as the creature climbed out from beneath.

Long fangs and dripping jowls. The things rough wet tongue caressed his cheek.

“Hi there, Michael.” It rumbled. Its fangs glowed in moonlight.

The boy sobbed. “My name is Billy.”

“Oh, man sorry.” The creature laughed. “Wrong house.”

Billy let out a sigh of relief as the thing crawled away and back under the bed. “See you next week, Billy.” It chuckled as it disappeared.

Billy screamed loudly while wetting his bed. 

A.R. Dean

A.R. Dean is a dark and twisted soul. Dean has spent their whole life spreading fear with the tales from their head. Best known for stories that terrify and show the evilest side of human nature. Dean will have drabbles being published soon in the Beyond and Unraveled anthologies with Black Hare Press.

https://www.facebook.com/ghoul.demon.orghost.a.r.dean

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.