Tag Archives: scary

ANN SANGWIN: Silence

Artistic, Submissions, , , , ,

He stands where his father put him, white faced, tears staining his cheeks, little fists clenched at his side, listening to the silence. His mother’s stifled screams, moans, and sobs have stopped.

He is trembling, frozen with fear, eyes fixed on the belt hanging on the back of the door.

Ann Sangwin is a retired teacher, now a career grandmother. She has written all her life but until recently has not thought of submitting for publication. She lives in Kent, where she recently joined a writing group which has changed her life.

C JENISE WILLIAMSON: Inattention

Adventure, Artistic, Submissions, , , , , ,

She placed the baby in the kitchen sink.

“Oh, the soap!” She walked quickly to the bathroom. “There it is,” she said, smelling the soap’s cool fragrance.

She heard the baby crying
and ran
so slowly it seemed.

The hot water was gushing cold: she’d forgotten the laundry was running.

C. Jenise Williamson is the founding coordinator of the Creative Writing Program at Bowie State University. She has published in Painted Bride Quarterly and other literary magazines as well as in the anthology Enhanced Gravity: Washington Area Women Writers. She lives in Greenbelt, Maryland.

KEVIN MCMANUS: Bedside Manner

Amusing, Submissions, , , ,

My surgeon departs the room.

With a reassuring smile, the anesthesiologist tells me to count down from 100.

98, 97, 96…

Before leaving, he farts loudly. He turns to me with a menacing look.

I close my eyes, pretending not to have heard. My future in his hands, I sleep.

Kevin McManus wrote this story.

 

JAKE THE HEDGEHOG: A Monster of a Man

Adventure, Submissions, , , ,

A blur. I’m running. Life in danger. He’s after me. Gotta run. Through the trees.

I’m away. I think I’ve lost… whatever that thing was.

Rest. I lie down against the tree. Take a drink. Safe.

BOOM: he appears.

“Nothing personal, kid.”

Those were the last words I ever heard.

Jake the hedgehog wrote this story.

ANDREW PATCH: Driving Home

Odd, Submissions, ,

The hose barely displaced the red gunk clinging to the bumper. Liz adjusted the nozzle, her hands shaking.

The car was a mess, bonnet crumpled, lights smashed.

Just a deer, leaping out of the shadows.

The fact that it had a childlike face was merely a trick of the night.

Andrew writes flash fiction and drinks black coffee. Find out
what else he gets up to by following @imageronin.

AZARIN SADEGH: Dream

Artistic, Submissions, Top Stories, , , , , , ,

A witch stole our only lemon tree from the backyard. She rode on it, shoving the last ripe lemon into her toothless mouth.

A frightening, nonsensical sense of helplessness woke me up.

Auntie hovered over me and I remembered that real life is scarier than the witches of our dreams.

Azarin Sadegh, a former student of the late Les Plesko, is working on her 125,000 word novel, The Suicide Note.

DOUG ROBBINS: Bobby

Odd, Submissions, , , , ,

Bobby heard grumbling coming from under his bed. He looked under the bed and saw his own face staring back at him.

He was consequently sucked under his own bed and devoured, bones and all.

Bobby does all his chores now! Bobby’s parents love the new Bobby.

Whoever he is…

Doug has contributed to all three issues of Demonic Visions: 50 Horror Tales.

MADELINE THIESSEN: That Radio

Amusing, Submissions, , , , ,

The girl ran. The girl shouted, “Mother! That radio! It’s ea… Ahhh!”

The mother ran. The mother shouted, “Husband! That radio! It’s eating my… Ahhh!”

The husband ran. The husband shouted, “Max! That radio! It’s eating my fam… Ahhh!”

Max yawned. Max farted. That awful radio said, “Bye, doggy doggy!”

Madeline is almost ten. She likes reading, drawing, writing, and learning new things. Madeline hopes to be a scientist.

ANI KING: Furies

Adventure, Odd, Submissions, , , , , ,

My mom said I was being ridiculous, but she hadn’t seen us gather the leaves and bones and words for our spell.

Our incantation was precise and perfect.

All of us feigned surprised when Annie Taylor was hit by a car after her summer of tormenting my sisters and me.

Ani King is a pen stealer, notebook hoarder, unreliable knitter, and obsessive reader.

KELSEY D. GARMENDIA: I Warned Them

Odd, Submissions, , , , ,

A set of screams had been heard days ago. A police officer went to check the Millers’ house to see if everything was all right.

“Regan,” he said. “Honey, where are your parents?”

“I tried to tell them my doll was bad,” she said. “But she got to them first.

Kelsey D. Garmendia, 23, graduated with a Bachelors Degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. Garmendia is featured in Midnight Screaming, Poydras Review, My Unfinished Novel, The Stonesthrow Review, Penduline Press and Embodied Effigies. She has two self-published novels titled Burn Our Houses Down and If I Lose.