Belgrade Butcher PART I – ON THE ROAD The first thing my wife says to them is: “No one is coming to help you. No one will ever come. Get that out of your head. The only person who can help you is yourself.” Her name is Marija, she is an M.D.
Introduction to What We Talk About When We Talk About Horror and Other Stories What I’m about to write won’t sound like your usual introduction to a collection of short stories, especially not someone’s first collection. For one thing, I’ve decided to write it myself instead of asking someone like Clive Barker, Stephen King (like either of them would say
Dead Pixels The first thing Ruby could sense was the man’s breath. The scent of a clove cigarette—with Caesar salad dressing. He stood behind her, breathing heavily, as though he had walked a long distance at an anxious pace. It was approaching that magical time of evening in the mall.
The Mouth inside the Pillow The mouth jutting out of the pillow had the teeth of a piranha, snapping its jaws, dripping thick, gooey yellow saliva, and making tiny squeaks that echoed like distant screams. Squatting down in front of him, his father shook his head, the dark bags under his eyes deepening. Stephen had
Creepy Malcolm APPEAL FOR INFORMATION - CAN YOU HELP? Police are appealing for witnesses after the disappearance of a child in Hulsted, Lancashire. Alice Stanley has been missing from her home since approximately 6.15pm on 10th October 2023. She is described as having shoulder-length brown, curly hair and green eyes. At
Trunk Story A plastic wheelie bin had just gone skittering down the road when Colly Glennon heard his son roaring. “Daddy, dad-eeee.” It was just after 10pm and his six-year-old Cillian should already have been asleep. They stayed up late watching Despicable Me 2 for what could easily have been the thirteenth
The Bug in the Lamp I had been journeying for several days when I occasioned to stay at the Château Hotel, with only my cat Artemis for companionship. Artemis, a mewling, foul-tempered feline, sat in her leather carrier under my seat as we crossed the countryside by train, crying from beneath me at regular intervals.
84 × 28 × 20 Northwood Asylum for the Criminally Insane was a stone-faced bastion in the rugged Appalachian coal country of northern Pennsylvania. I was a trusty there, an inmate who had garnered a modicum of independence by virtue of having a record of passable behavior, and also of providing a service that was
A Rare Vintage Mortuary Affairs Specialist Corporal Alan Donohue knew he was dead. He felt certain as he pulled the zipper up on number 152’s cold, white face, he’d never been so certain about anything in his life. It wasn’t a clean pull. The tab managed to get stuck on
The Fox Sisters Maggie’s father, John Fox, summed it up: “A houseful of women is like a sack of cats.” Mother Ann didn’t like it any better and she was relieved when they got rid of Leah. Her stepdaughter provoked her, sneaky and deliberate. That superior smile of hers held not