Spooky Flash Fiction
These were written for a Halloween contest I did not win, so here ya go, world. Trick or treat. A sea monster story, a devil dog story, and a story about demons. Sort of. Count on me to mess with the concepts.
Grief's Reward
I heard her call, in the chill night after an autumn storm, and I went to her. How could I not? She sobbed as she sang, and her lonely pain plucked at chords within my empty heart. She sang my pain, and it touched me as no one else ever had.The surf was cold, roaring high, and the stones tore my bare feet to shreds. I bled into the salt foam between land and water, before she rose to embrace me. There was beauty in her coils of iridescent scales, and she sang of joy and warmth beneath the waves. She tied me to her body with strands of kelp, and she tied me to her soul with song, and her sharp fins cut my flesh as she took me under the sea.She brought me deep, where lay the bones of those gone before, but I did not care. They had fallen prey to her frustration and rage. This time happy accident brought a widowed fishwife when she called, not the tall fishermen her lure had ensnared in the past. She had sought always the biggest, strongest mates, not understanding how my kind differed from the creatures of the sea, and she laughed, when I explained. We shared that joy and more until dawn came, when she brought me safe ashore.She left me, but I am no longer alone. I watch the sea in springtime now, under warm hazy skies, and life grows inside me. I watch the surf, and I hope for storms.
Good Dog
Dog was adorable when he was a baby. When Jim looked over the litter of nine--born who knew where, abandoned at the animal shelter--the pup was a palm’s worth of black fluff, with shiny button eyes and a tiny pink tongue that got stuck between his teeth when he barked. Jim tucked him into a coat sleeve for the bus ride home.The shelter said he would probably grow to fifty pounds.
Perfect
, Jim thought. Fifty pounds was the perfect size for a country boy who was willing to admit that he wanted protection on the mean city streets.
No mugger would ever beat
him again, not with a dog like that
. He named the puppy Dog, because nothing else fit. Dog grew. He read training books. Dog grew. They attended obedience classes. And Dog grew.
Devil dog, the landlady called him, and made evil-eye signs at them in the hall. “He’s a good boy,” Jim would say, and she would spit on the floor.By six months, Dog had left fifty pounds far behind. He was big enough to pull Jim off his feet and run loose to chase rats in the alleys. When Jim would catch up to him, Dog would look up from his prey and let his teeth show. His eyes would glow red, above his red-stained muzzle. He looked evil, when he wagged his tail.
Evil? No. Not my dog,
Jim would tell himself as he picked up Dog’s leash.
He can't be evil. He’s a good boy.
“Who’s a good boy?” he would say, and Dog would let his pink tongue loll out between his bloody teeth. He never left a scrap behind.When he was a year old, he killed his first mugger. “Who’s a good boy?” Jim said, and he smiled when the landlady opened her door.
Thresholds
Once upon a time, when I used to hike the woods at night, I saw portals on every trail. Every gap between curving beech trees was a gate into another world. Every fallen tree hid the entrance to some strange place filled with ancient, forgotten treasures. I walked through each archway and listened to things rustle in the undergrowth with hope in my heart, praying that this time it truly would be a gate to Beyond.
I wanted those other worlds to be real, when the pale bark of the beeches glowed white by moonlight, and each firefly blinking in the darkness promised magic. When I was young and innocent, when I still walked outside after sundown, I saw passages to worlds wondrous and strange everywhere I looked.
There are doorways between worlds. There are. I did find them, in the end. I was right about that, but I was so very wrong about the rest. When the gates opened, when the hunters came through, I saw--
oh, what I saw.
And so I knew my error. Too late.
Now I pray that those gates close, because those other worlds are filled with horrors. I have seen them. They came for me, with eyes glistening, and the skins of their victims buckled around their slimy throats. They heard me; they heard
me calling, there in their dark lairs, and they came.
They sit outside my door, when the shadows grow long, and they rustle in the bushes.
I included these there stories in my brand-new “All Kem’s short fiction in one handy book” collection, so if you enjoyed them, you might enjoy the whole book. Read on for more details.
Relics From A Traveling Show
Once you pick up this enchanting volume, the hardest part will be choosing a favorite souvenir from the wonders that await. Each tale is a vibrant artifact from the traveling show of the author's writing career, showcasing the magic, mystery, and complexity of human existence.
Explore the thrill of the unexpected. Savor the bittersweet nature of love and loss. Discover truths about courage & identity, and visit worlds where a single step separates the extraordinary from the everyday.
Some of these stories traveled far and wide without finding a place to call home. Others are making encore performances. All of them are sure to dazzle and delight.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS:
For Want of a Nail: A second son discovers the happily-ever-after career track has some significant drawbacks.
Grief's Reward: A salt widow finds new love in an unexpected place.
Housewarming: A tale of revenge against neighbors who really should've known better.
Knee High To A Grasshopper: A young mage with more talent than sense finds herself on the wrong end of a transformation spell.
Numbers Game: Insurance is a cutthroat business. When magic is involved, the game gets even more dangerous.
Solstice Dance: a young woman who doesn't believe in gods has to convince them all to save the world from endless winter.
Those Who Can: a reluctant teacher learns that her secret shame may be the only defense standing between her students and a monstrous predator
Up On The Roof: a brave, young gargoyle intercedes with Higher Powers to help a little girl who wishes with all her heart for magic to be real.
plus two bonus stories from the Rollover Files series:
Homecoming, which reveals the circumstances around Jack Coby's adoption. Previously available only to newsletter subscribers
Campfire, a brand-new piece about an isolated woman whose lethal superpower forces her into impossible choices and the new friend who refuses to leave her alone.
(And now, the part where I keep talking about my other books)
Short fiction not your cuppa? I recommend my series The Rollover Files for hopepunk tales of about an alternate world where moms with midlife crisis superpowers have been saving the world and making the military nervous since 1943.
I also have a completed, quirky slow-burn science fiction thriller duology with a romance chaser: The Stories Of The Restoration.
All my titles are available from Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Hoopla, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Overdrive and many other fine booksellers.
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