Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

Today’s story is brought to life by the following prompt…

This is my submission for the Only Murders In My Mind Weekly Writing Prompt.

Some Clothes Dry Differently

Clive’s eyes lazily stare ahead as his lips curl, and a twitch erupts across the left side of his face. He reaches up and scratches his wiry beard roughly, then leans back on the bench seat and continues to stare out into the grey mist that rises clumsily from the dirty sea below.

“A crescent,” a young man says, who sits on the opposite bench.

“A what?” Clive asks, as he continues to stare forward.

“A crescent, you know, a half circle, half moon, sickle thing.”

“Half moon?”

“Look, you know what a FUCKING crescent is, so stop fucking me around and just say yes!”

Clive sighs an exhausted breath as he leans forward and rubs his tired eyes. “Yes, yes, okay! I know what a FUCKING crescent is, I just don’t know how it pertains to this conversation.”

“It pertains? Why can’t you just say, what’s it got to do with what we’re talking about, instead of using big fucking words?”

“Because big words are what separate us from the fodder. Don’t forget that if Jimmy had seen us as just another gun for hire, we would…”

“We would’ve been just another body. I know, you keep telling me, and I hear you, I do! But, do we need to keep the charade up when it’s just us?”

“It’s not a charade, it’s a lifestyle. You let your guard down, you stop focusing on what keeps you alive, and you…”

“And you end up just another body, I know, I know. Okay, okay, keep the big words, sing them proud and loud for all I care. But, while you’re doing that, don’t forget about the crescent.”

He sighs. “Ah yes, the crescent,” he says as he leans back on the bench seat.

“Yup,” the young man says with an awkward smile and a playful rise of his eyebrows.

“What do you want to know about the crescent?”

“Is it, err, something I end up partaking in?” he asks.

“Partaking in?”

“Yeah, yeah, partaking. Do I, you know, do I get to run around the bases a few times?”

Clive smiles and nods his head proudly. “Ah, I see what you’re asking now. Yeah, you run around the bases alright. You run around them all, and not just once, a dozen times or more.”

“FUCK YEAH!” he roars as he leaps from his seat, thrusting a fist into the air. “FUCK YEAH!” he screams again, before collapsing back on the bench seat and staring out into the distance, a broad grin across his lips.

“Do you want to know any of the details?”

“Nah, I want it to be a surprise.” He scoffs.

“Are you sure? If I was you, and I had the chance to learn a few things before the moments took place, I would ask for details.”

“Yeah well, you’re you, and I’m me. We don’t get any more different from that.”

Clive’s brow furrows, and he looks confusedly over to his younger self. “You know, none of that makes any sense.”

“It probably doesn’t now, but when you’re me, it will,” he says confidently.

Clive shakes his head in disbelief and looks back out to the lapping waters. “You know, that’s not how it works, right? You know I was you, and you’ll become me, not the other way around?”

“Maybe you’re right, and maybe you’re not. I mean, who really knows which way it goes?”

Clive sighs and holds his head in his hands. “Was I really that stupid?”