Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

Feeding the Flames

“There are some things you don’t want to know, trust me,” he says, flashing a wry smile as he gets to his feet. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have other, more important things to do tonight.”

“You’re lying,” she says, grabbing him by the arm. His eyes erupt with power, and he screams in agony before collapsing to the ground in the foetal position, his body a mess of twisted muscle and sweat.

He grips the dirt tightly, pulling handfuls of grass and weeds from their intertwined homes. Saliva drips heavily into the dirt, impacting upon the microscopic world with a ferocity unseen. His eyes dart upwards as they lock with hers, and she smiles.

“Did that hurt?”

“FUCK YOU!” he screams, gritting his teeth in anger as he forces himself onto his knees.

“Really, is that all you have to say? I’ve just fucking killed you, and you have nothing but obscenities to offer!” she growls, gripping a handful of his hair and pulling his head back, placing the blade of a large, ancient knife to his throat. “For too long I have been set back by fools like you. For too long I have been a pawn instead of a queen. For too long I have allowed this, but today I take back who I am. Today, I become what I was meant to be!” she says, slicing the blade across his throat, showering the air before him in a deep red. He gasps violently, trying in vain to draw breath, and then falls motionless in her hands.

“Did you really have to do that?” a voice asks sharply from somewhere in the darkness behind her.

“Did it get your attention?”

“I am here, am I not?”

“Then yes, I did have to do it,” she says with a smile.

“You could’ve called, like you have every other time. Have I ever ignored your call before?”

“But this way was so much more fun, and besides, if I had done things the normal way, you would’ve probably seen me coming.”

“Seen you coming? I fail to understand what you mean by that,” he says, as a hoofed leg steps out from the darkness.

“I mean tricking the king of lies into showing his face in a place he normally wouldn’t is hard, unless you allow him to concentrate on something entirely separate, such as me,” she says with a beaming smile, as he slowly realises, all too late, where he stands—and screams in pain, trapped upon the hallowed earth where he once perished a lifetime or more ago.