Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

It Started as a Joke

The door slams shut behind him, and Kyle swallows an uncomfortable breath while he still keeps his eyes tightly closed.

“I-I I’m not afraid of you!” he yells defiantly as he stands firmly in the doorway, digging his heels into the dirt floor of the old shack. “I-I I won’t let you win! Y-y-you can’t!”

“But you’re here, as I wanted you to be, so even though you don’t want to admit it, I have already won regardless of what you have to say,” a disembodied voice purrs.

“Me being here is nothing to gloat over. It doesn’t mean you’ve had your way, it doesn’t mean you’ve won. It just means I’m here, and anyway, I’m here for a completely different reason than you think!” he proudly states as he puckers up his lips and puffs out his chest while shaking his head from side to side.

The voice laughs, and soon a chorus of other voices also laugh along with it.

“ENOUGH!” it roars, bringing all the other voices to an instant silence. “Your reasons mean little to me, all you needed to be is on my land, and the rest is mine and those that will one day recount your history.”

“I-I-I’m not some college dropout, I’m a FREAKING adult with my own life and a career! So, take your petty threats, shove them wherever the sun doesn’t shine for you, which is probably every inch of your miserable existence, and save them for the gullible,” he says as he stomps his foot firmly into the earth beneath his feet, only to have the ground give way. He falls for what seems like an eternity; when he finally hits the ground, his ankles snap on impact, and his left arm is dislocated from the jolt it takes when he smashes face-first into the ground.

Time passes in handfuls, moments painted in red and black as he flips in and out of consciousness, moaning groggily in intervals, until he finally turns onto his back and lets out a guttural scream of agony.

“Oh, stop your crying, you snivelling piece of fleshy mucus! You think you can come into my home and spit in my face while gladly talking yourself up, and not tempt fate to intervene? I AM FATE! I AM WHAT IS, AND WHAT WILL BE INEVITABLE! But even now, after I broke the shroud to SHUT YOU THE FUCK UP, you’ve still found a way to turn the conversation back to you. I just don’t know how you do it, or why. Wouldn’t you prefer to stay out of the limelight?” the voice scoffs as it starts laughing once again. “I’ll tell you a secret, one that I’m sure you’ll find as funny as I do. The limelight was never your enemy, it was this house, my house.”

Kyle takes a stuttered breath and coughs up a mouthful of blood, which lands on his chin and chest. “F-F-FUCK y-y-you,” he spits venomously.

Out of the shadows, a figure leaps atop Kyle, and he stares in horror into his own eyes—his doppelganger.

“No,” his doppelganger says with a sneer across his lips. “FUCK YOU!” he roars as he grips Kyle by the throat and squeezes.