AUSTRALIAN HORROR AUTHOR
“So, I waited for her shift to finish, poor bitch didn’t even see me coming. I took her down and dragged her back home, gutted the bitch under candle light, then, once I was done, I poured the melted wax over her, and it rushed into the holes I’d carved.”
Candle is today’s Daily Prompt.
You can read the 50 Word Expanded version HERE.
While I slept,
while I dreamed,
the beast it did visit me,
it showed me things,
I wished not to see,
a river of blood,
a valley of darkness,
buried within was my sin,
too late did I cry,
for I was already gone,
the beast has my seedling,
the beast has my soul,
so run dear reader,
keep far away,
because it is coming,
the beast,
is here to stay.
It’s still Friday, somewhere, so, let’s talk blogs you need to read, or, ummmm, look at.
No two blogs are the same, they’re all a little different, but, they’re all interesting.
WELCOME TO, READ SOMEONE NEW FOR FRIDAY
Roderick Wills’ Refreshing Writings
Until next time, share, read, write, enjoy.
Matt
“A fragile heart, is an easy thing to break. I give you fair warning, it won’t be as simple as you think to win him over.”
“I’m well aware there’s more than one way to a man’s heart, not just through his rib cage,” she says with an evil smile. He grabs her, and they kiss.
“I love it when you talk dirty like that, about all the inner things,” he says, she pushes him away and laughs.
“Dermott, we have expired, you are nothing, a memory, how can I make you understand?”
“Just like that? After everything I’ve done for you? I won’t be just thrown to the curb like the rest, I deserve better than that, I deserve more…
If you want to read the final version of this short story, and thirty others, follow the link below, or join the mailing list and get a copy for free!
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“A fragile heart, is an easy thing to break. I give you fair warning, it won’t be as simple as you think to win him over.”
“I’m well aware there’s more than one way to a man’s heart, not just through his rib cage,” she says with an evil smile.
Soon, the Expanded version will be in your hands.
It’s getting closer,
can you feel it?
Can you smell it?
I know I can,
I see it when I close my eyes,
it’s rows of teeth,
it’s eyes of black,
it taunts me,
it laughs,
how helpless am I,
its servant,
its minion,
the first who will die,
I can’t save you all,
but I will try…
154 days, 154 days and many have fallen to these hands. Their deaths, scar me, like it’s touch has. Soon the nightmare that has plagued me will be yours, so, let us say, farewell to the flesh, and embrace its darkness, for there is no escaping its reach. I have tried.
THE ROUNDHEAD is almost here…
Is your sin it’s already?
Venture through the looking glass and see, but take heed, if your reflection stares back, your sin is lost already.
SEARCH FOR YOUR SIN IN PRELUDE ONE HERE, TWO HERE, THREE HERE, FOUR HERE, FIVE HERE, SIX HERE, SEVEN HERE, EIGHT HERE, NINE HERE,TEN HERE OR ELEVEN HERE.
Did you find your sin? Do not fear, you might still have a chance of escape, but, there is one more prelude to come, before the beast arrives.
I’m sure, once Halloween is over, things might get back to normal around here, if we’re all still here that is.
So, until next time.
Matt
She spins around the room, dancing, humming some old, ancient tune as she does, and he sits there, bound to his seat, watching. She crashes onto his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezes his head against her naked flesh.
“Is this really happening?”
“Of course it is,” she says softly as she strokes his face gently, kissing him on the nose. “Doesn’t it feel real enough? Or are you hoping somehow it’s just another dream, and you’ll wake up, alone in your bed, as you always do?”
“Isn’t that what always happens?” He says as he tries to force a smile, but she knows it’s more for show, than feeling.
“What if this time it isn’t a dream? What if this time, it’s the real thing, and your dreams were just the universe giving you a glimpse into your own future, your own mortality?”
“There’s no such way my dreams could do that, it’s just another fevered nightmare, so do what you must, you’re only something my mind has created to scare me, to make me fear choices I’ve made, and regret sins I have partaken in.”
“Such hope you have, but, dear child, you need to make note, that tonight, your sins will be repaid with the blood that I will suck from your skull,” she says with a laugh as she leaps up, and dances around the room again, this time, with more vigour, spinning around, faster and faster, giggling to herself, and then, she stops, freezing into place, her eyes locked onto his, her smile, like that of a lunatic, from ear to ear, as she still giggles quietly to herself.
“You’re not real, I’ll wake up soon, and this’ll all be a dream,” he says softly, she giggles louder, running at him, and slashes wildly, with claw like fingernails, they dig into his skin and he screams out in pain as they tear at his flesh. Quickly blood escapes from the wounds and he sucks in a deep breath, holding onto it, as panic begins to set in.
“Does it still feel like a dream?”
“This can’t be true, it’s only a dream, it has to be, it can’t be true!” He yells.
“Oh, poor baby, but it is, and you’re going to pay, pay for all the nasty little shitty things you’ve done to all those pretty young girls, the ones you hide in the basement, the ones no one else knows about,” she says as she digs her fingers nails into his thighs, he screams in pain again.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, who are you?”
“Don’t play the fool, I can smell their rotting corpses, I can smell the sin seeping out of your pours along with your blood. If you want me to hurt you more, continue to lie,” she says as she digs her fingernails in, clawing at his thighs, and rips them away, tearing off flesh, muscle and tendon, he screams louder, not just in pain, but in fear, fear because he knows, that his sins are finally about to be judged.
“So again,” she says, with her demented grin. “Tell me about the girls down below, tell me why they had to die?”
END
Don’t share it,
don’t read it,
don’t speak its words,
for it will feel it,
will know it,
and it will come for your sins,
our sins,
given to us when our seeds were planted,
back when our lives began,
so close your eyes,
and turn away,
forget this place,
escape it’s hold,
for once you let it in,
you’ll never be free again.
“Just keep going north, I can’t go with you,” he says, she smiles faintly, and grips her arm, tearing at it nervously as she bits into her bottom lip. He cups her chin with a hand and raises her eyes to his. “You’ll be fine, trust me, I’m dead anyway.”
“No your not, we can still make it, I can’t just walk away, I can’t just leave you, not after everything!” She cries grabbing him tightly, he forces her away and she goes crashing to the ground. Her eyes widen with fear, as she digs her fingers into the dirt, grabbing a large handful in each, ready to use as a weapon.
“Don’t you get it, don’t you realise what’ll happen to me? I’m going to turn into one of those things, and there’s nothing either of us can do to stop it! So do me this last thing, let me save you.”
“What if there’s a cure, what if they come in time? Don’t give up on me.”
“I’m not giving up on you, it’s just too god damn late Sarah, I can already feel it eating at me, churning my stomach, changing me. It’s best if you go alone,” he says, hanging his head towards the ground, he feels the tears escape from his eyes, and watches as they drip from his face, and splash to the ground. he feels the panic surge through his body, and looks towards her. She takes a deep breath in, the red streams that cascade from his eyes signal the viruses final, fatal, effect. “Please, Sarah, run away from this place, I’ll go back, I’ll keep them away long enough for you to get far from here, to somewhere safe, please.”
“B-B-But, they’ll kill you, I-I-I can’t le…”
“Sarah, LOOK AT ME! You see what I’ve become, we both know what’ll happen next! I might as well be dead right now, because I’m worse than dead, I’m one of those things. So just stop it, get up and RUN!” He yells, grabbing her by her arm and pulling her to her feet, she throws a handful of dirt in his face, and smashes him across the head with a rock that’s in the other. He hits the ground with a thud, while she stands over him, gritting her teeth, tightening her grip around the blood stone. Her lungs scream out for air as she, fraught with panic and desperation, breaths in and out at a heightened rate, he spins around to face her, and lets out a growl, low, inhuman.
“I wont let you die by their hands,” she says softly, almost calmly.
“Then you’re going to have to kill me yourself, I warned you, I told you, you should’ve listened!” he yells as she scrambles towards her, she pulls a blade from her jeans as he leaps at her and drives it into his chest. They both crash to the ground in a heap, and, for the moments that follow, there is only silence. Then the growls, the snarls, and movement come from the distance. She forces his lifeless body off her, scrambles to her feet, and hurries forwards, northward, towards hope, salvation, survival. She feels the tears run down her face, and wipes them away, then, everything freezes, time, movement, life, as she notices the red smear on her sleeve and falls to her knees, knowing, it’s too late for her.
END
You can read the original 50 Word Story HERE.
“Are you really sure that’s how you want to start it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s so, been done before more times than I can think of that’s all,” She says, smiling at him, he looks down at the piece of paper in front of him, and scans over the words and then back up to her, his face shows his confusion.
“I think it works though, I mean, I know it’s been done heaps of times, but, it’s like the classic way to begin a story.”
“But do you really want to be known as that guy?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, don’t you want to be known as the guy who does all that cool shit, not the guy who doesn’t have anything original?”
“I seriously doubt the introduction of one story will make me look like some hack who can’t write his own original shit. I mean, seriously, look at all the shit I’ve got so far.”
“I know, and more people are starting to follow you, which is cool, and scary at the same time scary.”
“Scary?” he asks, turning his head to the side like a confused dog would do.
“Yeah, like, you’ve got to keep everything more original now, the more people come and read your stuff, the more original you need to be. Answer me this, what do you plan to do with all these stories once you’re done?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean exactly what I just asked. When this is all over, what are you going to do with all this? What’s your game plan?” She asks.
“I don’t know, maybe throw it all together in a book, or a couple of books. I’m not really sure yet, it’s the last thing on my mind really,” he says as he shuffles in his seat.
She smiles and adjusts her glasses, “So let me get this right, you set out on this journey, and you don’t even have a plan what to with it all once you finish it?”
“Well sort of, but not exactly, I mean, I’ve got ideas, but I don’t have a foolproof plan in place if that’s what you’re asking. I’m more concerned with getting to the end first, after that I’ll see what happens.”
“What, you’re expecting people to come knocking on your door or something?”
“I guess something like that. You know, I started this to get noticed, to show what I’ve got to offer, to put myself out there, and honestly I believe that somewhere along the way it will happen.”
“Really? That seems pretty out there, I think you need a solid game plan, one that’ll knock people’s socks off. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time and you might as well just rehash other people’s work instead of spending the time writing all this cool shit you do.”
“I think you’re over reacting, it’s not like I’m ripping anyone person off, heaps of people use it.”
“So, do you?”
“Well, I don’t know, but how many ways can you fucking write, once upon a time?”
END
The challenge was, ‘once upon a time…’
“Just keep going north, I can’t go with you,” he says, she smiles faintly, and grips her arm, tearing at it nervously as she bits into her bottom lip. He cups her chin with a hand and raises her eyes to his. “You’ll be fine, trust me, I’m dead anyway.”
You can read the Extended version HERE.
“Powerful stuff, I like how it twists and turns its way through reality, quite a clever concept, it could really work in a weekly episode format,” Jacob says as he looks up from the tablet at Suzan, she leans back in her chair, looking up at the ceiling with a smile on her face.
“I like the concept, a writer’s story that goes haywire and kills the writer and the artist that brought it to life and then erupts over mankind as it makes its move to control the world. Apparently they have another six chapters to post, but I really think we should make a move now, while we have the chance, before Netflix, or someone else gets in on the action, offering money that we can never match…
If you want to read the final version of this short story, and thirty others, follow the link below, or join the mailing list and get a copy for free!
Free To All Mailing List Subscribers
Sign up to The Twisted Roads of Matthew Tonks to stay up to date with all the latest news and to get free books as they become available.
What’s life if you don’t break a few dozen eggs, of course when I say eggs, I mean whatever piece of shit comes your way, when, if they had any sense, they would’ve crossed the road, or ran like fuck the other way. You see, my whole life was about busting and breaking, making those who broke deals, pay. Sometimes, they paid with their lives, other times, they just paid, it was a simple job, and I was good at it, real fucking good. But, near the end, when I wasn’t expecting it, I had a change in lifestyle, a second chance at making something worthwhile, a family, a future, one without needing to beat, torture or kill another human being. That was of course until my past came back and took it all from me, ruined everything, forced me back into the world I left behind.
So as you can imagine, I hit back, killed my past, literally, and as it ended up, myself as well, but, it would turn out, nothing stopped after all the light was ripped away.
I was taken in by a new lord and master, who offered a new job, one that was almost the same as my last, but this time, I had a deal, a contract signed in blood, one that would give me the chance to get everything I lost back. But once again I was screwed over, difference is, this time, I held a card, a way out, and I exploited it. Maybe a little too much, but, I did everything I could to make sure everyone who fucked with my life and the lives of my family suffered.
I remember reading once about how the Indians and other warrior tribes used to eat the body of their enemies and fallen comrades, so they could, in a way, absorb their power, keep their strength within the tribe. Kind of like recycling tin cans and shit, we’re told it’s possible, but we know it’s really bullshit. But anyway, don’t start judging me for this, because I know it’s just plain insane, to think that eating someone would give you their strengths and powers, it’s just mad, right? So I’ll be fucked if I can say why I did it, I just stuffed so much of that piece of shit in my mouth and swallowed it down that I didn’t allow myself time to comprehend what was really going on. Or, what I was trying to achieve, by the end of it all I felt over full, a little cramped even, but, as it turned out, not all that powerful, unless you call a violent attack of the shits a power.
Fast forward to five minutes ago, I’m standing at the gates of heaven, yup, you read right, the pearly fucking gates, and he walks out, looking all, well, mighty. I came here with the intent on killing this piece of shit, and he knew it, I could tell. I expected him to though, if he was truly all seeing, he’d know what I know, he’d be waiting, ready to zap me into nothing, if he could really do that, not that I cared if he could or not.
“So you’re the guy,” I said.
“I’m much more than that, I’m above what you refer to as gender, I am ..”
“Great, not really here for this conversation sparky, you made a deal with too cool for school over my soul, and you traded my family as part of the deal, I’m here to tell you the deals not going to happen. So, you pack your bags and leave for somewhere warmer and let my family back in.”
He laughed, “Once a deal is made it cannot be altered or withdrawn, a deal is a deal, you of all people know this, you of all people should under….”
“This one is, you push, I’ll push back, I respect what you created, what you’ve supposedly done, so I’ll give you a second chance at doing the right thing.”
He laughed again, fucking son of a bitch, he’s enjoying this, I could tell, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s all hard underneath the sheet, yeah, you heard right, cock sucker is dressed like some frat boy at a toga party, what a queen.
“The deal is done, regardless of your disagreement, and keeping Kildone alive will not prevent it from happening, I’ll kill him myself if I have to, but you will be mine, and your family will be his.”
I’ll be honest I’m embarrassed about this part, you see, I lost my shit right at that point, I told the snotty nosed religious nut that my family deserved to be happy, peaceful, not subjected to whatever shit happens wherever the fuck they are. He told me to shut up, and understand who the true master is. It was my turn to laugh, I was quick and he was surprised, I placed two bullets in his head before he reacted, the bullets did nothing of course, but I didn’t expect them to, and with a click of his fingers I exploded like an egg hitting some fools front door on Halloween. Now, I’ve got to tell you, he was surprised when I showed right back up and dug the knife carved from bone into his skull, it didn’t kill him, but I could tell it fucking hurt, especially when he found out I’d carved the knife from his brother’s bones.
It about that time, when I proceeded to tell him how I’d eaten his brother while he was still alive, and how through some crazy, misguided idea I’d gained all his strengths, all his powers, but more importantly, I’d gained an immunity from him. I told him I know all about the deals he’s been making with his brother, trading souls for warriors. Seems the way souls move around in the afterlife is nothing like we’re told, souls are more like money, and some are better at turning their money into something more than just a few dollars, old God here is a spinster, no skill, a penny is a penny regardless of how long the old fool holds onto it. So, here, you either go to heaven where you live an existence of peace or you go to hell, where you are subjected to an existence of rebirth through torture and damnation. Seems God here isn’t as all powerful as he likes to think, with his inability to convert, refashion, or reshape his souls, they remain weak, and basically, useless. Where his brother, the devil, he gets to mould souls into a shape with substance, with power, something God needs. You see, for the last few thousand years he’s been in some shit arse war with other self-proclaimed gods, who are all vying for an ample piece of the soul super highway. The battle has raged on for longer than any of them can remember and in the process old God here has lost his choir of angels. Now, only having a handful left, and they’re off fighting for the cause, in the trenches of a world between worlds. Which is half the reason I knew I could walk in like I did, the old fuck’s defenceless, and soon, will fall to one of these up and coming nut cases who think they’re a God, just like he does, or did, or, whatever. That’s when he offers me a deal, help him and he’ll free my family from purgatory where they’re currently sitting, waiting for my deal to be fulfilled. I know the lunatic’s lying through his teeth, the only way he can get them back is if my deal falls through, and the only way that can happen is if I run out of time to kill that fat fuck Kildone, and with a little under twenty years left on the clock I make a choice.
Kildone will be fine in his hole for that amount of time, so, I figure what have I got to loose, let’s make all religions my bitch, one God at a time.
THE DEFINITE END
“It’s easy Simon, you just put the fucking knife to her throat and you slice it across. It’s that fucking simple, you know how it works!”
Simon looks down at the girl who’s hair he tightly grips in one hand, to the knife in the other, and then, up at him “But, she’s done nothing wrong, she’s innocent.”
“Just fucking do it! Now isn’t the time to get scared.”
“I’m not scared, it’s just, well, it’s wrong that’s what it is,” Simon says as he releases his hold on the girl and she crumbles to the ground in tears.
“Wrong? Is that your idea of a joke? Of course it’s fucking wrong, that’s why we’re here, to spread the anarchy , to stick it to the fucks upstairs, and all that jazz. Why the hell do you think we’re here? They’ve all gotta pay!”
“Even the innocent?”
“Especially the innocent.”
“That’s not what I signed on for, that’s not what this is all supposed to be about, and I won’t be a party to it!”
He raises a revolver and aims it towards Simon, “You’re either with us, or, you’re with them, and if you are, then you have to pay the same price,” he says as he lower the revolver and fires two shots into the girl. Simon freezes in place, he feels his body break out in a sweat, an a nervous trembling start shaking its way through his legs, and up, towards his bladder. He raises the revolver back towards Simon, his face now, dark, mysterious, not the man he had grown up with, not the friend he thought had his back.
“What the fuck is going on McGeggor, this isn’t you, this isn’t what we started this all for.”
“Fuck you, why come along then if you weren’t ready to really commit one hundred percent to the cause?”
“I am committed, but this isn’t what we’re about, this is wrong, she was innocent!”
“Fuck you, you’ve never been committed, all you’ve done is sit in your basement writing propaganda manifestos, spreading the word of our ways you’ve become blind to, forgotten where the true power of our people lies. I’ve been out in the trenches, taking names, waving the flag, and now, you’re finally out here, doing what everyone else has been doing since the beginning, and what? You suddenly realise you don’t want to do it anymore! You’re pathetic, I can’t believe I looked up to you, I can’t believe any of us did.”
“Then do it, see where you’ll be without me,” Simon says, as he stands up tall and tightly closes his eyes.
“For the cause!” McGeggor says, two shots explode to life, Simon readies himself for the impact but it never comes. Finally, after some moments he nervously opens his eyes, to find McGreggor face down in a pool of blood, and two brothels of the cause standing over him.
“I’m tired of the killing as well,” one of them says as they both place their guns on the ground, they both look towards Simon. “Show us what this cause is really about, show us how we can win without bloodshed.”
“Then, let’s begin, again,” Simon says as he allows himself to smile, darting one last look back to McGreggor’s body.
END
You can read the original 50 Word Story HERE.
“Wrong? Is that your idea of a joke? Of course it’s fucking wrong, that’s why we’re here, to spread the anarchy , to stick it to the fucks upstairs, and all that jazz. Why the hell do you think we’re here? They’ve all gotta pay!”
“Even the innocent?”
“Especially the innocent.”
You can read the Expanded version HERE.
She sits, starring towards the puddle, no thoughts move through her mind, no questions hang from her tongue. She slowly looks up, towards him, he smiles, not in comfort, but more to mock her, to make fun of the situation, a situation she can only take the blame for.
“It was supposed to be a good day,” she says softly.
He laughs softly, “Every day is supposed to be a fucking good day with you apes, don’t you see what really matters, what is really at stake here? No, no you can’t, can you? You’re too lost in your copulation game, one upping anyone you see as a threat, and sleeping with those you don’t. You all make me feel sick, to think, we are classed as lower beings, it makes me sick.”
“Why?”
He laughs again as he walks around the small café, bodies litter the ground in front of him, smoke rises from the kitchen, blood seeps into the feathers of his wings, and he looks down upon her, places his golden sword at her throat.
“Because it is what was written, don’t you pathetic apes see that? You go around fearing the devil, not wanting to go to a place where you would be punished for you sins, for all eternity, when, what you should have been fearing, what was always going to be your ending, was your beloved angels, heralds of the lord’s prayer.”
“B-B-But why?”
“Because we hate you, that’s why ape.”
“Why?”
“Why, why, WHY! Is that all you can say ape, is that all the words the almighty who created you gave you?”
“Stand down,” a voice says from the doorway of the café.
He laughs and turns to face the dark, demonic angel who stands in the doorway, “Please tell me you’re not siding with him on this?”
“Stand down and let’s talk, you don’t need to do this, you don’t need to strike his children down just so he’ll talk to you, you know that.”
“Not anymore, it has been a long time since he granted me an audience, yet these things, these apes get audiences with him all the time, I miss his light, I just want to know what I did wrong,” he says softly.
“Then come, let us both go and see why you have been cast aside, like I was.”
“I HAVEN’T BEEN CAST ASIDE LUCIFER !” he screams, crushing the woman’s skull with his bare hands and throws her lifeless corpse at the one who stands in the doorway.
“I know it’s hard at first, but you must accept that you are not as important as you once seemed, the apes, in all their glory slowly have won his heart, but here,” he says as he holds out his hand. “Take my hand, let us go together, and see what his answer is, why he favours these over his first born.”
“And, if he does not grant us audience?”
“Well Michael, if that comes to pass, then we will break heaven open together and spill the essence of all who get in our way”
END
“It’s entiely possible, I mean, at this stage, anything is,” she says, running her hand down the frame of the mirror.
“At this stage? We’re not in one of your supernatural horror movies Shelley, this is the real world, shit like this just doesn’t happen.”
She turns to him and smiles, “Why is it suddenly, my supernatural horror movies? You’re the one who introduced me to The Evil Dead and Phantasam.”
“Years ago, when we were kids, you’re the one who went all science geek over it all, and built this, this fucking thing.”
“The looking glass is not a fucking thing, it’s a doorway to another world, bridging the borders of our world, and the world of…”
“The world of fucking nightmares!” He yells out, she looks at him with wry smile, he feels a cold shiver run down his spine and looks to the ground, biting his lip nervously.
“Scared?”
“Of course I am, none of this would’ve happened if it wasn’t for that fucking thing, whatever it did, it fucked everything, and nothing been right since, nothing.”
“It only feed of what you asked it to, you knew that before you hooked yourself up to it.”
“Hey sister, I only did what you asked, your fucking mirror did the rest.”
“Stop it, stop blaming the mirror, it’s what came out of it, out of you, that caused all these killing.When you were hooked up I detected something huge, with enough juice to keep the city running for at least a thousand years, tear through the doorway,” she says, throwing her arms left and right, overly animating herself, he takes a step back, putting his hands in the air.
“Calm the farm, there’s no need to loose your shit.”
“Who’s losing their shit? You’re the one who keeps ignoring the facts. Everything is right here, and the only way to stop it is for you to cross the fuck over, hopefully whatever it is, will ride back with you and then we’ll…”
“You’ll do nothing, I’ll be stuck across there, with whatever it is, and you’ll be safe, that’s the deal. Destroy the mirror, as soon as I’m though, promise me, like we’ve planned!”
“I promised already, I’ll destroy it, even though I know I could fix it, I could save you, I’ll keep my word.”
“Then let’s stop fucking around, before I don’t,” he says as he steps towards the mirror.
“I-I-I’m sorry,” she says softly, tears welling up in her eyes, he reaches out and cups her face in his hand, and smiles.
“Don’t be,” he says, tears run down his cheeks, he takes a deep breath, and step into the mirror. The room vibrates as the realities seals are broken, his world flashes before his eyes, whites, blacks, red and blues, everything falling, disintegrating and then reforming, into something, the same, yet, different. He steps into the dark, grey, otherworld, falling to his knees, his body feels like it’s been twisted, torn, and broken, tears cascade down his face, and, then, he feels it, in the core of his soul, the connection to his world being severed. Ever so slowly he turns, until he sees the cracks in the mirror behind him.
“Goodgirl,” he says softly.
“How touching,” a voice says from within the room. “Can I vomit?”
“When I stepped through the gate, and I crossed the border into this world, I knew that the killings would stop. But, but I didn’t think, I didn’t expect, that it would be…” He looks up at the shape, hiding in the shadows.
“You didn’t expect it to be you?” She says as she steps from the darkness. “Was that what you were going to say?”
“Why?”
“Becuase of you, don’t you see that, haven’t you always seen that?”
You can read the original 50 Word version HERE and, as a rare bonus, you can read Jac Forsyth’s fantastic tale based around the original short, over HERE.
He sits down in the seat and runs his hands through his hair, then drives his head into the table, letting out a groan.
“Was that necessary?” She asks.
“Yes,” he replies as he sits back up in his seat and looks over the papers in front of him, then towards her.
“So this is what you really want?”
“You know it is, it’s been leading this way for months, I think it’s the only way for me to be happy, to be finally free,” she says as her eyes well up, he nervously reaches out to her, clutching her hand, but she quickly pulls away grabbing a tissue from the table and wiping her eyes.
“Okay,” he says softly as he picks up the pen, signs the papers and places it back down, leting out a sigh of relief. “What are we going to tell the kids?”
“The truth.”
He laughs as he gets up from his seat and goes over to the fridge, grabbing a can of beer from it and cracking it open, he takes a large mouthful before wiping his mouth, then looks over to her.
“I remember when I first met you, in that little souvenir shop in France, it was like destiny had deliberately positioned both of us in the same spot at the same time.”
She laughs, “You couldn’t speak a word of French and the little man behind the counter was getting as frustrated as you were,” she says.
“Twenty- three years ago that was, twenty- three years and look at us now, look at the life we’ve built together?”
“We’ve both grown up, a lot,” she says as she slowly gets up from her seat. “It’s been a good life, we’ve been happy, and the kids,” her bottom lip trembles and he rushes to her side, hugging her, she lets her tears flow, as does he.
“It doesn’t have to be this way, we can fight,” he says through the tears.
“I can’t, I’ve fought too long, it’s best this way, it’s the way it needs to end, happy, not in some hospital, connected up to a thousand different tubes forced into my body, I want to go peacefully, happy, surrounded by my family, not unconscious and unable to tell the people I love, that I do.”
“How long will it take?” He asks, looking towards the older gentleman who sits at the end of the table.
“Seconds, that’s all, it’ll be painless, she’ll just go to sleep, and then all the pain will be gone, she will be able to finally rest.”
He looks at his wife, this woman who has for the last twenty-three years been his strength, his rock, his soul mate, his everything and kisses her on the forehead.
“I love you, I always will, I’d fight, I’d do anything, if I could take your place, I’d take your cancer into me, I would, just so you wouldn’t have to do this. God, I feel so helpless, I feel like there’s more I could do, something,” he says as he clutches her close, the tears run down his face.
“I’ve fought so long, for you, for the kids, for myself, but I can’t fight it anymore,” she says as she pulls him away and looks, lovingly into his eyes, smiling, “It’s been a nice life, but I’m ready to go.”
END
“When I stepped through the gate, and I crossed the border into this world, I knew that the killings would stop. But, but I didn’t think, I didn’t expect, that it would be…” He looks up at the shape, hiding in the shadows.
“You didn’t expect it to be you?”
You can read the expanded version HERE and, as a rare bonus, you can read Jac Forsyth’s fantastic tale based around this short, over HERE.