FLASH FICTION: VOLUME FOUR
Halloween Edition
“What scares me is what scares you. We’re all afraid of the same things. That’s why Horror is such a powerful genre…” - John Carpenter
THE NIGHT TRAIN
We’d stayed out longer than we’d planned.
It was just after 3am when we decided to head home.
I’d already called a taxi, but the others insisted on taking the train.
So I waited with them on the platform till the next one arrived, then waved them off.
I tried to text them the following morning, but got no reply.
My calls went unanswered, too.
It was only then I found out, there were no trains running that night…
THE ASYLUM
There were screams and shrieks echoing down the corridors.
The noise was almost deafening, and he could hardly hear himself think.
He was constantly on edge, not knowing what was going to happen next, or what he might have to deal with at any given moment.
It was a nightmare.
And he just wanted to go home.
But then, they’d always told him his first day as a teacher would be like walking into an asylum.
And they weren’t wrong…
THE BODY
It was resting in the corner of the cave.
We didn’t want to look at it, or even acknowledge it was there.
For now, we pretended it was a rock. Just another feature in the stony cocoon we’d found ourselves trapped in.
The blizzard was still raging in the mountains outside, and help was not coming soon.
It’d be a few days, at least, before they could attempt a rescue.
There’d been four of us. Now only three were left.
No one wanted to talk about it.
But there was no avoiding the inevitable.
Soon, we would have to eat…
THE GHOST
He had no idea there was so much training involved with being a ghost.
It turned out there was an art to making floors creak, and vases smash, at just the right moment.
And even your moaning had to be very precise, to ensure it sounded tormented enough.
He was going to need a lot of practice.
But it had always been his dream to work in a Haunted House…
THE WOLF
She knew it wasn’t her grandma almost immediately.
But she played along anyway, while her hand surreptitiously wrapped itself around the handle of the small dagger she carried in her basket for protection.
When she pounced, it was swift and merciless, and the wolf never saw it coming.
Severely wounded, and wailing in agony, he tried to flee, but she finished him off just a few feet short of the cabin door.
It was then she heard it.
The howling outside.
Drawing closer.
It was the rest of his pack, rushing to his aid.
The fight was not over yet…
More stories in this series can be found here…
The ‘Tales of the Zeitgeist’ Anthology is available now on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.
Bloomin fab as ever! First one reminded me of those urban legend stories we all heard and told as kids. Second one made me smile for vocational reasons and the others, as I said, just fab! Happy haunted Halloween to you Chris🎃
I really love your microfiction stories! And especially spooky themed ones!