fiction
Horror fiction that delivers on its promise to scare, startle, frighten and unsettle. These stories are fake, but the shivers down your spine won't be.
Under The Trapdoor
I could not have been more than fifteen years old when the murders started. We lived in the suburbs at the time. A small community where everyone knew each other. The entire neighborhood was in the grips of a terrible terror…no one went out at night; most families bought shotguns and new locks. But every other week, someone would be found dead in their homes; they were primarily people who lived alone. So, all lone dwellers moved out of the community…and the killings stopped. The investigators and the town elders could not see how the killer did it. There was no reporting of any sounds of struggle or screams for help. But the dead bodies were pretty severely brutalized. There were rumored to be deep cuts on the victims’ bodies, pools of blood dried around the corpses, and terrified expressions in the lifeless eyes. No signs of breaking in. The night prowlers never once witnessed anyone coming in or going out of the neighborhood when the murders occurred. Speculations abounded, and rumors spread like wildfire… a serial killer was living amongst us!
By Fezan Javed4 years ago in Horror
Taxidermy Soul
The traffic wasn’t moving a bit, so we decided to park on the street and hoof it the remaining two blocks. We walked the cracked, dampening sidewalk with a purpose. This was a party street – directly bordering the University of Cincinnati campus. The street-side was littered with beer boxes, beer cans, shattered glass, rotting food. The smell of freshly-lit bud wafted throughout the area as if naturally present in the local flora. I liked the scent, but I can’t handle smoking the stuff – makes me far too paranoid. It was early Saturday afternoon – maybe one o’clock.
By Robert Pettus4 years ago in Horror
Burble From Beyond
We recently moved into our new house. It's perfect, just the right size for our family, but it has a strange problem with the drains. I noticed it while I was unpacking the bathroom things. I turned to find that my husband had forgotten to flush and pushed the lever to flush it down. When I did, I discovered that the sink burbles when you flush the toilet. Nothing too jarring, but it scared me a little when I first heard it. The sink burbles and bubbles, making a noise deep in the drain as it clears the water.
By Joshua Campbell4 years ago in Horror
A Closer Look at Joyce Carol Oates’ ‘Pumpkin Head’
A Woman Alone When I first read Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “Pumpkin Head,” I was so frightened that I didn’t want to be in my apartment alone afterward. Her stories have scared me before, but this experience was quite unsettling. As with most horror stories, the shock wore off with time, yet her characters continued to haunt me long after meeting them on the page. Perhaps it was her female protagonist — Hadley — whom I identified with so much that I could not forget her vulnerability as a woman living alone. As I sit here in my candle-lit apartment listening to the roll of distant thunder, I remember Oates’ story a decade later as we approach Halloween — the season of pumpkins and stories that make our skin crawl.
By Jennifer M. Ward4 years ago in Horror
Homecoming
I awoke in a cold sweat. The squeak of the brakes and releasing pressure of the hydraulics. Late at night, I was the passenger. The bus rolled off as I stepped up to the porch of my parents home. I haven't been back here since my sister disappeared. With a wavering breath I knocked on the door. A seconds passed and no one responded. I looked at the windows. Through the bars on one I saw a faint gray glow. the light overhead flickered and buzzed. With no other lights around I hurried for the spare key. the door gave way a foul odor came over me. It smelled as though someone had left a cremated steak out for weeks. I walked through every room. No one was to be inside. The places left unchecked were out back by the pool, and my sister's old room. Passing through the open patio door I was greeted with a grizzly sight. Two corpses charred to a crisp, and cold to the touch.
By Donte Deliano4 years ago in Horror
