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.

The Best Gifts
I. Toby heard the creature before he ever saw it. He heard it late at night, rustling and shuffling and thumping under the floorboards in his room, too soft to make out clearly and too persistent to ignore. It stopped when he switched on the light, so he told himself that it was just his imagination running away with him (one of his mother's favorite phrases) and went back to sleep, after first making sure all the tasty bits of himself were covered by the blanket.
By Vanessa Gonzales4 years ago in Horror
The Ballad of Lem Marsh
Putting Lem Marsh in the ground is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my thirty-two years as Sheriff of this little podunk town. I've buried people before, don't get me wrong, but Lem was different.
By Luther Kross4 years ago in Horror
Who was in the car?
I'm Ben, and I'm over thirty years old this year. I have a stable job at a small company in the city. But because I needed more money to send back to my family back home, I worked part-time in the evenings after work. My job is to drive rental cars for people who can't drive themselves home because of drunkenness or other reasons. I always go around the city on a small folding electric bike to find customers. Sometimes, I also find customers through a website. After receiving the booking, I ran to the customer's address, then folded my folding electric bike and put it in the trunk of the customer's car. Most of the guests were in a drunken state. I've been doing this job for a while, so I've experienced many cases. Some people get drunk and then fall asleep without knowing what's going on. I preferred that because they would be quiet and not make annoyed. And some people, even though they were drunk, still refused to sleep and talk a lot. Sometimes I didn't know what they were talking about, so I didn't know how to answer them, just keep quiet or smile. After completing a booking, I took out my folding electric bike and continued to go to other places. I clearly remembered the story that happened that day while I was working. It was about ten o'clock at night. After driving a customer home safely, I immediately received another booking. This booking seemed a bit far, but I still took it because I needed the money more. I called to confirm the booking. I checked the correct address of the customer. After that, I said that I would come as soon as possible. I immediately turned around and ran as fast as I could to the agreed rendezvous point after hanging up the phone It was a relatively remote place, located on the edge of the city, next to a small river. It took more than twenty-five minutes from where I said goodbye to the old customer to the agreed rendezvous point. I was worried that the customer wouldn't be able to wait. Arriving at the place, I still did not see anyone there. There were no cars or people and no street lights, so it was very dark. I took the phone to call the customer, but there was no signal from the other end of the line. It seemed the customer had locked the phone. I called again and again to no avail. At this time, I was a little annoyed. After all, I had to run a long distance and hurry because I didn't want customers to wait. But when I got there, I was cheated like this. But I was not too upset because this was not the first time I had encountered this situation. Perhaps because customers were drunk, they sometimes made a booking unconsciously and then disappeared or didn't accept it when I arrived. After thinking that, I also turned around and quickly returned to the city to take other orders. A few weeks later, I was eating cup noodles in my room and watching the news on the television. Suddenly, a news show shocked me a bit. I was having a quick meal and going to be ready for a night job but had to stop to watch the news. In the news, the reporter was interviewing an older man about the case that was discovered this morning. He was the one who detected it, so they wanted him to report again what he saw. Although the older man was shocked he still explained the case very clearly. The older man's house was not far from this riverbank. Every early morning, he used to have a habit of walking to the side of the river and stopping there for exercise before returning home. He did the same thing this morning as usual. Suddenly, he saw something in the river that made him panic. He then immediately informed the police. There was a car in the river. Someone lost control of the steering wheel and plunged into the river. Fortunately, the car was sunk not far from the shore so the older man could see it. Police immediately arrived at the scene and used a crane to pull the vehicle from the river to the shore. The driver, unfortunately, suffocated to death in the driver's seat. I was still watching the news intently. As soon as the TV came to the part of the license plate, it scared me because I remembered it so well. According to the autopsy, this case happened more than twenty days ago. After hearing that, I was even more surprised. I remembered this booking very well because it was canceled and it happened only half a month ago. But if I followed the police, maybe I had encountered a ghost or something. I wasn't daring to think so much about it anymore; I still went out and continued my work. That night I took bookings as usual. One of them was when I drove a young man home; he appeared to be drunk. The customer was sleeping suddenly; he woke up and panicked and told me to stop the car immediately. I was driving in silence, so that thing startled me too. I quickly asked him what was going on, and he answered me in a very annoyed tone. He blamed me if I didn't see the injured person lying ahead of us but asked like that. He then got off the car and walked straight ahead, seemingly lifting something. I looked at his gesture like he was helping someone from the ground and then walked towards the car. I thought he was too drunk to have such an illusion, but he was serious and urged me to hurry to the hospital. I was a little funny, so I told him that he was too drunk, and I would quickly take him home to rest. but he got even angrier when he heard that. He scolded me for being inhuman and wanted to hurry to the hospital. Then he turned to talk to the next empty seat in a real way. His actions were not the slightest hint of being drunk or hallucinating. That thing stunned me. He also pulled out a tissue and passed it to the side. He asked the invisible person to wipe the blood first. After seeing that I still wouldn't drive away, he yelled at me to tell me to hurry up. I had no choice but to do as he said, even though I didn't understand what was going on. On the way, he constantly talked and gave a tissue to wipe the blood of the invisible person; his face was still worried. I glanced in the rearview mirror still no one beside me, but the young man's appearance was very real, not drunk. I ended up taking him to the hospital as he wished. It was a long way from the hospital to his house, so I would ask for more money as soon as I finished. After arriving hospital, he was still talking to the empty seat. He opened the door to let the invisible man out. I also didn't know how to dissuade him. If the young man went to the hospital like that, he would probably be laughed at by the people inside the hospital. But he did not listen to my advice. Then I also got out of the car to get some fresh air, waiting for him to come back. At that time, I was also thinking about what happened, so I involuntarily looked at the back seat. The tissues from earlier were scattered all over the car's floor, but the scary thing was that they were stained with blood, just like what the young man said earlier was true. But obviously, I didn't see anyone in the car; there was no way I could be wrong. Could it be that the person who was hallucinating was me? Because it was clear the tissue had blood on it or was I having bad luck again? Thinking about that, I remembered my booking that night, extremely scared. I quickly opened the trunk to get the folding electric bike and drove back quickly without notifying the young man. Then I got a call from him. It seemed that I was not the one who was hallucinating because the people in the hospital didn't see anyone injured either. He blamed me for not telling him the truth at the time. I just listened and hung up because I couldn't believe it myself. Although I had encountered many cases, this time was the weirdest.
By Mathene4 years ago in Horror
Under The Surface
The ocean’s surface was a clean sheet all the way out to the surrounding horizon. Glassy. It was not an uncommon sea condition, but whenever it occurred, Gibbs always felt like he was sitting on top of a massive fishbowl. Marine life swam freely underneath and around the giant steam ship like it was just another toy in their bowl. Gibbs looked over the command deck and watched the flashes of schools in silver and yellow. Further down, large shadows passed by more slowly. Strangely shaped creatures with propelling tentacles floated to the surface, only to drift back down into the deep. And every now and then, a flopping fish would splash the clean sheet, creating ephemeral ripples, and reminded the young sailor that the world above the horizon and the world below it could occasionally be traversed. He looked up to see if there were any birds that could offer another dimension to his fish-tank daydream.
By Alex Johnson4 years ago in Horror
Skip
“No, no, no!” I repeated screamed at the scene before me. “What happened?” I dropped the knife instantly. There was no other living being In the room to answer my question. I frantically tried to rub the wet and dried blood from my hands, both seemed thicker than I imagined it would be. The bodies of my co-workers littered the floor, all sliced and diced, leaking into the dingy green and brown carpet. The fluorescent lights were darkened in most parts of the office while flickering randomly in others - I woke up to a horror scene.
By Enjonai Jenkins4 years ago in Horror
Lane 666
It was a typical Friday night at Whitewood lanes, overcrowded as usual but me and my friends still go since it’s one of the only days we are all free. Out of all my friends i would say i am the best bowler, second would probably be Jack then Maddy, Mike, Kevin, Jessica and Ryan but it's never about who wins, the atmosphere of the alley, the food and drinks as well as hanging out after a long week, that is what it's about.
By Kenny Haugen4 years ago in Horror
The Adventures of Millie and Sandra Season 3 Episode 1
Aunt Millie’s potluck was an enormous success with the coven, especially when they found out who was being served. Even the Hercules moths took a bite just so they could say they too got the better of Meryl. Millie and Sandra preferred their butterfly roasted, and as to whether their dad, Brian, was there… No!
By Karen Eastland 4 years ago in Horror
Reaping the Whirlwind
Part one: The Broadcast Becky sat beside her colleagues in silence, looking up at the monitors showing the cameras covering the nightly news. Tonight’s broadcast was consumed only by camera three, with the anchors providing a small introduction.
By Bradley Ramsey4 years ago in Horror
Human Hangovers of Hauntings Past
I apologize to my readers for the latest delays. Between the suspense, my phone broke, and my images were unavailable for a few weeks, and I took up a job to obtain a few solutions. I am publishing this fourth installment to provide a reprieve from the long wait, and some content for perusing, before I can replace the phone and retrieve my saved images for usage, and thus continue my novel. It has been quite a month, but I do not want you to have to wait as long as the town's curse hath lasted until change flew in on the horizon.
By Kristyn Loritsch4 years ago in Horror
The Haunted Wedding Dress
“What a beautiful ring!” mother said as she examined the ruby engagement ring. Matt and I had been going out together since high school, and now, five years later, we decided to get married. It was no great surprise to my family or his and the two families went out for an “Engagement Meal”. Everyone was very happy.
By Ruth Elizabeth Stiff4 years ago in Horror
Jeff the killer
Jeff, along with his family, moved to a new town. He had a brother named Homicidal Liu. They were both new to the area, so they thought it might take some time to adapt to the neighbourhood. They thought of being friendly with the neighbours, but they had no idea what was about to happen. The neighbours called Jeff’s family to attend a birthday party. Both the brothers were bullied at school. They were also bullied at the bus stop. Jeff got angry and hit one of the bullies.
By Narendran C4 years ago in Horror
The Revenant, Part 5
CHAPTER 4. THE REVENANT, PART II Henrie pulled the bloody cloak from around the brigand’s neck. Standing, he wrapped it around his shoulders and returned to the fire. He searched the ground for the discarded sword. He recognized it as the one that belonged to Morgan. It was a single-handed blade of good quality.
By Lonnie Colson4 years ago in Horror