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 Vines
After years of drought, the vines dried up, kissing the ground. As the years passed, owners came and left, leaving the vineyard isolated and depressed. One day a young woman appeared, barefoot in a bohemian rose dress with fringe cascading from a shawl. Her wild red hair flowed and frizzed in the wind as she bent down and scooped dirt into her hands, thumbing the soil. Bringing the earth close to her freckle-accented face, she kissed it before giving it back.
By J.Galsgaard5 years ago in Horror
The Evil of Lake Love
You don’t walk along the shores of Lake Love at night. At least not alone, or if you want to make it to the morning. People laugh off the stories of those who have vanished beneath its surface, suddenly gone to the depths. Swimming accidents, silly teens messing about at night near the water, they say, and pretend it is not something else. Except, every now and then the person who goes missing is not a silly teen, nor someone who would be foolish around water.
By Sophie Jackson5 years ago in Horror
The Weight of Guilt
James had never seen the fog lay so low across the lake at the edge of town. Had he been so inclined, he would have considered it almost supernatural the way the whisps of air clawed at the mirrored surface. It did not part when he pressed through it, it was so dense. He could see only a metre in any direction, the rest of the water shrouded in a heavy grey. The cold bit at his exposed face and hands, and his breath was visible when he exhaled with effort; even though the water was still, the journey out into the middle of the lake was a long and exhausting one.
By Ian M. Williamson5 years ago in Horror
The Algorithm and the Bath Water
Jane’s eyes were protesting as if they had been captured by terrorists and forced to consume the blue light of a computer screen without blinking for a week. Maybe it had been a week. She clicked on the latest news article of a car rolling into a ditch on Hwy 70, telling herself she’d close her laptop in 5 minutes, half knowing that she would not.
By K.M. Linden5 years ago in Horror
Night of the Anti-Vaxxers
Once I'd regained my strength, I returned to the road. But before making it to the end of the parking lot, I started sweating. My underwear felt heavy and damp again, sticking to my legs like soggy swimsuit trunks. With the hot summer winds swirling around my body. Each step was heavy and laborious. Like walking through chest-deep water in a river current that pulled and pushed me at the same time. I heaved my suitcase up over my right shoulder onto my back. Gripped the guitar in my left hand, and kept trudging on toward my goal… to get vaccinated for Covid 19.
By Arlo Hennings5 years ago in Horror
The Wishing Well
The move from California to Salem Massachusetts was a tough one, I had lived in the same house for 17 1/2 years, and suddenly we were moving across the country so my dad could accept a well deserved promotion to CFO in his company. It took us two weeks to pack and before we knew it we were in our new house. It was a creepy looking old house, like all the ones you see in horror movies. The house was a very large two story house that looked to be a gothic style Victorian house, this house was old and creepy, but it also had a kind of mysterious beauty to it as well. It has several points to the roof of the house, the roof was also steeply pitched, making it look like a scary old haunted house, but in a pretty way if that makes any sense. All the old white paint was peeling off due to lack of maintenance. The windows are all very large and shaped like a pointed arch, almost like a church, with a roundness to them but flat on the bottom, and very tall front doors that opened inward with beautiful ornate handmade designs down the entirety of each, they were seemingly made of iron or some kind of heavy metal because they were solid but moved with such ease and when they were closed you could hear the thud of the doors together. The house also had a large wrap around porch that went from one side around to the backdoor. I stood in front of it staring at it for what seemed like forever before I heard my stepmother Christine yell "Katelynn Marie, what on earth are you doing, come get your things and take them up to your room!" I grimaced at her and turned to the moving truck to see my father and step brother Jake carrying the very large sectional pieces into the house. I walked over and grabbed a box that had my name on it and carried it into the house, and as I walked through the front doors there was a large staircase that was about 15 feet in from the door way, about 6 feet wide and wound to the right, up to the second floor, the handrails were hand crafted out of a dark wood that had recently been polished, and the stairs were covered in a very pretty runner that went the length of the entire staircase, it was mostly red with a gold pattern winding up the sides like a wave and in the center was a repeating pattern of gold roses, three across each step and the steps seemed to go on forever. The house inside looked amazing, the floors were all wood floors that looked like they had recently been replaced because they looked brand new with a shine you could see yourself in and the color was a dark red. The kitchen/dining hall floors were covered in white marble which gave it quite an elegant feel and the kitchen was big enough for 20 people to fit in, it looked like they used to have a lot of staff cooking and moving around busily, made me even more curious about the previous owners. The walls in the foyer were covered in rose patterned wallpaper, white roses with green stems. The living room walls were a dark green paint with gold leafing and gold painted mouldings with very ornate carvings that looked to be done all by hand, around the highest ceiling I have ever seen. as I reached the top of the stairs I began walking down the long hall which had to be six feet wide and at least 200 feet long, and along the way there were pictures hung of people after each door which there were ten doors in all. Each picture looked like the people were staring right at me and the eyes seemed to be following me, there were eight men and two women, one of the women I was told was the matriarch of the neighborhood and I wondered why we had these paintings hanging in our house of people we didn't even know. The hallway started to completely creep me out, so I decided to get to my room a little quicker and began jogging, it felt like I would never reach my room, but I finally arrived at the door that said "Katelynn's Room" on a post-it note in Christine's scratchy scribble that I could barely read, thank god I have practice reading dad's scribble or I might have missed it entirely. I entered my new room and was instantly smacked by the sight I saw, what an incredible room! The walls were painted by hand, and it was a mural of someone's version of the most amazing garden that had every flower you could imagine. A grand white gazebo hung over a deep blue pond, and a little bridge that led to a white brick Wishing Well with a small bell tower over top of it, without the bell, instead there hung a small plaque that I could barely read, "To all who visit the wishing well: wishes for good, are understood, wishes for bad, are always sad...be careful what you wish for". I thought *what a strange plaque to hang over a painted wishing well, it's not like anyone could "actually" use it right?*
By C. M. Sears5 years ago in Horror
Reflection
Running…breathing hard…running faster and faster into the deepest void of the forest. The trees closing in, creating a veil of rotting leaves around her head. Forceful wind screeching, howling her name between the creaking branches. Feet smacking the cold, wet ground, mud coating the bottoms of her bare feet. Toes slowly turning purple from the tundra of the wilderness. Slipping, falling into the deep dark waters of the river flowing wildly from the rain pouring down. Sinking farther and farther down into the darkness, never to be seen again. Not by her friends, co-workers, or loved ones…no one will ever notice her missing. No tears will be shed from the instant death. Body freezing as the ice water encased every inch of her body, water filling her lungs. Slowly drowning, watching life flash before her eyes. Wishing, wanting to change the things that she regrets. Not knowing where the bottom of the river is, falling further and further down into the depths, never knowing where it ends…
By Alex Masciulli5 years ago in Horror
Library of Forgotten Souls
It didn't seem like such a spooky place, she thought. She had heard so many tales of ghosts, rising mists, odd shadow figures, mysterious sounds, but as she stood there beside her car at the edge of the lake looking up the hill towards the fog surrounded mansion, it seemed more like a picturesque monument on a postcard than anything she had heard tell of it. She had loved the city, but her new partner wanted her to go take some photos for her portfolio of real estate photography, as well as decide if this place could warm her heart and soul for their planned getaway vacation home together. He had showed her so many houses, but none of them had felt right to her. None felt like a home away from home, or like the perfect little place to replenish and renew inspiration after a busy year of work. She wanted somewhere she could keep her library of books, and he had told her that this place had a beautiful old style library within it, as well as a tea sitting room, and other perfect features including the lake. Her eyes turned to the lake, where the fog had just seemed to begin to roll over as if it was flowing down the hill and skating on the water. She snapped a picture of the beautiful mist and then of the mansion before her. She got back into her car and continued up the drive to the front door.
By Amy Chris Keiper aka LC Harrison5 years ago in Horror
