13 Tales To Give You Night Terrors
Read 13 Tales To Give You Night Terrors Online
Authors: Elliot Arthur Cross
Tags: #ghosts, #anthology, #paranormal, #young adult, #supernatural, #free, #urban horror, #new adult, #short collection, #lgbt horror
13 TALES TO GIVE YOU NIGHT
TERRORS
A Night Terrors
Novel
Edited by Troy H. Gardner
& Joshua Winning
“
Crashing Mirrors” and “The
Housesitter” Copyright © 2015 by Elliot Arthur Cross.
“
Black Holes” Copyright ©
2015 by Erin Callahan.
“
Back Home” and “Search
History” Copyright © 2015 by Jonathan Hatfull.
“
It’s Different When You
Have Your Own” Copyright © 2015 by Rosie Fletcher.
“
Ad Infinitum”, “One and
Done” and “Store Macabre” Copyright © 2015 by Scott
Clark.
“
Clown” Copyright © 2015 by
Tom Rimer.
“
Blackened Fireworks” and
“Waiting for the Wolf” Copyright © 2015 by Troy H.
Gardner.
“
Gone for Good” Copyright ©
2015 by Vinny Negron.
All rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or in any means—by electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise—without prior written
permission.
Book layout by Troy H.
Gardner.
Cover design by Alastair
Parr.
Skeleton with veil and white
roses © Danilo Sanino
|
Dreamstime.com
.
Smashwords eBook
ISBN:
9781311970442
First eBook edition October
2015
Official site
nightterrorsbooks.com
Twitter
twitter.com/NightTerrorsYA
CONTENTS
12. It’s Different When You Have Your
Own
INTRODUCTION
GOOD
evening, new friend.
As a collector of the
strange, the grisly and the bizarre, I’d like to welcome you to the
inaugural volume of
13 Tales to Give You
Night Terrors
. Contained in this book are
dark stories from around the globe—America, England, Scotland—that
have delighted and terrified me.
Just as a child draws with a broken
crayon or a werewolf howls at the moon, collecting is in my blood.
I’m crippled by the need to capture and hold on to something. To
seek out like items, categorize and arrange them. I do not seek out
rare coins or mutated butterflies. Rather, I collect the kinds of
stories that would give even the hardiest of souls night
terrors.
What are night terrors? For some, they
are the furry spider sneaking into your room at midnight to scurry
along your forearm. For others, it’s the enveloping darkness of
branches snapping in your backyard when you let your dog out for a
piss. Night terrors can be old Steve Reeves movies.
The short stories in this volume
contain a myriad of horrors real and imagined:
An amnesiac girl searching for the
horror she’s always run from.
A store manager determined to deliver
a unique parcel.
A boy with a giant clown
problem.
And many more.
Dear reader, I bid you, dim the
lights, pull the blanket up to your chin, keep the cat or dog close
and the flashlight even closer. Turn the electronic page and delve
deep into my collection of terror tales.
Sleep well,
Amicus Sundown
1.
CRASHING MIRRORS
Elliot Arthur Cross, United
States
CAMERON’S
chocolate brown eyes crossed. It was past eleven
at night and he’d been staring at his history textbook for nearly
an hour while he listened to This Is My Roommate. He slammed the
book shut, pulled out his earbuds, and trotted downstairs for a
snack before bed.
His mom sat in the dark living room
watching a late-night talk show with an awkward comedian commanding
the stage.
“
Cam, honey?”
He stopped in his tracks. “Uh, what’s
up?”
“
I’m getting tired waiting
for your brother to get home. Can you text him and tell him he’s
way past curfew?”
Cam scratched his nose. “What do you
mean? Mac’s studying in his room. Math test tomorrow.”
“
I didn’t see him come
in.”
“
He came in, like, a half
hour ago.”
“
Huh. Thanks. I’ll check on
him before I go to bed.”
“
Okay.” Cam hurried into
the kitchen, grabbed a handful of trail mix, and headed back.
“Night, Mom.”
“
Good night,
honey.”
Cam went upstairs, loudly slammed his
door shut, and then snuck into his brother’s room. He turned the
light on, shucked out of his T-shirt and into one of Mac’s shirts,
tousled his hair, and found Mac’s math book on the desk. He brought
it over to the bed, opened it to some random page, and started
doodling in the margins.
He’ll owe me for this one.
Unless he knocks up Shelley tonight.
A few minutes later someone knocked on
the door.
“
It’s open,” Cam said. His
mom entered and gave him a quick once-over.
“
What’s up?”
“
Nothing, dear. Just
heading to bed. Don’t stay up studying too long. You should be in
bed by the time your dad gets home. I hate his new shift
schedule.”
“
Big test tomorrow,” Cam
said.
Mac’s getting his nut off
and I have to pretend to learn math. Real fair.
“
You’ll do fine. Good
night, Mac.”
“
Night, Mom.”
Cam watched his mom leave before
closing Mac’s math book and sneaking out and into the bathroom. As
he brushed his teeth, the bathroom door opened and Mac
entered.
“
How’d it go?” Cam asked
his brother’s mirror reflection around a foamy, minty
mouthful.
“
Balls are navy blue.
Shelley still won’t put out.” Mac stood beside him and started
brushing his own teeth. Their arms caught the same rhythm in
seconds.
“
Give me a crack at her.
You owe me. Mom thinks you were home on time.”
“
Fine. Then I get to be you
on a date with Brandon. Guaranteed to get my nut off with
him.”
“
He
is
easy.” Cam elbowed his brother. He
couldn’t believe how lucky they were. Having a twin gave him twice
the clothes, twice the people to screw, twice the life.
“
Deal.”
“
Deal.”
They spit in unison and left the
bathroom.
● ● ●
“
HEY,”
Shelley said, sitting beside Cam at lunch.
Am I Mac yet? Nope,
haven’t switched. Don’t come on to her.
Cam smiled at the gorgeous blonde.
Good thing Brandon didn’t go to their school. It would be
impossible to juggle their boyfriend and girlfriend in the same
building.
“
How’s it going,
Shell?”
“
So good. The student
council just struck a deal with the fall carnival commission. We’re
going to get a percentage of ticket sales from all students we send
in.”
“
Great. Bran and I will be
there will bells on.”
Or you and I will be
there while you finally spread your legs. And Mac will get a BJ
from my BF. Life is great. Too bad we’re not triplets.
Mac took a seat next to Shelley. They
snuck a kiss before any of the faculty could swoop in and break
them up.
“
How’s it going, babe?”
Shelley asked.
“
Great. Really looking
forward to my math test next period.”
“
Really? I thought you
hated math.”
“
Think I’ll do okay at it.”
Mac shared a look with Cam.
“
I should take a piss
before class,” Cam said. He left the table and made his way into
the boys’ room. It was empty and he stepped inside the handicapped
stall.
Cam stripped his shirt off and stepped
out of his jeans. A few seconds later the stall door opened and Mac
entered. He stripped and they swapped clothes. Cam noticed they’d
both worn identical maroon briefs without coordinating. As
always.
Two perfect bodies, one
kickass mind.
“
Is Shelley dumb or are we
just that good?” Cam asked.
“
Little of both. Brandon’s
a freaking genius and he still hasn’t figured it out.”
“
Or he’s a kinky
bastard.”
“
I kind of like that
idea.”
Once they were dressed again, Cam
hurried out of the restroom and took Mac’s seat next to
Shelley.
“
Miss me, babe?”
“
Every second.” She leaned
in and gave him a peck on the lips. He preferred Brandon but her
cherry lips were a close second.
A part of him hoped Brandon would wise
up to their game. It was fun tricking people, but wouldn’t it be
nice to find a—he shuddered at the thought—soulmate with brain
enough to see the minute differences between the two? Someone
worthy who he could really get close to.
Mac came back from the bathroom and
ate the rest of Cam’s lunch.
A flock of football assholes strode
by. The quarterback slapped Cam on the back.
“
Hey, fags, do you suck
each other off every night, or just weekends?”
Cam and Mac immediately replied, “Only
when your mom’s busy.”
The jock’s buddies laughed and he
stormed off.
Two perfect bodies. One
kickass mind.
The bell rang, signaling the end of
lunch, and Cam carried Mac’s bag to his math class. He sat in the
front row and raised his hand when his brother’s name was called
during roll. The teacher didn’t give him a second glance before
passing out quizzes.
● ● ●
BRANDON
brought a box of wine and Shelley wore her
skimpiest dress. The twins’ parents were out of the house and Mac
blasted electronica. Before long, the four teens were alternating
between gulping red wine and making out. The twins made sure to
dress identically so they could switch back and forth whenever they
wanted.
The lights were low, the couch
groaning as Cam’s tongue ran across Brandon’s. He tugged gently on
his bottom lip and played with his boyfriend’s hair. A few feet
away, his mirror image grinded against Shelley.
Cam pulled away and said, “Should we
get chips in the other room, Mac?” Brandon was an easy score,
Shelley would be a well-earned feather in his cap.
“
Not yet. No one’s hungry,”
Mac said, momentarily pulling away from his girlfriend.
“
Maybe someone is hungry,”
Cam insisted.
“
Nope.”
“
Shelley?
Brandon?”
“
Nope,” she
said.
“
You’re all I need,”
Brandon said, pulling Cam back into a kiss.
Stupid freaking romantic
awesome guy.
“
We should get to the
carnival at some point,” Shelley said. “I have to collect the class
funds.”
“
No time like the present,”
Cam said.
