The Ladies of Horror
Out of the Embers
by H.R. Boldwood
With the strike of a match, her world changed.
She breathed the pungent smoke and swore the air had never smelled more pure. Life had never held more promise. Her future, a tapestry of trials and triumphs, beckoned her from beyond the ring of red-hot coals — beyond the reach of the monster that burned within them. She lost herself among the flames until nothing but cinders remained.
No more fear. No more pain. No more begging for mercy that would never be hers. She raked the cinders carefully crushing what bits of bone remained. Freedom rose from those ashen coals like a great winged bird, filling her with hope and courage. She buried her memories and the bits of bone, her scars and the dying embers deep beneath the loam and smiled.
With the strike of a match had come deliverance.
Fiction © Copyright H.R. Boldwood
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from H.R. Boldwood:
Killing It Softly – Short Story: Nosophoros
Suzie Lockhart and Digital Horror Fiction are thrilled to present 32 chilling tales of terror from some of the best authors in horror. Killing It Softly includes stories from New York Times best selling authors Nancy Holder and Elaine Cunningham, together with more shocking short nightmares from the finest award winning female writers in the genre. Your heart won’t stop pounding as you dig into the pages of this book; from the moment you immerse yourself in the first tale, about a women waking to find herself inside a coffin, buried alive, until the last, a coming of age story about a sixteen-year-old’s journey of self-discovery amidst all hell breaking loose. You’ll find your proof that women can, indeed, do a wicked dance between science fiction and horror as they penetrate your darkest thoughts, to bring forth stories promising to leave you with a lingering anxiety you can’t seem to shake. Any romantic notions of vampires will be crushed, and dark and twisted plots will confirm definitively that females can even write about zombies. We dare you to read stories that will leave you deeply disturbed, and some that will slice into your very soul. It wouldn’t be horror if there wasn’t an ode to Edgar Allen Poe…we have two masterfully written tales. There are stories off the odd and unusual, stories that take a perilous dive into worlds of disturbing shadows, and there’s even an exorcism—in a tale that daringly addresses the heartbreaking disease that is alcoholism. Enter at your own risk…
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