The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Here It’s December, Everyday  
by Kendra Smart  

There is a story spread through the hallways of schools, the gossip of the employee break room, the hallowed pews in silent churches. It tells of a horrible accident, shattered glass and screams. Of knocking three times, of a call to the tormented and the damned, one that is always answered. With delight and dismay…

Joseph Kenny had never put much stock into Campfire tales. They had never given him chills, thills, or goosebumps. For him, they left a scowl or a smirk. An unrepentant disdain for those who held any belief in the afterlife and those who go bump in the night. Some might refer to it as pride but Joseph knew that there was no fearsome creature waiting in the dark shadows, blood on its teeth and maw, waiting to rend and tear him to pieces.

So when his friend Bastien called him up with an opportunity to help him film a debunk of a local legend, he said yes. Why not? It was a way to network, gain new followers, all he saw were dollar signs.

Money.

He had known Bastien for years and had never backed down from a challenge yet. So he agreed, and in doing so sealed his fate.

The weather had called for a clear night, but the wind whipping around him and the sheets of rain spoke different intentions for the evening. There was almost regret as he thought of the sickness that might take him down for a few days after this kind of night. His ears bare to the cold, he could barely hear his friend rolling on his opener.

But something in the wind caught his ear, just a strong whisper, but it clearly called his name.

“Who’s there?” he asked.

His voice was lost amidst the torrential downpour illuminated by the stop lights and the buzzing sound that hummed in the air. He felt the jolts of that electricity in his bones. He spun around but there was no one there, just himself and Bastien. There weren’t even cars out at this time on the intersection. None he could make out through the steady sheets of rain.

Joseph had less than a few breaths before he heard it again. That crackling, gravely voice calling his name. So much closer this time, it seemed to be right at the cusp of his ear, invading the canal and echoing. He had never hated his name before now. But in these milliseconds he would have given anything for a different name, to not be a part of this surreal world.

He turned to Bastien and saw that he appeared frozen in time and space. But the look on his face turned Joseph’s blood to below freezing. A distorted and torn grin plastered his face, grotesque and painful. The fear painted clearly on the gloss of Bastien’s eyes.

“Who’s there?” Joseph was able to choke out as he desperately tried to locate the source of the voice.

His mind tried to calm him. These things were real, remember? You are freaking yourself out.

That was all good on paper but here in the moment logic had run away because what was happening defied logic.

One last time his name was screamed, this time though it was as though inside his mind, the voice reverberating inside of him. Joseph screamed, hoarse and forced as he tried one last time before he steadied himself.

“Who’s there?”

The sound of a revving, out of control vehicle hit Joseph’s ear, squealing tires and manic lights heading their way. He watched as a car ran into and through his friend.

Glass shattered and a horrible scream rang through the air.

Joseph watched in horror as his friend’s torso lifted itself and turned to him. He cringed as the squelching sound of flesh and blood moving on dead weight mixed with the grinding of glass against asphalt became all that his ears could hear. Deafening until blissful warmth filled his ears and he could hear no more.

But he could see… and the grin was still plastered on Bastien’s face…even with the slough of dead flesh sagging. Joseph may not have been able to hear but he knew the words Bastien spoke before death claimed its curious soul.

“It’s Me. Hi.”

.

Fiction © Copyright Kendra Smart
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from author Kendra Smart:

Just Emotions:
A Gothic Bite Magazine Anthology

A collection of poetry.

‘Just Emotions‘ is exactly as it states, a group of writers who had feelings they wanted to express in poem form. Inside, there are a range of emotions to explore. Each writer has given a bit of themselves to you, each in their own way.

We hope that you enjoy these writings and that among the poems you may find some thing you can identify with or relate to. Thank you for giving us this chance to open the catacombs and share with you.

Available on Amazon!