Tag Archives: Suspense

The Clairvoyant – A Short Story

Posted on by under Literary Fiction, Suspense/Scary

The gift of second sight didn’t come to Faye Paterson until she was thirty-two, and gift wasn’t exactly the word that she would have used anyway. It was a curse really. A horrible, miserable, wretched curse, and she would give a heck of a whole lot to remove the curse and resume life the way that it had been before, only she couldn’t.

The first vision had come out of the blue while she had been getting ready to go to a movie with some friends. In her vision, the little girl that lived in the apartment across the hall from her, had wrenched free from her father’s grasp and darted into the street, only to be hit by a car.

Two weeks later, it came to pass, much to Faye’s horror.

And then, a few months later, she had another vision while she was out shopping with Cora, her best friend. She saw her friend in a boat. The boat was going fast. Too fast. Suddenly, it raised up out of the water and flipped over. After the vision, Faye had felt disoriented and had had to find a seat in the shop to sit down. Cora had been concerned, of course, but Faye had lied and said that she just needed to eat something. Later that night, alone in her apartment, Faye convinced herself that nothing like that could ever happen to Cora. Cora didn’t have a boat. Cora didn’t know anyone who had a boat. And, besides, it was the middle of winter.

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Luanna Finwith/The Briscoe Case – A mystery short story

Posted on by under Blog Post, Mystery

“She’s out there again,” Jessa Fairchild’s fingers carefully searched the soapy water for any leftover silverware. Satisfied that she’d left not a single butter knife or fork behind, her fingers latched onto the plug and yanked on it, “That’s the third time this week.”

Zach, Jessa’s new husband, slid up behind her. He dropped a flurry of kisses on her cheek and down her throat, making her purr in delight.

“Stop,” Jessa wiggled away, “She’ll see us.”

“So what?” Zach glared out the kitchen window into the backyard, where the old woman stood beneath their white oak tree, “If she sees something that offends her, maybe she shouldn’t be standing in our damn yard.”

“Maybe she’s lonely.” Jessa frowned at the depressing thought.

“Maybe she’s just weird,” Zach started walking towards the sliding door, “I’m going to go tell her that she’s trespassing.”

Jessa grabbed his arm, “Zach, no. She’s not hurting anything. She’s just standing out there, looking at our house.”

“Jessa, it creeps me out. I mean, who does that, huh? Who the hell stands in someone’s yard and stares in at them?”

“I know. I know it’s strange,” Jessa stepped back to the window, “She’s gone, Zach. See.”

********************************************************************************************

Two doors down, Barney Shiner’s dogs, Melba, a shepherd mix, and Chewie, a chihuahua, started barking excitedly as they raced to the back door.

Barney, who had, only minutes before, sat down in his recliner with his plate of spaghetti and flipped on his favorite crime show, cursed a blue streak, but the yelping continued, finally forcing him out of his chair to go find out what was the matter.

“Melba, Chewie, shut the hell up and go lie down,” Barney ordered, with his finger pointed in the direction of the living room, “Go. Now.”

Melba gave a final whine of discontent, but followed orders. Chewie stood his ground another full second, until Barney bellowed, “Go lay down, Chewie.”

Finally, with both dogs quiet, Barney opened his back door. The patio light, set on a motion detector, flicked on, illuminating half of his yard. Rage bubbled up inside of him when he spotted the woman that had managed to ruin his dinner yet again. She was lurking just outside of the pool of light, but Barney knew full well who she was. He bolted out the door and down the lawn, unbothered that he was only wearing his boxers, “How many times do I have to tell you to get the hell off my lawn?” he bellowed, as he approached the old woman, “Are you fucking deaf?”

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The Monster of The Dragonfly Chateau

Posted on by under Blog Post, Suspense/Scary, Uncategorized

Celeste Colbert’s skirts swished as she rushed through the grand salon of le Chateau des Libellules, or, as their British guests often called it, the Dragonfly Chateau. Pompous, wig wearing, painted gentlemen stared down their long noses at her from ornate frames hung on the wallpapered walls. Ordinarily, she would have delighted at raising her own nose at them as she passed by, but not today. Today, her boss, Comte Claude Jean Frederic d’Arcy, was hosting dignitaries all the way from London, and she had been sent by Madame Bernadette, the head housekeeper, to fetch extra candles from the storage rooms.

She was breathless by the time she entered the hallway that led downstairs. The shadows were deeper here, where there were no windows to let in the sunlight, and no wall sconces either. The Comtesse, Danielle d’Arcy, was a ruthless miser who kept careful count of every single item that was used in the palatial residence, and found it unnecessary to illuminate rooms that were only seen by the servants.

Celeste halted in front of the heavy door. A lifelong fear of the dark waged a war with the stern face of Madame Bernadette, should she not return with the candles she’d requested. It was a no brainer, really. She opened the door. She could see the first six stairs, but the rest were hidden in the gloom. She turned around, right into a chest. She screeched and started to tumble backwards, but strong arms reached for her and pulled her upright.

“Forgive me, ma cherie. Did I scare you?”

“What do you think?” Celeste scowled at Luc. Luc Devereux was a groundskeeper, and quite handsome. She had suspected for quite some time that he was taken with her, but that knowledge was actually disturbing; she desperately needed to keep her job, and she’d been warned by other domestiques that the Comtesse had been known to let anyone go that had taken up with another servant.

Luc looked past her and let out a low whistle, “It’s mighty dark down there.”

“You don’t say,” Celeste, feeling braver with his presence, started down the stairs, “Nevertheless, I must go down there.”

“At least let me accompany you, Mademoiselle …”

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The Run – A suspenseful short story

Posted on by under Blog Post, Suspense/Scary

The stairs creaked as Amber Ross hurried down them. She plopped down on the bottom stair and put on her running shoes, quickly tying them as Percy, her grandmother’s cat, came slinking out of the shadows, purring loudly as he rubbed against her bare legs.

“I suppose you want me to feed you?” she whispered, as she walked to the kitchen, trailed by the meowing cat. Amber fed Percy and looked at the glowing blue clock on the microwave. She still had plenty of time to fit in a run before school started.

The kitchen light flipped on, and Amber blinked against the bright light that flooded the room.

“Off for a run?” Amber’s dad, Will, asked, as he reached past her and flipped on the coffee pot.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got time,” Amber said, “Why are you up so early?”

Her dad had lost his job at the community college just shy of six months ago. They’d lost their house three months ago. Both of those developments were why they had ended up where they currently were … living with his parents’, Don and Phyllis Ross.

“I’ve got a job interview.” Will offered, as he grabbed a mug out of the cabinet.

“Good.” Amber said, feeling a bit guilty that she couldn’t manage a more celebratory tone. She let her eyes wander over him. He looked tired, beat up from all of the crap that life had thrown his way since his wife, Amber’s mom, had received the cancer diagnosis more than two years ago. She’d been gone for a year now, and Amber’s heart still reeled every single time that she thought about her for more than a few seconds. Still, as much as her mom’s death had been wrenching for her, it had hurt just as much to watch her dad’s entire life fall apart too.

“It is good,” Will agreed, as he ran a hand over his stubble, “It’s time to get my shit together,” he winked at her, “We don’t want to live with your Gram and Gramps forever, do we?”

“We do not,” Amber grinned, “Hey, maybe you should come with me, old man,” she poked his stomach, “You haven’t been on a run in months, even with Grandpa.”

“Yeah, I’ve slacked off. I know I have. Next time, sweetheart. I promise.”

“Fine, but I’m going to hold you to it.”

“Amber, be extra vigilant,” her dad’s words stopped her as she loped towards the front door, “I saw on the news that another runner was killed just last week. That makes three now.”

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Daddy’s Friend – A scary and suspenseful short story

Posted on by under Blog Post, Suspense/Scary

“Addy, this is the second time that I’ve had to ask you to come in for dinner, so get moving. Now!” Lena Wallis let the screen door slam behind her as she raced over to the stove and pulled the pot of bubbling pasta water off of the burner just in time. She glanced at the clock on the stove and sighed in irritation. Mark was late. Again.

“Mommy, here I am,” Addy’s sweet voice came from the doorway, “Penny wanted to play longer, but she said you were mad so we should stop.”

“Penny said that, huh?” Lena took the pot over to the sink and poured the contents into the colander, “Well, at least she’s smart. Addy, go wash your hands and get ready for dinner.”

Lena took a scoop of pasta from the colander and put it into a small bowl. She stirred a tiny bit of butter into it, and added a sprinkle of salt and parmesan before taking it to the table and placing it in front of her daughter.

“Penny wants her own bowl, Mommy.”

“Penny can share yours,” Lena scowled at the rag doll that her four year old daughter had placed in the chair beside hers, “Mommy is stressed, Addy, so you and Penny need to cut her some slack, okay?”

“What does slack mean, Mommy?”

“Never mind,” Lena stirred the rest of the pasta into the skillet of meat sauce on the back burner. A burnt garlic smell suddenly permeated the room, “Shit!” she declared, as she searched for the pot holder, “I forgot about the damn garlic bread.”

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