Lazy Lion
Used Books & More
146 South Main Street
Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526
(919) 552-9639
info@lazylionbooks.com
Monday 10 to 3
Tues -
Wed 10 to 5
Thu - Fri 10 to 8
Saturday 10 to 5
Closed Sunday
 |
Fuquay
Fright Fest '04 Short Story Contest Winners
First Prize Winner!
Glass
by Andreas Black of Raleigh, North Carolina
Jeffery sat on the kitchen floor, eating glass.
His fingers bled profusely. His throat was slick with blood, which helped
the glass slivers slide down. A hammer and a shattered tumbler lay between
his splayed legs.
Soon. It would be over soon.
***
"I have something to show you," she said. Her voice was desperate, so he
consented.
Anna led him through the forest. Even though she was dead, and her body
was transparent, Jeffery felt her warm hand as she pulled him down the
leaf-strewn path.
"Is it far?" he asked.
She shook her head, sending her black hair flying out in a momentary
triangular halo.
His stomach dropped as the forest changed from golds and reds to bright
green. He stumbled.
"It's okay," she said. Then she pulled him along again. "This is your future."
***
The first time he attempted suicide, Mother caught him with a knife to his
wrist. Down, not across, he remembered. But she caught him before he made
the cut. She couldn't afford hospitalization or therapy, so she gathered
every sharp object she could find and locked them in the attic.
"Soon," she said. "When the lawyers are through bickering, and my inheritance
comes through. We'll get you help, Jeffery."
***
Anna's route took them past the house. It was an old brick two-bedroom
with a sagging roof and a dead Honda in the driveway.
Nothing had changed.
"Did Mamma get her inheritance?" he asked.
Anna nodded.
"So we moved away?"
Anna shook her head. "She spent her money on you."
"But why..."
Anna tugged his hand. "This isn't all I wanted to show you."
***
The second time, Mother found him after he'd swallowed all of her
prescriptions. He'd considered the bleach under the sink, and the bottle
lay beside him, but that was a bad way to go. So he stole her pills.
She wrestled him to the ground and forced her finger down his throat. Vomit
and multicolored pills washed over the kitchen floor. Afterwards, she kept
her prescriptions in her purse, and household cleaners in the locked in her
car.
***
Anna led him through the forest until they came to a creek. The water had
exposed a shallow grave, and a corpse. The face was bloated and blackened,
but still recognizable as his own.
Anna said, "You were kidnapped and ransomed. Your mother paid her inheritance, but they
killed you anyway."
He understood. He was going to die soon, and all Mamma's dreams would die
with him.
Unless he wasn't around at the time.
***
The tumbler was a fortunate accident. Mother passed out before she could lock
it away. He could smell the whiskey on her breath as he slipped it from her
fingers.
The next morning, Mother had forgotten it was missing.
***
Soon. It would be over soon.
"Mamma, don't be sad, he wrote. I was dead anyway. Be happy. Grandma Anna will take
care of me.
©2004 Andreas Black |
