Free Nightmare Fuel: The Ultimate Collection of Short Horror Tales by Wesley Thomas Page A

harshness. This was made difficult when the sound of rattling echoed in the room. An engine humming and metal clattering. Rachel tested her eyes by opening them a little, which seemed to be okay. So gradually the eyelids expanded, fluttering open until they could see a shutter being opened. Like that of a garage door, but merging two rooms into one. It ascended awkwardly, the cheap looking metal partially bronzed from the rust. But that was nothing when the contents of the hidden room were revealed. Rachel now wished for the dim bulb to be the only source of light again. The other half of the basement floor was loaded with bodies.
     
    Bloody, torn, dismembered, and all tinged with a blueness. It was a true house of horror. Limbs strewn everywhere, blood decorating the walls and floor, pools of crimson puddling the ground. The faces of several dozen corpses were frozen in fear. Their last moments must have been terrifying. The smell was otherworldly. A taste of hell. Rotting, faeces, urine, sweat, blood, and a rancidness that had not been given a name in this world. Rachel couldn't hold it in any longer. Like a volcano needing to erupt, she exploded. Vomit fell from her mouth in a stream of yellow. Lumpy chunks splattered. The sick washed Rachel's legs in warmness which disgusted, yet simultaneously pleased her due to the warmth the sludgy substance brought. The purging continued until Rachel's stomach was completely empty.
    “Poor baby, some just can't handle it,” Clarice laughed, standing where the shutter had been.
    Now Rachel was petrified. Death was inevitable. Globules of sick clung to her dress. Slick golden trails travelling down her smooth thighs. Rachel knew it was cliché, but the question had to be asked.
    “Why are...have... you doing this?” Tears rushed down her face, soiling her cheeks in saltiness.
    “Why the hell not? Plus these little shits deserved it,” Clarice was so callas, it irritated Rachel.
    “They did nothing to you!” Rachel spouted uncontrollably. But immediately regretted the outburst after remembering the room mate was mentally unhinged.
    “Oh really?” Clarice stepped through the brutalised bodies. Bones crunching, limbs squeaking, she walked over them as if nothing more than dog shit in a park. Clarice lifted a head from the mountain of corpses. Veins dangled from the neck, along with loose skin. Rachel almost threw up again. Until she was overtaken with an emotion even stronger than nausea: sorrow. Rachel immediately recognised the thick sandy hair, matted in blood. Fragments of bone and brain matter wrapped in strands of hair. The usually tanned skin now white as snow, with navy arteries scribbled across the features. But the eyes, they were the worst. Usually full of love and laughter, portrayed undiluted fear. Although it was in such disarray, Rachel knew who the head belonged too: Sandra. Her best friend.
     
    Hope had been cruelly stolen from Rachel. The drizzling of optimism was gone.
    Her room mate had killed her best friend. The very same room mate that she had come out to rescue tonight. How ironic. Rachel clenched each fist and sealed her mouth shut. She wanted nothing more than to yell profanities at the girl. But that would more than likely result in an excruciating death. If Rachel was to get revenge and justice for Sandra, and all the other corpses in the room of slaughter, she had to outsmart Claire. Clearly this woman was not mentally well. Claire suffered from multiple personality disorder. There was a chance that Claire had no idea that her alter-ego was murdering half of the campus. But Rachel didn't care. Claire would pay.
    “What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Don't let a little pussy take it when I want to tear it out soon,” she winked.
    Rachel fought to express loathing. Instead keeping her face stiff and emotionless.
    “What a brilliant idea!” Rachel found herself saying.
    Claire, or Clarice, was beyond shocked.
    “Oh really?” Clarice dropped