Free Twilight Nightmares (Twisted Tales Special Edition Book 1) by Jay Wilson Page A

phlegmy growl scared Jeff into silence. “You know what’s not funny? Murder.”
    “ Wha —what are you talking about?”
    “Come on, man, I know what you did.”
    ”I didn’t do anything.” He lied.
    “Ten years ago, long before this filthy place was called Club Comedy, you performed on stage. Your name back then was Ricky Robin, a new performer just starting in the trade.”
    Jeff swallowed hard. He’d taken considerable effort to rid himself of that old name, and even more effort to rid himself of the memories associated with it.
    The man continued, “The crowd wasn’t impressed with your performance, if you could call it that. Shit, if they could make a Viagra pill for comedic performance , you’d need to down the whole bottle.”
    “What do you want from me?”
    “I want my book of jokes back.”
    Jeff’s free hand immediately reached for his right pocket, which bulged with a square formation. He squeezed the book, and his heart pounded even heavier than before.
    “What book?”
    “Don’t play stupid with me.” The man said, “You know what I’m talking about. You know who I am, and what I want.”
    Jeff shook his head.
    “Don’t fucking shake your head! ”
    “How did you—”
    “Shut up! Just shut up!” The man screamed, and then calmed his voice. “You know what? How about I just take the book? You know, they say that when people die, they take with them all the things they have on them at the time. If you hadn’t stolen my book, if you’d killed me with my book…”
    “Gerald…”
    “Ah, now you get it.” The man said, and coughed hoarsely into the phone. He wheezed a bit and said in a rough phlegmy voice, “Do you have any idea what it’s like to burn to death?”
    Smoke suddenly began to billow from the under the door. Yellow light flickered behind it, a constant flash of lightning from a violent thermal source.
    Jeff dropped the phone and ran to the door. He snared the handle and pulled as hard as he could, but it resisted. He placed his hand on the frame and attempted to use brute strength to tear it open.
    Whumpwhumpwhump !
    Two nails pushed through the frame, one of which burrowed its way through his hand. He screamed, let go of the door, and coughed. After removing his hand from the nail, he backed away.
    Eventually, the fire broke through and began to spread through the room. He back against the far wall. Soon, the flames reached him, and they licked him voraciously as if his skin were the sweetest, most savory flavor ever tasted. He screamed in pain as his clothes caught fire and his flesh began to boil. He breathed deep, and the flames entered through his mouth, destroying the flesh on its way down. From the inside, the heat burned and burned, eventually causing so much pressure that his midsection distended. A moment later, he exploded, taking the book with him to the afterworld.

Moirai
     
     
     
     
    Within the golden bars of light,
    Nestled just outside in the frigid day,
    I found me wanting, where some thoughts
    Led to perseverance of wicked dreams
    Slithering as whispers from my blue lips.
    And I sat there, drinking from the ground,
    Coffee as thick as mud, steam billowing forth.
    That's when she exited through the door,
    And all seemed warm, though the day had mingled
    With the nightmares from wintery demons.
    I smiled warm, and she rightly back.
    A new sip of my brew seemed so much colder now.
    I said, how do you do, thoughts full of life,
    She replied with her temperament—delighted and fair.
    I was enamored by her comity to my brevity of courage.
    She neither acquiesced nor ignored, simply answered.
    That was the day I met my wife, a future of love,
    Where dreams no longer seemed somber, even when
    The darkness gloom hung in the blackest of nights.
     
    Fifteen long years, a marriage slowly torn asunder.
    Not by the demons of the night nor by dragons of dreams,
    Only by the dissonance of lives unequaled entwined and
    Embittered by angelic reveries never to