Free Frightmares: A Fistful of Flash Fiction Horror by Unknown

Just like your father.”
    Fear laid heavy in my soul.
    “And you. You ,” she howled. “Always questions. Sick hope! Have you any idea what it’s like, living like this? Living the pretense of human life, day in, day out?”
    The deranged truth of my entire existence–of hers–was inescapable now. Anger flooded my fear, sweeping me upright to meet her wild stare. Tensing for battle, my fingertips ached to rupture talons and shred her to extinction. But I would not let myself become her.
    I turned away, and went to bed.
    A quake of slamming and bashing ensued beneath me. And then, the mother I never had, was gone.
    Carrie Anne Martin is a freelance designer and writer, born in West Yorkshire, England. She now resides in Ontario, Canada, with her husband, young daughter, and three fur-balls.

AND THEIR NAMES WERE...
     
    BRIAN J. SMITH
     
    Girlfriends? Yeah, I have lots of them. Tiffany, Sarah, Jessica, Mary, Angela and Olga, the beautiful foreign exchange student from Russia.
    My new girlfriend’s name is Erica. She has long blonde hair, green eyes and a body to die for; thick lips and a pair of breasts the size of two beer steins. I first met her a year ago, in a little café on campus. I accidentally bumped into her table and almost spilled her mocha latte; I put my hand over the top to keep it from spilling. After my initial apology, I offered to take her to dinner but she sighed, picked up her laptop and coffee and left.
    I kept my distance, following her to the parking garage. She got her key in the door and had unlocked it when the sedative I slipped into her coffee took effect. I rushed forward to catch her before she could hit the pavement and carried her to my mini-van.
    Did everything work out? She’s here with all the other girls, her own nametag right on top of her cage. Tiffany, Sarah, Jessica, Olga, Mary and Angela, and now, Erica.
    Brian J. Smith has been featured in The Horror Zine, Darkest Before The Dawn, Crooked and The Flash Fiction Offensive and such anthologies as Living Dead Press' Book Of Cannibals 2 and E-Mails Of The Dead and And Now The Nightmare Begins...Vol. 1 The Horror Zine . He currently lives in Chauncey, Ohio and cheers on the Ohio State Buckeyes.

THE BEAUTY OF DEATH
     
    CRIS KEUGGAR
     
    Her screaming intensified along with the blood, flowing crimson with a sharp odor of lingering iron.
    I loved it.
    Over and over she was stabbed until her stomach was torn, leaking out horrible smells and liquids mixing in and diluting her dark red blood.
    No longer would she be able to smile, or light up a room with her beauty. Her face would soon be torn, her lips, lashes, and creamy complexion gone.
    I would personally be gouging out her eyes with a hot, needle-sharp knife. IfI was lucky she might even still be alive and shrieking as the burning steel punctured through her iris .
    Her screaming continued.
    Her stomach was wide open now, putting on a show for us as we watched her gleaming and still-pulsing organs dance along with her heart beat.
    I reached in and caressed her warm and delicate essence. I grabbed a strand of intestine, pulling it out and letting it fall to the ground with a thud.
    I knew she was dead only because her screams had subsided and her body no longer twitched or squirmed.
    My smile vanished; disappointed that she would not be able to fully enjoy the performance, let alone be able to feel her very flesh being stretched and ripped from her gorgeous skull.
    I turned in trembling anger, forcing down a scream of my own.
    Death was such a beautiful thing, it’s such a shame that the dead cannot witness their own death.
    Letting out a sigh, I simply moved on to the next girl in line. The woman’s daughter. This time I would refrain, take my time, let her linger. My smile returned as I held up the knife and her shrieking began.
    Cris Keuggar was born in a small town with no apparent and important facts that have given it an enormous reputation or bold name on a map.