Sweet Dreams | #PlaylistPrompt

Photo by Anselme Servain

There's a certain "truth" present within dreams. This "truth" is nearly impossible to find in the real world. This is due mainly because our inhabitions and fears are manifested plainly in front of us while in the dream.

Feel like you can't get through to a friend? You may dream about a brick wall. Go to bed hungry? You may dream that someone or something is eating you.

No matter how far removed a dream might seem to be from reality, I promise it's all interrelated. I know, because I'm the one that sends the dreams.

Oh, you thought I was human. 

Ha! 

Most people do. I look human; I suppose I feel human as well, but there's no way for me to know that with any certainty. I feel fear, loneliness, love, happiness, gratefulness and regret just like the rest of you, only, I've been feeling these emotions for eons now. 

Over the millenia, I've watched as prayers, wishes, hopes and daydreams are sent out into the ether each night. People wishing/ asking for better lives. Better luck for the ones they love. For safety. I can't answer their prayers, but I can send them beautiful dreams. I try to send them the good ones, but their human minds often distort my effort into something twisted. Stress and fear can ruin the best of dreams, and if you believe nothing else from this little essay, then you should believe that. 

So, as I listened to the prayers and hopes of generation after generation, I noticed there are a group of voices stronger than the rest. Humans call them Witches. Bruja. Čarodějnice. 巫婆. Cailleach. I could go on and on...

These ones are different. 

They ask for the nightmares.

And they pray to me. In fact, they call me out by name and request horrific visions of the future. My twin brother thinks these Witches are crazy, but that doesn't stop him from doing business with them regularly... Anyway, I'm getting off topic.

Sometimes, when I see a human man circling a Witch, I'll send him a dream to warn him away. It usually works, but not always. I saw something like this just the other day.

The Witch this guy was going after wasn't as bad as some, but she has a talent for the art of hexing, and that alone makes me worry. I feel a certain kinship with human men for some reason. Maybe it's because my body resembles one, so that's how I identify, (even though I'm technically far from human).

Anyway, I sent him the dream, he ignored it. (No surprise), and now I can't find him. 

I can feel every living creature in existence when they sleep, but I can't find this guy anymore. 

It's been three days.

So, I asked my brother if that poor man had passed through his gates. When you're the god of death, you eventually meet EVERYBODY. 

Thanatos said he hadn't seen the mortal I was speaking of. I remember feeling perplexed. If you weren't alive, or dead, or asleep, then what were you?

As a god, you'd think I'd be able to answer that question, but I couldn't. The only other thing I could think to do was find the Witch and see what she was up to. Maybe she'd done something to the guy, but still, I should have been able to find him when he slept. 

When I couldn't find her either, I decided to break into her apartment and snoop around. I found a grimoire laying on her kitchen table. A book of spells, but they didn't belong to her. 

There were chairs tipped over in her kitchen like a gust of wind had knocked them on their side. Papers were strewn about the area. I saw a dog's food and water dish, but no dog. No clothes in the dresser. 

I realized then that the Witch and the guy must have ran off. But to where? Like I said, I could find them in this universe --- there was no place to hide from me. Everything that lives needs sleep, and everything that sleeps eventually dies (that's where my brother comes in). There's no getting around it. Even immortals sleep.

Feeling annoyed and outdone by a mediocre Witch at best, I flipped through the grimoire and the answer became clear. The first page of the book said the following:

"There are seven ways to open a portal to another universe. 

I know two of them, but I wish I knew none."

"Hypnos" by Taner Ceylan

I tried looking for the page that told you how to open such a portal, (because I'm a god, and even I can't do that); but of course, she'd ripped it out. 

Can you imagine what might be out there? What they might be seeing right now? I mean, I've been alive for a long time and I've never figured out how to transcend my own dimension, and trust me, I've had time to think about it. 

In closing, let this be a warning to you. Sometimes, when I send you a dream, you might want to heed my subtle warnings. Other times, it may be the beginning of the greatest adventure known to both gods and man alike. Just sayin'.

Sweet dreams.

#100WordHorror ★ Marc Tizura

“Who sent you?”

The Crone that lorded over him demanded in a high-pitched quivery voice. He would have answered, but the Crone had ripped out his tongue and ate it before his eyes. 

“Tastes as sweet as candy, so it does,” The Crone announced with a witch’s cackle.

He opened his mouth to protest a flow of red life water came gushing, as did the only sound he could now make: a moaning cry. 

This sound drew on more cackles from the cartoonish hag that stood over him. He was told to stay away from the house on Crone Hill, and now, to his horror, he was finding out why. 

She racked her long jagged nails down his bare chest peeling up bits of skin which she quickly tore off and ate. He howled in agony; a watery choking noise which immediately drew more cackles from her. 

“Don’t have an answer? Well, don’t worry I will remake you, my sweet. You’ll be one of my dolls like all the others who have trespassed my hill.” The Crone whispered in his ear, her hot breath on his cheek.

In a flash, she clawed out his eyes. 

He let loose a howl as she cackled. Before the pain took him to the land of unconscious darkness where he would stay, he thought he saw a vision of a dark tower in a field of roses somewhere.★    

Marc Tizura is a published author. His debut novel was The Man from Grenin. 

He is also an actor and is the host of an awesome and always entertaining hashtag game on Twitter #tfteotw, which stands for "Tales From The End of The World". If ever you feel like playing, tune in to his YouTube channel and watch out for his weekly video prompts where he explains how to play.

Marc lives in Chicago, but don't worry, you can catch him on social media here:



Twitter (@areyouingrenin) 
Last but not least, don't forget to pop in and visit Marc's blog: MarcTizura.wordpress.com 

Everyday For A Month: Day 14

I know this witch lady that makes these cookies that give you superpowers for 24 hours.

I never believed anything like that could exist, but I went to her shop and I'd tried her regular cookies before. They were good. Excellent even. The rumors all said to stay away from her "Roulette Menu". Roulette, hence, when you bought one of these cookies, you couldn't be sure what you might be getting.

I ate a roulette cookie this morning. I'm still not sure what it does, but I feel like I've been hearing other people's thoughts all day.

Cycles

My step dad goes through cycles of inflicting horror and abuse. When he and my mom first got together, he seemed OK. (I will admit, there was never a time I thought he was a ‘normal’ human being; but when they first got together, I still assumed he had some semblance of humanity…)

I was wrong.

Less than a month after they ‘fell in love’, he ‘cycled’.

Me Trying To Outline ★ "The Water Curse"

Hi everybody!

I've decided to try my hand at writing a full length novel outline. (Somehow it came out as high fantasy, and I don't really write high fantasy...)

I'm pretty self conscious about my outlining capabilities, but I'm trying to get better at it. = )

I thought maybe someone might like "The Water Curse", or be able to use it for themselves if I posted it... 

It's probably crap. 
(If it is, let me know where I screwed up in the comment section... wink).

So, in closing, the following outline is free to use. 

Take it, dissect it, change it. Make a book or a story out of it... I hope someone can use it. <3 If nothing else, it might give you some ideas...



Thanks for reading!

Satanic Shrine In The Basement

(A Have Tools, Will Travel Story)

Hey guys, it’s Connor again.

It’s been a while since I’ve recounted a Have Tools, Will Travel horror. Things have been busy and tough. 

My girlfriend, Erin, broke her leg playing soccer and was stuck at home healing up. I took an evening job at a local supermarket to pick up the slack from her not being well enough to go to her job. 

It gets worse. 

While she was trying to let her leg healed from the nasty break, she got some kind of weird ass infection. Erin got sick and just keeled right off the couch. I came back into the living room with her cup of tea and found her on the floor.

I was horrified.

I rushed her to the hospital. 

That was four days ago. 

She’s been in a coma ever since. 

Glass Witch ★ Yawatta Hosby (Interview)

The dark, three story house loomed overhead as I stood in the property’s driveway. Droplets of water fell from above, threatening to undo the curls in my hair and the makeup on my face.

I propelled myself out of the rain and up the steps. The old wood creaked under my heels as I glided to the tall front door and unlocked the house.

Today was a huge day.

I couldn’t believe my good luck.

It was my very first interview for Wicked Shorts: a blog I hosted about speculative fiction, weird fiction and horror and the person I was interviewing was quickly becoming a personal hero of mine.

Yawatta Hosby was a strong, impeccably well written author of thriller and suspense novels. She was the real deal, and she’d be here in less than ten minutes.

Jacob's Will (Part Two)

Jacob explained to me that he’d done a ‘gettin’ sort of job for Tess. He’d hidden the trinket she asked him to get for her just before he died. And when he left the world of the living, he was the only person who knew where it was. His contract with her stipulated that he’d be bound to Earth in death if he didn’t:

1. Find someone to finish the job for him, or

2. Get whatever that Witch wanted himself.

Seeing as he was a ghost, it was going to be hard for him to go dig something up, so I would have do it for him and give the trinket back to the Witch.

It's Here!!!!

Whether it's around Halloween time, or one of the other 11 (boring) months out of the year; you are going to love these 13 stories from Avrin Kelly...

Dear Reader,

I present thirteen stories to horrify you, make you question existence, and even those around you. Thirteen tales of treachery, magic gone wrong and spells done right. Stories about people, just like you, who had a run-in with a Witch... or who are Witches themselves. 

You won't know who the villains are until the end. You won't know who the monsters are until they strike, but isn't that the best part about horror? 

The unknown? 

If you are feeling particularly brave, I encourage you to explore the uncanny world of Witches, with me as your guide. Snuggle down with this creepy read, and come with me into the depths of wickedness and strange magic. To a place where nothing is ever as it seems, where the danger could be lurking in the shadows behind you or right beside you, in the light. 

Thirteen tales of terror; every one of them involving a Witch...

Sneak Peak: TWINE (13 Wicked Tales Of Witches Book)

TWINE

My sister always had an obsession with string. She liked to play with it. Run around with it. Roll it between her fingers, tie bows around arbitrary things. 

Braid it into her hair.

I never really thought it was abnormal. 

Until some of the things she started tying up and wrapping bows around began to do strange things. 

Like her dead gerbil, Penny.

There are some that say we are bound to this world by some unseen thing, like our mortal coils. 

Coil. 

Sounds a lot like string, huh? 

COVER REVEAL YA'LL!!!!!!

I'm excited to report that "Feud" is finished. (Well, it's being edited now...) Thierry Adler is my favorite Warlock and I love to tell his stories. "Feud" is about Thierry's not-so-graceful run in with a rogue Magician named Mathis...

To be perfectly honest, "Reassignment" was supposed to come out first, but the Witch Goddess Hecate has seen fit to present me with other information... So, "Feud" it is.

Mathis Celsius has a tendency to play dirty, and with ugly things. He's been leaving a wake of trouble in his path through the South East Empire.

Thierry Adler has a penchant for thinking quickly in a sticky situation, but there's a limit to everyone's abilities, especially when things are falling apart for him back home in Galway, Ireland. He's got people bugging him to get back home and an otherworldly infestation to take care of in Gilkey, Louisiana, before people get hurt. But rather than cleaning up mess after mess, Thierry sees fit to go after the source. A Magician with way too much power at his fingertips.

Will Thierry be able to catch him before he brings the entire supernatural Community out into the open with his reckless abandon for demon magic? 

Can he complete the puzzle, cut off the Magician's power source and stop demonic hybrids with a taste for his flesh before he gets dead? I sure hope so.

Read it and see! July 15, 2017

Happy Reading

Avrin

P.S. I'm going to be posting the first chapter for a limited time in the very near future, so stay tuned, and thanks for reading!!!!

What I'm Working On Now...

James Knew

James knew he never should have slept with that woman. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that something had been off about her when she’d decided, (without any “convincing”), to go home with him Saturday night. James wasn’t a good looking guy by any means, but the girl he’d left the bar with, Kate, had been. Oh, she’d been so beautiful, James knew in his heart of hearts that somehow, there would be a catch. A price he would pay for actually getting what he wanted without any “extra help”. But, beggars can’t be choosers, and if James knew anything, he knew that.

Ms. Burgess's Pets

My name is Sam. I’ve been a handyman for about 25 years now. I retired not too long ago, but I still think of myself as being a man who fixes things for a living. I always will. What I’m about to tell you happened a long time ago, but the thought of it still haunts me to this day.