Journalstone's 2010 Warped Words for Twisted Minds Read Online Free PDF Page A

sonogram’s screen? I need to go a little further into your wall than I estimated. Don’t worry, I’m not charging you any extra for this, and I’ll have everything patched up.”
    Vaughn had no idea how Malik’s message had managed to still be in his phone, and he’d never spotted it. But, it hadn’t been the first time that a voicemail for him went into the wrong inbox.
    “It’s probably nothing but me needing to get this equipment checked,” said the dead technician that now lay emaciated before him. “But that mass of whatever the hell it is...I could almost swear that it’s moving.”
    Something that might’ve been a hand once appeared from the hole above just as Malik clicked off, the sexless voice stating that there were no further messages. The fingers were mummified, but Vaughn could make out the smudged diamond bracelet on its wrist as yet another brick fell away. There was a piece of black plastic, which could only be from the garbage bag Ted had used, caught in it.
    When he saw the tendrils of gray hair emerging from the dark hole, Vaughn summoned everything within him to scream. The most he could manage was a wet mumble, his vocal cords like knotted cables. Edina, prying loose a cluster of plaster, finally had enough space to turn her dirt-encrusted face toward him. He wasn’t sure if the rodents had been responsible for gnawing away most of her face (before learning what she really was). So very little of her feature remained. The empty black sockets of her eyes, which had seen nearly every form of pestilence known to man, gazed down at him ravenously.
    If she had any lips left, she’d probably start licking them right about now, Vaughn thought as the famished crone began lowering herself from out of the hole.
     

 
     
     
Death by Darkness
By Jasmine June
     
     
    Emily Young peered out of her bedroom window into the darkness that lay just beyond the border of her back yard. Her body trembled with uncontrollable fear as she caught glimpses of the shadowy figures lurking in the thick air, creatures that were darker than the night itself. Their eyes were blacker than anything she had seen; two spots of emptiness nestled within more darkness.
    Emily hated the night. She knew other girls that were afraid of the dark, as well, but not like she was. Her friends made her feel silly when they came over for slumber parties. Ten years old and still sleeping with a night-light? At least she wasn't one of those kids who wet the bed.
    The hair on the back of Emily’s neck suddenly stood up, as if lightening were in the air. She could feel something watching her as she slowly turned her head. The hallway light had been turned off while she was looking out the window, and she hadn’t noticed. Those dark eyes, like tiny black holes that threatened to suck everything into their existence, peered out at her from the vast emptiness beyond her door. The creatures hissed at her, just a few feet from her bed. She quickly turned back to the window, shaken and terrified, but knowing they couldn’t enter her room so long as the light was on.
    Emily's father Rob came into the bedroom. The sight of his daughter shaking as she stared out her window was still something to which he had yet to grow accustomed.
    “Emily,” he said gently. “Come away from the window, sweetie.”
    He watched with a breaking heart as his daughter turned to face him with her blue eyes misted with tears.
    “It's okay, darling. You can sleep with the light on, and everything will be fine.”
    “I want to light the candle, too,” She said, glancing around him into the hallway. “And, can we leave the hallway light on?”
    Rob felt his patience wane.
    “I've already explained to you that the candles are a fire hazard.”
    “Please, Daddy. It's fine. Nothing is going to catch fire. I'm always very careful.”
    Rob frowned. He knew that if he pushed this, a tantrum would ensue.
    “Fine,” he stammered. “Light the damn candle.” He