Twisted All To Hell
Page 1
Twisted All To Hell
J E Moore
Copyright © 2014 J E Moore
ISBN-13 978-1499536867
ISBN-10 1499536860
Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com
Table of Contents
Dedication and acknowledgement
Number One Munching Lane
Murder in the Fourth Dimension
A Fowl Covenant
The Southernmost Ghost
I am the President!
I had a Dream
X 2 4 1 B
The Devil's Fog
Code name: Pandora
GARAWN
RED EYES
Bad Bones
The Green Flash
'Til Death Do Us Part
Reset
Game Over
Into the Above
Dedication and acknowledgement
"I think I can do this."
"You can do anything you want," she agreed.
This book is dedicated to Joyce, my wife and soul mate who has loved and supported me in all my endeavors.
This is what she does.
We shall share this victory together.
And... a special thanks to my friend, Gary Chapman for his proof reading and insight.
Twisted all to Hell
A macabre compilation of bizarre and ponderous short stories featuring a Twist within. Fifteen are a combination of Science –Fiction (Sf), Supernatural (Sn), Horror (H), Occult (O), Fantasy (F), Adventure (A) and Paranormal (P), with two accompanying Paranormal (Pt) tales based on true experiences.
Number One Munching Lane
A young girl's encounter with the macabre cuisine at a nineteenth century children's orphanage. (H)
Murder in the Fourth Dimension
A criminal is drawn into the future to stand trial for a murder he hasn't committed - yet, and beats an infallible Justice System. Or did he? (Sf)
A Fowl Covenant
A man's infatuation with birds turns to demonic trickery and foul play. (P,H)
I am the President!
A U.S. president faces his deranged, cannibalistic countrymen after a nuclear war which he caused. (Sf)
The Southernmost Ghost
A true life personal encounter with a ghost who still haunts in Key West, Florida. (Pt)
I had a Dream
A bitter-sweet, black parody of life if the South had won the American Civil War. (F)
X241B
A man realizes the horrific, full impact of his motorcycle accident. (Sf, H)
Code name: Pandora
A deputy U.S. marshal pursues a group of scientists who have discovered astronomy data which originates from the Edge of the Universe and drives people to suicide. (Sf)
The Devil's Fog
A (true) supernatural shark attack in the Devil's Triangle. (Pt)
Garawn
A husband's and wife's encounter with an immortal body-snatcher in the 21st century. (Sn, H)
Red Eyes
Time's up for a man who sold his soul to the Devil and the anguish of another whose clock is winding down. (Sn)
Bad Bones
Santeria magic's effect (resurrection) on twin brothers born in the Deep South. (O)
The Green Flash
Two exotic flower hunters pass through a portal created by a Green Flash and find the Utopia on the other side is not what it appears to be. Then, there's the surprise upon escaping and returning home. (Sf)
'Til Death Do Us Part
An introverted, bitter, reclusive, rural nineteenth century woman unwantedly becomes the oldest person to ever live due to her being hyper-frozen. She successfully escapes her new gawking world through death. Or does she? (H)
Reset
A senior citizen's retirement home in a pleasant, future neighborhood is being burglarized. The man decides to take action - only for the reader to discover his life and world are not what he sees. (Sf)
Game Over
Every night in dreams a man shares a death for which he was responsible, one of six former employees. Over and over the horrors intensify, grow and repeat until a game changing end. (H)
Into the Above
An expeditionary team from a civilization living underground is sent to the Above to find the source and stop a toxic gas flowing down into the Colonies. (S-f)
Number One Munching Lane
The year was 1902. The location was the Marlbury Orphanage in the countryside outskirts of the bustling, ever-expanding birthplace of American independence: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The converted institution, originally constructed in 1841 as a hospital and sanitarium for disabled war veterans, had been adeptly administered by Mister Silas Huntington and his loyal staff for the last twelve years.
Times were good. Overall, America was prospering - the adoption rate had been going well for the children of six years or under. However, sometimes the older ones required a little different attention in order to dispose of them...
"Mary had a little lamb, little lamb," Katie sang softly to herself. "Its fleece was white as snow." She was a happy child, as happy as one could be while growing up in a crowded, county orphanage filled with a hundred other unwanted or unclaimed little souls. Katie was ten years old which was four beyond the prime-select age group. She reasoned and was resigned to not having been, nor her ever being placed with a foster family due to her frightening shock of orange hair and dull brown eyes. The 'new parents' always chose the youngest, prettiest or blue-eyed children first. That was the way it was - akin to picking the cutest kittens from a litter. Of course, the big ugly wart on the end of her nose didn't help matters either, but then everyone had some problem didn't they?
Katie dropped both her buckets onto the hard, packed dirt with a 'thud'. She then stepped up on top of the fruit crate, reached down, picked up one of the containers and threw its contents over her shoulder into the awaiting five-foot high, two-wheeled, wooden trash wagon. While doing so, she wondered if she would fortunate enough to see Mister MacIntosh today. Probably not, she had only a few minutes left before they rang the bell for class and he could arrive 'at any time' on these Monday mornings - weather, road and horse permitting.
It certainly was a treat for her when she got to see him. He'd open the padlocked, large, double gates in the rear of the compound, ride in, circle around and swap his empty wagon with the now filled, stinky one. He'd carefully replace the fruit crate right next to the new trash wagon: he knew a small person, usually a girl, was assigned to this particular chore. Katie had spoken to him quite a few times over the last couple of years and knew the fellow better than any other 'insider'. He was a nice, old Irish (whatever that was) man who had a heavy accent which she couldn't always understand. Sometimes if she was lucky, he would let her pet his horse, Cleo. It was fun. There were no animals allowed in the orphanage grounds, not even cats to kill the mice. The county welfare administrators were afraid some of the 'more aggressive' children would harm them. Once, long ago, she dared to ask Mister MacItosh if she could go outside the gates... to see what was there... and maybe touch a tree or something growing green, but he said, "Sorry, no, m'darlin'. I can't do that." Being a kind man and father, he went on to explain he would like to but if that happened he could lose his job and jobs were very hard for Irishmen to come by. She said, "I understand," but she didn't.
Katie threw the second bucket over; a few scraps caught the top edge of the buck-board and dropped back toward her, falling to the ground. "Oops." She jumped off her perch to retrieve them - no garbage could be left scattered about. Mister Huntington required perfection for everything. His rules demanded all children complete their chores with thoroughness or appropriate punishment would be applied. "This is not a high-class, city
slicker child care center," he lectured. "We will be neat and clean or else!" Katie quickly scooped the fallen items into the bucket. As she did her eye caught an unusual looking object lying on the ground between the crate and wagon. It appeared to be a short, beige, worm-like thing. She felt positive it wasn't anything she had brought. "What's this?" She picked it up, inspected and rolled it in her palm. It wasn't alive so she decided to dispose of it with her other trash. She was about to re-sling the bucket but then thought twice about it. Katie placed her unusual 'find' aside and decided to have a grown-up examine it. After all, it couldn't really be what it looked like could it?
While walking back to the main building and passing by one of the old brick classrooms her concentration was broken by Jimmy, who was beating erasers against the wall. She said what was logical to her, "Hello, Jimmy. Are you being punished again?"
"Nah, what makes you say that?" he answered in defense. "This is a 'good' chore, a reward. It shows that Headmaster Blackburn likes me," he falsely asserted.
"Yeah, sure," Katie dismissed and returned to staring into her bucket.
He noticed her preoccupation, "Hey, whatcha got in there? Something neat? A frog?" he spoofed. "Lemme see." Jimmy rushed over, peeked in then frowned, "Huh...?" Pulling out its contents and holding it up to the light he