Oceans

by D Kershaw

  Website: www.ShellyJarvis.com

  Cold Shower

  by V.A. Vazquez

  She cranked the faucet hard to the left and took a step backwards, reaching for the shampoo. But her foot didn’t settle on the acrylic floor. It plunged down into nothingness and took the rest of her along with it. Ice-needles punctured her lungs as she sank into the arctic breathing hole that had opened up in her shower.

  She struggled to swim upwards, the fluorescent light trembling just above the water’s surface, her mother’s knocking on the bathroom door muffled. Something wrapped around her ankle—hard and brittle, like keratin—and tugged her down into the bottomless black water.

  V.A. VAZQUEZ writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance. She currently lives in Glasgow, Scotland with her husband and small doggo.

  Website: www.vavazquez.com

  Patiently It Waits

  by J.W. Garrett

  Pieces of the gigantic glacier had been falling back into the ocean for decades. Now larger chunks were returning to the sea. The material encapsulated during the last ice age predated humanity.

  Bones of animals long extinct escaped from their icy graves. With them, a prehistoric virus never exposed to mankind trickled through the water, searching for its next host.

  Next victim.

  Among others, fish, whales, birds, sea lions and clams ingested the pathogen. Stored now, it lurked, mutating, while it waited for more suitable, complex organisms to attack.

  Defenceless against its unknown wrath, death for the people was certain.

  J.W. GARRETT has been writing in one form or another since she was a teenager. She currently lives in Florida with her family but loves the mountains of Virginia where she was born. Her writings include YA fantasy as well as short stories. Since completing Remeon’s Quest-Earth Year 1930, the prequel in her YA fantasy series, Realms of Chaos, she has been hard at work on the next in the series, scheduled to release August 2020. When she’s not hanging out with her characters, her favourite activities are reading, running and spending time with family.

  Website: www.jwgarrett.com

  BHC Press: www.bhcpress.com/Author_JW_Garrett.html

  The Undertow

  by Jim Bates

  I watched as the guy and his girlfriend stopped walking along the shore and started yelling at each other. It was like the undertow was waiting for them. She threw up her hands and stormed into the raging surf, kicking at the waves until she lost her footing. It was then the undertow took hold and dragged her out to sea. The guy swam after but floundered close to where she struggled and he was swept past, their arms outstretched and grasping, their fingertips nearly touching. Then they were gone, and all I heard was the sound of something laughing.

  JIM BATES lives in a small town twenty miles west of Minneapolis, Minnesota. His stories have appeared online in CafeLit, The Writers’ Cafe Magazine, Cabinet of Heed, Paragraph Planet, Nailpolish Stories, Ariel Chart, Potato Soup Journal, Literary Yard, Spillwords (Dec, 2019, Author of the Month), The Drabble, The Academy of the Heart and Mind and World of Myth Magazine. In print publications: A Million Ways, Mused Literary Journal, Gleam Flash Fiction Anthology #2, the Portal Anthology and the Glamour Anthology by Clarendon House Publishing, The Best of CafeLit 8 by Chapeltown Publishing, the Nativity Anthology by Bridge House Publishing and Gold Dust Magazine.

  Website: www.theviewfromlonglake.wordpress.com

  Night Watch

  by Alyson Faye

  Fountain Reid perched in the crow’s nest of The Hesper, on night watch. Senses straining. The whistling might have been the wind, but Reid knew different. He heard the wet slap of flesh on deck. He skimmed down the rigging, knife between his teeth.

  Behind him a voice, sexless but sexual, whispered, “Man of water...join us.” A tongue licked his neck. Slime dripped down his collar.

  Hands snaked around his chest and Reid leant into the salt-stained embrace; letting go of loneliness.

  Then whipping round, knife blade gleaming, he slashed.

  The siren wailed her death song.

  ALYSON FAYE lives in the UK; her fiction has been published widely both in print anthologies - DeadCades, Women in Horror Annual 2, Trembling with Fear 1 &2, Stories from Stone and in ezines. Her Gothic story, Night of the Rider, is published by Demain in their Short Sharp Shocks! E book series, and Demain have just published her crime novella, Maggie of my Heart. Her work has been placed in several competitions, read in podcasts, and is available as downloads. She performs at open mics, teaches, edits and attends horror conventions.

  Website: alysonfayewordpress.wordpress.com

  Twitter: @AlysonFaye2

  The Holy Sea

  by Eddie D. Moore

  A mist of salty water washed over Luca as he peered over the edge of the bow. A large unblinking eye just under the surface of the water stared back at him. Reverence kept Luca from looking away. He couldn’t imagine how large the creature was or how it swam so fast.

  Luca heard screams behind him as the ship came to a sudden stop, and momentum sent him over the guardrail and into the sea. He glanced back once at the tangle of tentacles that pulled the ship under and swam as he prayed fervently to his newfound god.

  EDDIE D. MOORE travels hundreds of hours a year, and he fills that time by listening to audiobooks. When he isn’t playing with his grandchildren, he writes his own stories. You can find a list of his publications on his blog or by visiting his Amazon Author Page. While you’re there, be sure to pick up a copy of his mini-anthology Misfits & Oddities.

  Website: eddiedmoore.wordpress.com

  Amazon: amazon.com/author/eddiedmoore

  An Ocean in Motion,

  the Emotion of Moana

  by Steven Holding

  I hadn’t seen the sea (or maybe it had not seen me?).

  Backs of postcards, holiday snap scrapbooks; ponds, muddy puddles, overflowing sinks.

  None seemed to satiate my need. Stranded in the city, it felt beyond my reach.

  To remedy this immediately, I set off in search of the beach; trudged to the edge where the land ceased to be.

  My God! Such beauty! Flooding my vision, broadening my horizons, feasting my eyes upon its infinite magnificence.

  Exhausted, I slept upon the sand.

  Dreamt that the seven oceans simply disappeared.

  Awoke to silence.

  And remained afraid to open my eyes.

  STEVEN HOLDING lives with his family in the United Kingdom. His stories have appeared both online and in print. Most recently his work has featured in the collections ‘TREMBLING WITH FEAR YEAR TWO’, ‘SPLASH OF INK’, and the anthologies ‘MONSTERS’, ‘BEYOND’ and ‘DARK MOMENTS - YEAR ONE’ from Black Hare Press. He is currently working upon further short fiction and a novel.

  Website: www.stevenholding.co.uk

  Attack of the Sea Serpents

  by Wondra Vanian

  Take a cruise, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.

  Wrong.

  Of course, they probably meant cruises that weren’t under attack by enormous sea monsters.

  Lorelle clutched her weapon (okay, steak knife—it was a cruise!) as one of the slimy creatures slammed into the locked door. A razor-sharp spike sliced through the cheap wood.

  Somehow, Lorelle’s wild flailing managed to nick the thing. Green blood oozed onto the floor. She celebrated a moment’s victory before the thing reared back and charged again.

  Next year, she thought, I’m going to the Grand Canyon.

  Wood splintered.

  If I live through this...

  WONDRA VANIAN is an American living in the United Kingdom with her Welsh husband and their army of fur babies. A writer first, Wondra is also an avid gamer, photographer, cinephile, and blogger. She has music in her blood, sleeps with the lights on, and has been known to dance naked in the moonlight. Wondra was a multiple Top-Ten finisher in the 2017 and 2018 Preditors and Editors Reader’s Poll, including the Best Author category. Her sto
ry, “Halloween Night,” was named a Notable Contender for the Bristol Short Story Prize in 2015.

  Website: www.wondravanian.com

  A New Friend

  by Wendy Roberts

  Tracey didn’t expect to find a friend at the bottom of the ocean. She also didn’t expect her foot to be wedged between two rocks that shifted when the eel she took photos of swam past it. But here she is, stuck between a rock and a hard place as her oxygen hits that red line. Staring into the four eyes of a beast three times her size. Four of its tentacles shove the rock off her foot as another wraps around her waist. Tracey’s hope that it’ll swim up is shattered when it dives further into a dark hole.

  WRITING SHORT STORIES and novels started as a past time for Wendy Roberts and has now become a fully fledged passion. She posts short stories on her website and can be found most days on Twitter.

  Website: flippinscribbler.com

  Twitter: @_WARoberts

  Finding Closure

  by Wendy Roberts

  Everyone suggested that Tanya visit his grave. That it would help give her some sense of closure. So, here she is, over three thousand feet below sea level, staring at her father’s corpse that’s rotting in this wreckage. Tears roll down her face because she’s not sure how this makes it any better. It’s an image that will forever be seared into her brain, even as she reaches for the pocket watch with the photo of her parents placed inside. Sure, it’s probably ruined, and sure, she shouldn’t be taking from the dead. But she doesn’t have anything left, so...

  WRITING SHORT STORIES and novels started as a past time for Wendy Roberts and has now become a fully fledged passion. She posts short stories on her website and can be found most days on Twitter.

  Website: flippinscribbler.com

  Twitter: @_WARoberts

  Death Wish

  by A.R. Johnston

  “You know it’s dangerous to sit there?” a voice spoke from behind him.

  “I do. But life is boring without that element of danger, don’t you think?” came his reply as he continued to stare into the watery depths from a gangplank, watching as sharks did lazy circles beneath his feet.

  “And if one of those sharks decides to jump and eat you?”

  He laughed, standing up, a wobbly balance on the plank.

  “All the better. But why don’t I give them some sport?”

  He winked and dived. Screaming, she raced to the railing.

  “Damn shifter with a death wish.”

  A.R. JOHNSTON is a small-town girl from Nova Scotia, Canada. She is known to write mostly urban fantasy, though she goes where the muses lead her and you never know where that may be. She is a lover of coffee, good tv shows, horror flicks, and a reader of good books. She pretends to be a writer when real life doesn’t get in the way. Pesky full-time job and adulting!

  Facebook: arjohnstonauthor

  Website: arjohnstonauthor.wordpress.com

  Sole Survivor

  by Matthew A. Clarke

  As I lie here on this sun-baked rock, brushing crusted salt from my arms, the bodies of young and old float lazily around me.

  I know you might be thinking I should consider myself lucky, that I’m still alive. You’re wrong.

  My passengers, dead.

  My crew mates, dead.

  It returned for the few that had managed to get some distance in the life rafts, too.

  At this point, death would be a mercy, but I’m too weak to do it myself.

  A tremendous tentacle rises from the darkness to snatch another body.

  Soon, it will be my turn.

  MATTHEW A. CLARKE is a new face in the world of horror. He has been writing short fiction as a hobby for two years and has decided to share his passion with likeminded people. Matthew loves all things that go bump in the night, having been introduced to slasher movies at a young age. He lives on the South Coast of England with his fiancé, Isabelle, and a little dachshund called Frank.

  Facebook: matthewaclarkeauthor

  The Decoy

  by Amber M. Simpson

  They found the girl, naked, knee-deep in the water, as they took their morning stroll.

  “You okay?” called Kevin as they approached.

  “Where’re your parents, sweetie?” Nicole questioned, scanning the deserted beach.

  The girl remained mute, staring out at the waves. With looks of concern, they waded towards her and draped a towel over her shoulders. Almost immediately, they felt in unison, a cold slimy grip around their ankles.

  No time to react, they were jerked off their feet and dragged screaming beneath the water.

  The decoy shuddered, the form losing its shape as it dissolved back into the ocean.

  AMBER M. SIMPSON is a dark fiction writer from Northern Kentucky with a penchant for horror and fantasy. Her work has been published in multiple anthologies, as well as online. She assists with editing for Fantasia Divinity Magazine, where she’s gotten to work with many talented authors from all over the world. While she loves to create dark worlds and diverse characters, her greatest creations of all are her sons, Max and Liam, who keep her feet on the ground even while her head is in the clouds.

  Website: ambermsimpson.com

  Facebook: authorambermsimpson

  Bermuda

  by Jasmine Jarvis

  The DSV slowly glides along the ocean floor collecting samples for scientific research.

  Silt suddenly engulfs the DSV, obscuring the view from the pilot window. When it clears, the crew stare out in disbelief, for materialising before them is a graveyard of aircraft wreckages, the terrified faces of passengers visible in cabin windows.

  A dark shadow descends over the DSV and its doomed crew within.

  The captain nervously stands by on the ship’s deck as the tech tries to regain comms with the DSV. A crackle breaks the silence followed by the terrified screams of the crew before cutting out.

  JASMINE JARVIS is a teller of tales and scribbler of scribbles. She lives in Brisbane, Australia with her husband Michael, their two children, Tilly and Mish; Ripley, their German Shepherd, and indoor fat cat, Dwight K. Shrute.

  Horse to the Water

  by Andrew Anderson

  Eirwen refused to stay in the field with the other horses at night, and no fence could be built which she didn’t leap over with ease. She should have proven lucrative to Iain McColm, but she never bore a rider.

  Little Shona was sent to find her each morning; Eirwen would be running along the black sand beach, chasing the waves, but exhausted and with salt encrusting her dripping white mane.

  Shona offered to sleep beside her one night.

  She became Eirwen’s first and final rider, as she ran into the foam to join the other kelpies—they never returned.

  ANDREW ANDERSON is a spare-time writer of microfiction, flash fiction and short stories, from Bathgate, Scotland. His work has been published on FlashFlood and Re:Written, and published in Black Hare Press anthologies.

  Twitter: soorploom

  The Sight of the Kraken

  by Clint Foster

  “Haul to starboard, I see it there! Hooks and harpoons, all hands man the rails and steel your spines for the sight of the wrath of the seas. Look! See! It is coming as the sea boils. An eye the size of an island, a mouth as big as the sky. Stand! Stand with your strong arms ready and your salty hearts full, for Davy Jones accepts nary a coward to his crew. The time has come to pay the debt we all owe to the sea, for now, the kraken comes to the surface to do battle with us.”

  CLINT FOSTER lives with his herd of four cats, beloved Basset, Zero, and wonderful wife, Nik. He loves to tell stories just as much as he loves to read them and is excited to share his work. A long-time consumer of media of all kinds, he enjoys giving back what he hopes everyone else thinks are good stories.

  Facebook: ClintFosterAuthor

  Lusana, Mermaid of the Deep

  by Vonnie Winslow Crist

  Lusana adjusted her costume, waited for the cr
owd to enter her tent. Parents were hard to find for a foundling suffering from sirenomelia, but Sheila and Butch of Zamundi’s Wonders had adopted her. Lusana repaid them by starring in their sideshow.

  “But I’m so lonely,” she whispered.

  At closing time, she climbed into her wheelchair. Rather than go home like usual, she rolled herself to pier’s end, gazed at the ocean, wished to belong.

  A merman appeared in the waves beneath her.

  Eyes filled with tears, Lusana spread her arms, leaned forward, and dived into the waters of her birth.

  VONNIE WINSLOW CRIST is author of The Enchanted Dagger, Owl Light, The Greener Forest, Murder on Marawa Prime, and other award-winning books. Her fiction is included in “Amazing Stories,” “Cast of Wonders,” “Outposts of Beyond,” Killing It Softly 2, Defending the Future - Dogs of War, Midnight Masquerade, Chaos of Hard Clay, and elsewhere. A cloverhand who has found so many four-leafed clovers she keeps them in jars, Vonnie strives to celebrate the power of myth in her writing.