Festive
Frights
An Anthology of Holiday Horror Stories Written by 20 International Authors
Copyright © 2015 CW Publishing House
All rights reserved.
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to all writers who aspire to be published. Make connections, reach out to other writers, and dare to dream. This book was written by 20 people who came together in an online writing community and threw around ideas that became an exciting, scary anthology called “The Grim Keepers”. The team decided to reunite for this anthology, the second in a planned trio of holiday horror. We have some very established writers and some newcomers. Keep writing, keep believing, and keep dreaming!
ABOUT CW PUBLISHING HOUSE
CWPH was founded in 2015, dedicated to publishing CWC novels. Due to numerous requests, we have opened our doors to submissions from completed collaborative novels, and will work exclusively with collaborative novels written by two or more authors. CWPH has also arranged a number of Anthologies, with more to come. To learn more about our books and our authors please visit:
www.cwpublishinghouse.com
CONTENTS
Title:
Author:
A Very Marduk Christmas
- By Virginia Carraway Stark
Christmas Returns to Koptas
- By Laura Callender
Dammed for Christmas
- By Robert Mackey
Derailed Christmas
- By Sharon Flood
I'll Make It Next Christmas
- By Alex Benitez
Julbocken
- By Crystal M M Burton
Keep the Home Fires Burning
- By Rachel Fox
Let It Sleep
- By Christopher Broom
Nightmare on the Shelf
- By M. W. King
Our House
- By Kevin Grover
Season's Greetings
- By AJ Millen
Secret Santa
- By Jason Pere
Snowman
- By Eleftheria Chrysochoou
Snowmonster
- By Kaylee Kosakowski
The Hitchhiker's Christmas Gift
- By Robert Padan
The Holiday Box
- By Kathrin Hutson
The Holiday Butcher
- By Charlotte Rose Lange
The Nameless
- By R L Daman
The Wild Hunt
- By Tony Stark
A Very Marduk Christmas
By Virginia Carraway Stark
“Hey kids, gather around the Christmas tree and I'll tell you the story of Christmas.” Uncle Howard called the children into the room.
“You mean about the angels and the baby?” Lucy asked.
Lucy and Will had heard the story before, usually when they went to church but lots of times their Dad would tell them the story or read it to them from the Gospel of Luke. Will yawned and sat on the couch with a sulky air.
“I'm not going to tell you about the angels and the baby.” Howard said.
Will perked up his ears a little but was prepared to be disappointed. He didn't understand why so much of Christmas seemed to be taken up by being forced to hear the same stories over and over again.
“I bet it's a story about Santa and his eight shiny reindeer if it isn't about the manger and wise men and all that,” Will was eight and he couldn't recall a time when he had believed the silly lies about Santa being real. Trying to pretend to believe in the jolly fat man to placate the adults was exhausting but worth it, after all, there were gifts on the line.
Their Uncle Howard cackled and rubbed his hands together, “Ha! Wrong again, Will! There won't be any shiny anything in this story.”
“Elves?” Ventured Lucy.
“No elves, not in this one, but I know some stories about elves that would keep you awake all night,” Howard said rather smugly.
Will was becoming truly intrigued but he had heard a lot of Christmas stories that pretty much came down to, 'he knows when you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake'. It didn't seem to matter if it was Jesus or Santa Clause, the Christmas season was all about having adults lecture you about morality. Lucy was innately less skeptical than Will and she was excited to hear her Uncle's story even if she had heard it before. He always told the best stories. She had brought a plate of cookies in with her and Howard swiped a coupe from the plate and washed it down with the rest of his lukewarm tea. Lucy poured him a fresh cup. She liked her Uncle and liked to play hostess even though he was actually the one who was babysitting them. At the age of ten, she liked to imagine he was company instead.
“Before I get started, have either of you ever heard the story of Marduk?” Howard asked. Now even Will was curious.
“I don't think I've heard this one before,” Will took a cookie off the plate and munched it happily.
“Ah, I didn't think you had heard the story of Marduk. This is the real Christmas story, all the rest of what you know came thousands of years later.”
“Our story doesn't start on December 25, it starts on the darkest day of the year, usually the 21st of December but the exact date doesn't matter because I want to take you children back to a time much before the calendar. Can you imagine 4000 years? The story of Marduk and the sea of monsters goes back to even before that.”
Lucy started in her chair, “The sea of monsters?” She exclaimed.
Howard grinned his rakish grin at her, “Yes, my dear, the sea of monsters.”
“What sort of monsters?” Asked Will.
“Hideous monsters! Monsters the likes of which you can hardly imagine with the crap television you've filled your brains with. These are monsters that will drive you mad with a look at them.”
“They wouldn't drive me mad,” remarked Lucy in her most adult voice. “And we don't just watch television. I've read Lovecraft and he's always saying that there's a monster that's so bad it'll drive you mad and then he doesn't describe it. I don't think either one of you can imagine the monsters and you you just say they are unimaginable.”
Howard shrugged, “That's a fair observation. Very well. I will tell you about the monsters before I tell you about Marduk.”
“It's only fair since you brought them up,” Will pointed after taking a drink of his milk. He was trying to sound grown up as well but his milk mustache detracted from the entire effect.
“Bear in mind, this is an entire sea of monsters so I can't spend all night describing all of them,” He warned.
“I didn't ask for all of them,” Lucy chided. “I think saying 'unimaginable' detracts from the entire credibility of your story.
“You're right about that, young lady, but I do happen to know a thing or two about these monsters. Many of the are immense.”
“How big?” Asked Will.
“Bigger than the solar system. They are so big that if you saw one of them you wouldn't know what you were looking at. It would be like one of those pictures where they take it close up and you have to try to figure out what you're looking at. The ones that we could figure out with or tiny human eyes are just the little parasites and scavengers that feed off the bigger ones and their kills. They are hard to describe but I'll tell you about one of them to help the young lady who thinks I have a credibility problem.”
Lucy raised her eyebrows primly and sipped her tea. Howard continued, “I don't want you two telling your parents about this, the only reason I know about these monsters is because your Uncle Howard has done some considerably naughty things in his lifetime.”
“We won't tell anyone,” Said Lucy. “But I don't think Mom or Dad would be surprised that you had done something naughty.”
&n
bsp; “The monsters have mouths all over their bodies, filled with jagged, triangle shaped teeth. They have rows and rows of them, like a shark. This one in particular had a forked tongue in each of its mouths and an eyeball on each fork. He was the size of a hippopotamus but he was shaped like a slug, only if a slug was less shapeless than a slug,” Howard described.
“That's pretty gross,” Will said approvingly.
Howard wasn't done yet, “He had tentacles coming out between the mouths and he tried to use the tentacles to grab me and pull me into his mouths. Some of the tentacles were pale, like bugs under a rock and others were dark purple like an octopus. He oozed slime and everything the slime touched corroded. I had to replace the entire rug in my living room,” he added contemplatively.
Lucy opened her mouth to ask her favorite Uncle why he had such a monster in his living room but Howard continued before she had a chance, “As scary looking as the monster was, it wasn't his physical appearance that was so scary. It was the feel of him. He had tentacles of the mind as well as of the flesh and with those, he would try to get inside my head, try to make me have all the worst thoughts a human being can have.”
Howard, for a moment, forgot that it was children that he was talking to as he was so wrapped up in his reverie of the monster he had accidentally summoned one dark night, “They are there all the time, the sea of monsters. We can rarely see them, but they see us. They get into our heads and bring out the worst in us. Every grievance we have ever had they turn into a festering wound and they make us want to do horrible things.”
He shook it off and looked Lucy in the eye, “Is that enough credibility for you, Lucy? Can I go on to tell you about Marduk now?”
“Yes, Uncle Howard. I'd like to hear about how he keeps them away now,” Her eyes were enormous and her tea sat in her hands forgotten.
“Marduk, it was believed in the time of the Sumerians, did battle with a evil monster of chaos and darkness. Her name was Tiamet and she was dreadful in every way. He triumphed but she created the sea of monsters as her children in an effort to invade the order that Marduk put into the world. It was only after this monster was put away that time began and humans and other organized creatures were able to be put into the world. Before that, as soon as something was made, the chaos would rip them apart. It made doing pretty much anything pointless. Marduk put an end to the chaos but it wasn't a permanent end to it, it was in reality just a respite from chaos.”
“The darkness and the chaos push at reality every minute of every day. When the sun wanes and the year grows dark around this time of year, that's when the tide is the most against us. That's when the danger of their tentacles of despair and violence get the strongest.”
“Marduk was a great warrior and a hero as well as chief deity at that time. He knew that the only way to fight the chaos was with light and laughter and love. That was how he turned the tide the first time, and that is now what he taught all the people of Sumeria to do as well. He had a twelve day feast set up for when the days were at their darkest. He ordered the people to burn all the lamp oil they wanted and to stay up late having fun and telling stories of hope and valor. It didn't matter if they barely had any food, he told them to not worry about the rest of the winter but to feast on those twelve days.
The people loved Marduk and trusted him and so they had feasts and they gave each other presents and they laughed and they forgot about fights and feuds and loved each other, even if it was only for the twelve days. They burned bonfires and they stayed up late eating delicious food and they sang of Marduk and all the other glorious heroes of the time.”
“They did this because every year, when that tide of darkness and chaos rises, Marduk must go and do battle once more with Tiamet and her hoard of monsters. For every person that the sea of monsters is able to send into despair, rage or violence, Marduk loses a little bit more against the tide. He needs the light and hope of humanity to keep those monsters at bay. He needs people to believe in life and hope and charity because otherwise he loses ground and more evil seeps into the world for another year. The ocean of chaos makes our world darker and every year the evil spreads and more and more people lose their light and their hope.”
The children had been listening to the story in silence but when Howard stopped speaking, it was Will who piped up, “What happens if too many people lose their hope?”
“One day, if humanity fails in their task of spreading joy and light, all of the good in the world will be gone. The world will fall into darkness and the only ones left will be monsters with the tentacles of Tiamet's fell children cracking them apart more and more. Then the sun will be gone and all life will end.”
“That's a terrible story, Uncle Howard,” Said Lucy with a furrowed brow.
“It's a true story and why all humans know that when it is Christmas we forgive our enemies and we love each other. Even during world wars the armies would celebrate Christmas together, just for one day all the fighting would cease. But now,” Howard looked at Will sadly. “Now, even the smallest of children doesn't believe any of the stories. Now, the giving of gifts has had a tentacle shoved up it and people have turned it into the demanding for gifts.”
“I don't believe in Santa. It's stupid. He couldn't ever deliver toys to everyone in a single night,” Will said stubbornly.
Howard nodded, “It's true. No rational person would argue against it. It's the belief in such things that mattered, not the reality. It's the joy of belief that pushes back the tides of darkness, not what you believe in.”
Will looked thoughtful, “I don't know how to believe in anything. Everything is for money and that's all Christmas is.”
Their uncle was doleful, “It used to be the one thing humans were good at: believing in things. Now we've got a planet of hipsters who can't agree that the sky's blue. That's what you are, Will. You're an eight year old hipster.”
“I could believe in the sea of monsters and in Marduk pushing back the tide with light,” Will ventured, he didn't like being called a hipster by the uncle he admired.
“You do that, Will, every bit will help,” He turned to Lucy. “And you, young lady, how did I do at ensuring my credibility?”
Lucy got up and hugged her Uncle, “I believe every word.” She said with a smile.
He smiled back, “Then lets feast on eggnog and have some more cookies because it's the season, you know. The season to enjoy the fact that we all will all live to see the sun rise, at least for one more day.”
Lucy put the dishes on the tray and carried them into the kitchen. Will gave his Uncle Howard a spontaneous hug and a kiss on his cheek and went upstairs to brush his teeth.
He had to admit that his uncle's story had gotten to him more than a little. He opened the medicine cabinet to put his toothpaste away and glimpsed something dark out of the corner of his eye. He spun around but nothing was there except for the towel on the towel bar. He spat in the sink and rinsed his mouth out. Downstairs he heard Lucy exchanging a few more words and then her feet headed upstairs. He went to his bedroom and got changed. Everything seemed to be catching in the corner of Will's eyes tonight.
“That story was messed up,” He muttered under his breath. He turned out the light and climbed under the covers. He pulled them up to his chin. He was a big boy, he wasn't going to let his uncle's story freak him out.
Nothing felt very comfortable, he was too hot and then too cold. He kicked the blankets off and stuck one leg out of the blankets. He heard Lucy shut his door. Downstairs his uncle had turned on some quiet music, it sounded vaguely festive. The house was quiet except for the sound of the muffled music. Will couldn't think of why the story had gotten to him so much.
“I am not a hipster,” He said in the darkness. He didn't like that single look of judgment his beloved uncle had given him. It made him feel sad that he wasn't better. He wished he could be more like Lucy in her belief and love, but that was a girl thing. Boys had to be tough, even when they were still little boys.
Usually he felt like he was a big boy, but tonight... Will stifled a scream as something brushed against the foot he had put on top of the blankets. He was being jumpy. No, he was freaked right out.
Then he heard it, the soft sound of tentacles moving against each other and felt a weight on his ankle that quickly turned into a vice-like grip. He opened his mouth to scream, but too late, one of the multitudinous tentacles dropped over his mouth. Will flailed against them, punching out with his little fists and in doing so he gave the tentacles more chances to grab onto his other limbs. He tried to struggle, he tried to fight but he felt them filling him with despair and dragging him off into the darkness.
About Virginia Carraway Stark
Virginia Carraway Stark has a diverse portfolio and has many publications. Getting an early start on writing, Virginia has had a gift for communication, oration and storytelling from an early age. Over the years she has developed this into a wide range of products from screenplays to novels to articles to blogging to travel journalism. She works with other writers, artists and poets to hone her talents and to offer encouragement and insight to others. She has been an honorable mention at Canne Film Festival for her screenplay, “Blind Eye” and was nominated for an Aurora Award.
http://www.virginiastark.wordpress.com
https://m.facebook.com/Virginiacarrawaystark
Christmas Returns to Koptas
By Laura Callender
Astor perched high on the rocky ravine. He loved to sit on top of the land, where he was free to think. Teegan, his trusted Almanack—a cross-species of dragon and serpent—sat on a distant peak. His long body sprawled out across the unforgiving terrain, and he stretched out his long wings, enjoying the crisp evening air.
Festive Frights Page 1