365 Short Horrors

D o you ever have those dreams where something you're experiencing is so terrifying that you try to scream, but no sound can manage to escape? Imagine something like that were to happen to you outside the realm of fiction. Something that described that exact feeling was happening to me right now. I was unsure as to where I was, nor did I have any recollection of how I'd gotten there. The last thing I remembered before waking up here was falling asleep in my bedroom, as I usually did. I'd went to bed earlier, as I had to work the next day before the sun came up. I'd set my alarm and drifted to sleep. As of right now, I was sitting against the far wall of a white room. From the foam padding that lined the walls, I could only assume this to be some padded room in a mental institution. The one peculiar thing about this room, however, was a clown standing away from me in the far corner. The clown wore a ruffled shirt that had several large patches that had varying colo...

D riving is usually a relaxing thing for me to do. Pushing my foot down softly on the gas and feeling it move only as fast as I tell it to, makes the car feel as if we are one. Watching over the road and carefully maneuvering over past the curves is almost second nature to me at this point, it's nearly effortless. There's only one thing that bothers me when driving that seldom happens. Traffic. Traffic was what I was stuck in the middle of and I hated every moment of it. I was in the center lane of a three lane highway. I stood slightly to see over the car in front of me to see how long the line of cars went on for. I saw nothing but a seemingly endless line of cars before me before the road swerved to meet a turn sharp enough I could see nothing past it. I looked to my left when I saw some movement. Somehow the left lane wasn't as packed as the other two lanes. There was no opening in between cars, but the cars were moving at a rate much steadier than my own. I peered ...

T here I went, typing away at my keyboard. Every click of the keys felt familiar, like a song welcoming you home, or a lullaby that carried you gently to sleep. There was nothing quite like the clacking of the keys. I loved it.  I typed and typed on my keyboard, overjoyed to see the works I'd drawn out in my head coming to life with the bold lettering of the sharp font this page on the website provided. I loved every moment that I could be lost within the maze of words, drawing everything out in vivid detail with the simplest of letters the world could provide. The works I was creating gave me the same feeling a pianist would have, with every press of a key, a beautiful note. With every word a rhythm. With every paragraph a melody. Until the work could be completed and what you're left with is a piece glorious enough that the mere thought of it crossing your mind would cause your heart to melt.  All the work you'd done finally paying off as more people outside yoursel...

T he night was cold, not a single star looming overhead. The only object shining in the night sky was a moon, half blanketed by the darkness. I could hear the seemingly endless path of dead leaves crunching beneath every step I took. From the single breeze that managed to chill me through the two jackets I had on, I knew one thing for certain, I was ready for the summer to come back and greet me with open and warm arms. Unfortunately I'd have to brave several months of the cold before the relief would come. I was walking on the sidewalk that trailed down beside a busy Main Street. The street almost always had a seemingly endless string of cars going in either direction. It was a street that one way, the way I was heading, lead to town, while the other lead somewhere that I wasn't completely sure of, as I'd never been down that way. The direction I was walking was a long stretch of sidewalk before the turn, which thankfully didn't involve me crossing the street, whic...

I never believed anything the news had said once they started spreading rumours of a virus that was serious enough that the government was shutting everything down, though nobody had ever reported getting it. Though I new my family greatly disagreed with me at that, there's no way I would ever believe a ridiculous claim like they'd said a week ago. Apparently there was something that severally malfunctioned at the factory that produced the turkeys that just about everyone would buy for Thanksgiving. My only question was, if that were true, why had they not been recalled and had dozens of them floating around the grocery stores every time I went? Without hesitation, I grabbed one a few days ago to prepare for the family members I had coming to my apartment for Thanksgiving. I'd spent all day preparing it. I didn't prepare much else because all the others that were coming were going to prepare a dish or two of their own. It meant less work for me, so of course I agre...

S ome nights it's difficult to fall asleep, especially without a small light. It's not that I'm afraid of the dark, I just don't like the idea of blindly feeling my way around if I decide I need to get up and use the restroom or something. Which is why my heart nearly stopped when I went to turn on my lava lamp I turn on every night, suddenly didn't turn on. Out of panic, I double checked the wiring, made sure it was plugged in, checked the bulb, everything I could think of to see what the issue was. And finally, I found it. The bulb had burned out. I went to my mom to see if she could get me a new light bulb from the store. I unscrewed the bulb carefully, and handed it to her. "Isn't there any way you can sleep just one night without a light?" she asked. I shook my head. She starts this same thing every time the light I keep on in my room at night suddenly stops working. It was getting a little irritating at this point. Yes, I was seventeen, but...

W hen the lights went out throughout my house, I hid beneath my kitchen table. I held my breath as the creature drew nearer.  I have no idea where this monster came from, but I can say with absolute certainty that it was the most terrifying thing I'd ever laid eyes on. It was shiny and purple with four long spider-like legs that appeared almost spiked on the ends. The head of this creature looked like that of a woman's face. It's face was pale with piercing, cold blue eyes. The size of it was nearly as tall as me, a five and a half foot man. The noise it made was indescribably blood curling and inhuman. The shrieks it let out was how I knew it was even here. Maybe thirty minutes ago I'd heard it coming from my basement, which a door in my kitchen led down to. I threw the door open and the thing must've heard the door creaking because it's head turned to me and it sprinted up the stairs at full speed as it let out its terrifying shriek. I was lucky to have ...

C hristmas morning was cold to wake up to. I got up from my bed and hurried to the window. I was filled with excitement, as the realization of what day it was struck me. I pulled the curtains back from my window. I smile spread across my face as I saw a snow covered world outside. I knew I had to play out there and build a snowman after I open presents. I know, a sixteen year old guy, still being excited for Christmas? Anyone else my age, the magic is gone for them. For me, however, there still seems to be something beautiful about Christmas that I can't quite explain. I went downstairs to find my parents in the living room, sitting around the television while sipping out of their coffee mugs. Of course there had to be a Christmas movie on. I know I like Christmas, but Christmas movies are annoying to me. They're too cheesy. "Merry Christmas!" I yelled, creeping up behind them. My mom jumped a little. My dad took another sip from his cup and turned to me. "Me...

H aving nothing to do tonight, I got in my car and drove to the dollar store to buy a DVD to watch. I made my way over to the electronic section of the store, just past the food aisle. I squeezed into the aisle, the shelves on either side feeling almost too close together to comfortably walk down. I was thankful there weren't that many people inside, making the chances of anyone coming down the aisle the same time as I, to be very unlikely. At long last, I made it to the small section of the shelf where some DVDs were on display, while others were stacked on top of each other in a completely disorganized manner. Nothing on the displays seemed to interest me at all. They seemed to be either children's movies or cheap rip-offs of popular movies. I grabbed a handful of DVDs from the disorganized pile and sifted through them. I stopped and put all the other DVDs back on the stack as one in particular caught my eye. The movie that caught my eye appeared...

A fter hitting the final keystroke to end my short horror story, I took a glance over it before realizing it was perfect enough to send to the one best friend I have that enjoys reading any kind of works I come up with, Alex. I saved it and sent it to her over text. About ten minutes later, she got back to me. "Was that me as a main character?" she asked. "The way you described her sounds just like me, the shoulder length red hair, the short and petite body." "Okay, you got me," I replied. "I based the main character on you, but it was only because in my head, how the story played out couldn't have been anyone else." "Well thanks, I'm flattered. But why did I have to die to the killer at the end?" "I dunno. It's a horror story, there has to be a dark twist at the end." "Anyways, I liked it. You should post it on your blog, it's really good." "Thanks, I think I will." I grabbed ...

N ever before had I ever understood what people found so scary about clowns. Even standing here, watching this short, chubby clown juggling bowling pins, I felt nothing even resembling fear. My friends, on the other hand, informed me that something felt off about him. I noticed nothing out of the ordinary about this clown. Nothing other than the fact that his eyes were locked on me. Even though he was clearly smiling, the look in his eyes was nothing but concern. Perhaps I was one of the first few people he'd met that he couldn't mesmerize by his clown talents? I moved over to the right of this small group of people I was in that surrounded and watched the clown. His eyes were still on me, his body, nor his face, following suit. I now understood what my friends meant, this clown was truly giving me the creeps. I backed away slowly, hoping he wouldn't follow. When I knew I was safe, I casually made my way over to my friends, who were over at a game stand that was set up on...

T here I was, soaked in sadness while sitting in front of the television. There was some kind of sitcom on. I wasn't paying much attention to it because tears were blurring my vision while dark thoughts of my now ex swirled around my head. Tom and I had broken up last night. It started with me saying I needed some space. We were spending as much time together as we could. I didn't hate it, I loved being around him. He made me feel safe and loved at all hours of the day. He held me when the storm clouds were raining over my head on my darkest days. He did everything he could to make me happy. But after a year and a half, I missed having time to myself. I tried to explain this to him, but all he heard was I wanted him to leave. I could see it in his eyes that my words broke his heart. His eyes went from sadness to anger as he told me I was a horrible person and that all he ever did was love me. He walked away. No matter how many times I called out his name, he never turned back...

H ere it was, mid day on a Sunday and we had nothing to do. The power was out because my dad had called an electrician to fix the wiring so he can work on writing his dumb book. How did they expect two 14 year olds, like me and my friend Luke, to find entertainment indoors? "Can you think of anything to do, James?" Luke asked. I shook my head. We didn't have much to do in this small town. The town we lived in was mainly dominated by farmers. There's nothing in this town but restaurants, churches, and a park that hasn't been fixed up in probably longer than I'd been alive. Luke toyed around with my Rubik's cube, twisting and turning it, but to no avail. He stared blankly at the ceiling, tossing it up with one hand and catching it with the other. "Dude," he said, turning to me after catching the cube. "Remember that massive cornfield you see when you first come into town? That's not that far right?" I shrugged. "I guess n...

T alking on the phone with the Pettington family, I never would've thought they would be living in a decrepit old house like this. The house I stood before looked like it was from a horror movie. The wood that held the house together looked so old it was bowing with some jagged looking splinters sticking out. You could hardly tell the house had been painted, outside of the small stretches of white paint that had nearly completely been stripped away over the years. It was a two story house and the top center window behind the balcony appeared to have a large jagged crack, leading from the top corner down to the bottom center. With a house like this, it's no wonder they decided to call an  electrician . Any wiring in this house mustn't have been touched in thirty years. After one last glance at the house, I stepped to the back of my electric company van and grabbed some tools to assist me in checking the wiring. I shut the door and made my way down the broken concrete path ...