Terrorscape

By Vanessa Finaughty

Can’t decide between horror and thriller? Chill your bones with thrills from this three-part anthology including flash fiction, Lovecraftian horror and short stories.

Terrorscape brings you a full scope of terror, from abandoned buildings, sociopath chess players, neighbours from Hell and serial killers on nicotine withdrawal to whispering shadows, evil gardens, terrifying creatures, tormented writers and Bloody Mary.

Read it in the dark... if you dare.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vanessa Finaughty
• Release date: Jul 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9780620509015

Vanessa Finaughty

Vanessa grew up in Cape Town, and still lives there with her husband of fifteen years, her baby daughter and plenty of furry, four-legged ‘children’. Her passion for the written word started her career as an editor and copywriter, and she part-ran a writers’ critique group for close on seven years. She's been writing ever since she learnt how, has always been an avid reader, and currently lives on coffee and cigarettes. Her interests include reading, photography, the supernatural, life's mysteries and martial arts, of which she has five years’ experience. Review copies of all Vanessa's books are available upon request, and fans are welcome to email her at [e-mail] - she loves to hear any type of feedback and answers all emails personally. *** Please note that Vanessa uses UK spelling and grammar, which is not always the same as US spelling and grammar.

Book preview

TERRORSCAPE

Vanessa Finaughty

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Vanessa Finaughty

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting this author’s hard work.

Many thanks to:

Fellow author TC Southwell for editing this anthology.

Fellow author Alphya Cing for formatting this anthology.

TERRORSCAPE

Vanessa Finaughty

PART ONE:

FLASH FICTION – HORROR/THRILLER

Keepers of the Board

Justice

Mother’s Garden

Fall from Grace

It’s Called Pain

PART TWO:

FLASH FICTION – LOVECRAFTIAN HORROR

Untold Nightmares

Curse of Fear

Canis Canem Edit

PART THREE:

SHORT STORIES – HORROR/THRILLER

Abandoned

Quitting Quitting

PART ONE

FLASH FICTION – HORROR/THRILLER

Keepers of the Board

If I sit like this for much longer, I’ll die – from boredom – even if I win the game. Perhaps that’s his plan: bore me to death before I can checkmate him and trap him inside a chess piece. My opponent has been sitting across from me, his eyes roaming the chessboard, for almost half an hour, and I’m becoming impatient for him to make his next move. Mainly because my butt has gone numb from the hard wooden chair at his dining room table. No matter how expensive the wood – solid oak, in this case – the chairs are still uncomfortable after a few hours.

Drumming my fingers on the table doesn’t seem to annoy him, nor does sniffing and blowing my nose louder than I need to. Actually, I don’t need to blow my nose at all, but I thought he may just hurry up and make his move if he thought an infectious disease was lurking in the air. Coughing and clearing my throat doesn’t break his concentration either. I’ve tried sighing, too. I adjust the strap on my blouse and lean back, twirling my long brown hair and trying to ignore the stench of compost wafting in through his lounge window.

Oh boy, he’s reaching for a pawn. Holy cow, he’s making a move! I lean forward, ready to checkmate, but he leans back again with a frown. Oh for crying out loud, it’s not like the man has any chance of winning this game! I have him; there’s nothing he can do to avoid defeat. I think he’s doing it on purpose – to annoy me, to suck the joy out of winning. Not that I could get much joy out of checkmating him – he’s a surprisingly lousy chess player, considering our families have been at it for generations now. I’d have thought his parents would have drummed the tactics into him better. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. The stakes are far too high for me to complain about a sure win.

I frown and briefly contemplate my callous acceptance of playing the game simply because it has always been played. Well, ever since I’ve been alive to remember. The result of a prank that the great-great-great-grandfathers of both families had played on the wrong person. We don’t even know what the stupid prank was anymore, but its consequences – the death of a witchdoctor’s sister – did warrant some sort of curse, loathe though I am to admit it. Although, to visit the sins of the fathers upon generation after generation of the families involved does seem a bit overboard to me. I’m guessing it was done in blind anger. Either way, it can’t be undone unless the conditions are fulfilled, especially since the witchdoctor in question is now long dead.

The rules are simple: the winner of each game frees a family member of their choice, provided that piece has not been captured during the game, from one of the otherwise-clear glass pieces darkened with their trapped souls. The loser replaces the freed soul. The winner chooses who to free simply by removing all remaining pieces at the end of the game – save the one containing the soul to be freed. The ultimate loser will be the family with no