The Girl Who Was Always Single: A Short Horror Story for the Dating App Age

By S.M. Perlow

Amy hasn’t had a serious boyfriend in years, and all her dating apps aren’t helping.

Vampires, gunslingers, and... sharks—Amy’s dark and twisted imagined explanations for her bad luck provide some comfort. But as the relationship disappointments mount and the coincidences pile up, she can’t help wondering: Could the worst of her made-up explanations be more real than fiction?

• Language: English
• Publisher: S.M. Perlow
• Release date: Feb 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370910106

S.M. Perlow

S.M. Perlow writes dark and historical fantasy novels. He strives to tell powerful stories that are deeply human. Learn more about his series, Vampires and the Life of Erin Rose, and other works, at smperlow.com.

Book preview

The Girl Who Was Always Single

A Short Horror Story for the Dating App Age

S.M. Perlow

A Bealion Publishing Book

Copyright 2017 S.M. Perlow

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Editor: Stefanie Spangler Buswell, Red Adept Editing Services

Cover design: Streetlight Graphics

Formatting: Polgarus Studio

smperlow.com—updates, social media links, and more information about the story

1.0.5

Works by S.M. Perlow

Vampires and the Life of Erin Rose

Novels

Choosing a Master

Alone

Lion

Hope

War

Short Stories

Alice Stood Up

—

The Grand Crucible

Novels

Golden Dragons, Gilded Age

—

Other Works

Short Stories

The Girl Who Was Always Single

Contents

The Story

Connect Online

Works by S.M. Perlow

January 8

Through the drafty halls of a thousand-year-old castle in northern England, a fit man with carefully trimmed brown hair, inviting blue eyes, and well-defined, cleanly shaven cheeks carried a thin sealed envelope. At the door to the great hall, he straightened his charcoal-gray suit jacket that had been tailored perfectly to his tall frame.

The man, the organization’s secretary, pulled open the heavy iron door to the cavernous room. Forty gorgeous finely groomed suit-wearing men sat on each side of an ornate wooden table. The secretary marched toward their leader at the far end, every step of his shoes echoing off the stone walls and ceiling. The men all kept quiet, for they had already made their decisions.

Cauldrons of flame gave off light. High-definition televisions on stands back from the table gave more. Each screen showed a room full of men waiting patiently. They had already cast their votes, as well.

The secretary reached the head of the table.

The leader—neat salt-and-pepper beard, chiseled features, billionaire owner of the silver Lamborghini parked askew half on the lawn out front—asked, loudly enough for all in the room and all listening remotely to hear, The decision has been made?

The secretary held out the envelope and answered just as loudly, It has been.

And it is unanimous? The leader took the envelope.

It is. The men here—he gestured to the screens—the men joining us from afar, all the men in all the world, are in agreement.

Including… Dave? the leader asked.

The secretary raised an eyebrow.

Last time we did this, the leader said, Dave, the waiter from Sydney, didn’t vote.

Ah. The