Screams & Dreams

By Matthew McCain

Fear what comes next. From Matthew McCain comes a terrifying, mesmerizing collection of stories that will grab you from the first sentence and linger well after the final page. From madmen lurking in the dark to monsters in the night, McCain’s stories will plunge you into the darkest corners of his mind while forcing you to keep the lights on deep into the night.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796034660

Matthew McCain

Matthew McCain is the author of a dozen books including The Hunting, Scribbles: A Drug Story and Just Under Nine. He lives in Hooksett, NH.

Book preview

SCREAMS

VILIFIED

T he outside light turned on instantly, lighting up the entire front yard and looming woods of the Gehrisch’s home. The LED light was so bright; it shined right through the front windows and into the living room, waking up fifteen-year-old Katie Perkins, who was sleeping in the recliner right near the front door.

Before leaving, Mr. Gehrisch informed Katie about the light, telling her that it’ll turn on if so much as a chipmunk runs across the yard. Mr. Gehrisch’s word echoed in Katie’s mind and stopped her from thinking it was much of anything else. Course—with the exception of snakes—she wasn’t afraid of much. She had been through a lot in her young life and was an adult much before she needed to be, which is the main reason why the Gehrisch’s hired her to watch the house while they were gone for the weekend.

While the light was on, Katie reached for her phone and checked the time. Rolling her eyes in disappointment because it was only quarter past twelve, she also noticed that she only had one bar of service. But because of how deep in the woods the house was, she wasn’t completely surprised by the lack of reception she had.

The Gehrisch’s house was on a dead end road deep in the woods, with the house being the very last home on the street. With the closest neighbors an unreasonable distance away, the home was surrounded by complete silence. The Gehrisch’s liked it and so did Katie from the very first time she went to the house and met the family. She also loved the house itself too. Everything from the master bedroom on the second floor to the dining room next to the kitchen. The only thing she didn’t like was the basement. She found it to be more on the creepy side than anything else, especially the bulkhead door that led directly down to the basement.

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When the light shut off, the living room went dark again along with the rest of the house. When it did, Katie gave serious thought to falling back asleep on the comfortable recliner. But she was the kind of person where once she was up, she was up. If she got tired, later on, she would try to sleep again, but it was highly unlikely she would be able to.

Letting out a significant and tiresome yawn, Katie lifted herself out of the recliner and made her way into the dark kitchen. The two small nightlights plugged in on opposite sides of the kitchen were dim but just bright enough for Katie to see where she was going. Once she got to the wall just across from the kitchen, she flipped the switch for the two large bright lights over to come on.

The kitchen filled lit up like a Christmas tree, instantly dissolving the shadows. Once Katie’s eyes adjusted to the harsh reality of the lights, she walked over to the double door refrigerator and pulled them open, revealing an utterly full refrigerator.

The sight brought a smile to her face as she looked around. She was always conscientious as to what she ate, but after seeing all the different types of food, she couldn’t resist the urge to indulge for once. And so she did. She took hold of a cold candy bar first. Then a few chocolate strawberries and a tall glass of milk followed.

Once she got all of her goodies in her grasp, she carefully made her way back into the living room. She knew right away the amount of sugar she was about to eat could ultimately cement she wasn’t going back to sleep, but that was fine with her—Mr. Gehrisch said they’d arrive back early in the morning.

Katie was only able to get one bite out of her candy bar when she realized how quiet the house was. Back at home with her three brothers, she was always searching for any silence, but could never get it. Now that she was all by herself, she wasn’t a fan of it, so she reached down to pick up the remote to the large T.V. in front of her.

But before it turned on, her attention was quickly taken—not by the man wearing a white mask looking at her through the sunroom window, but by her phone beeping. After another large bite of her candy bar, she walked over to her phone while the T.V. slowly powered on. She wasn’t surprised that her phone went off so late; most of her friends were always up late and this time was no exception.

Katie smiled when she saw it was her best friend, Anna. Like always, Anna started the conversation off with a statement instead of your typical ‘hello.’ And each time she would, Katie would roll her eyes and laugh no matter what kind of mood she was in.

Anna: How’s the house?

Katie: Nice but quiet! They don’t even have a cat.

Anna: That’s good. I like it quiet.

Katie: I don’t think you’d like it this quiet girl. I could hear a mouse fart around here. But the fridge is locked and loaded so I guess I can’t complain.

Anna: Sounds like you’ll be staying in for the rest of the night then, girl.

Katie: Yeah, thanks for the invite though. If you see Noel there, make sure you kick him once for me will yeah?

Anna: I’ll be sure to do a lot more than that.

The volume being up so high forced Katie to look up from her phone and to the large screen. But, instead of going back to her phone, she kept her eyes on the screen. And once the man noticed her do that, he threw down Anna’s bloody phone and headed toward the front of the house.

Katie was looking at an episode of Forensics Investigations. She had never been a fan of the show, and she sure wasn’t all by herself. She sat back down on the couch and flipped the channel to the comedy channel. Once it seemed like a good program was on, she put the clicker down on the coffee table and bit into one of the chocolate strawberries, while the front light turned on again.

If her phone didn’t go off in her pocket, she would’ve noticed the light, but she was more focused on her pocket, hoping her boyfriend Wes would be contacting her. She hadn’t heard from him since their fight two days ago. She pulled it out and