A Twisted Halloween 2021

By Matthew Tonks

Step inside the madness as these 31 short stories send you on a journey of insanity, lost in the fevered dreams of a challenge that lived well past its life span. But don't be fooled, for this is a HALLOWEEN lost on the twisted roads of my madness, and it takes more than a sure footed saint to step inside, without kissing your arse goodbye.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Matthew Tonks
• Release date: Dec 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005986551

Matthew Tonks

Together we ride the steed of madness, along a road long foretold. Do not let the dire consequences scare you from this journey, for it is written, so it must be. We traveller. We explorers of otherworldly things. Let us share our providence, so we may all prosper.Hidden in the depths of it all, you will find your utopia, and it will be a beautiful sight to witness.For I may walk beside you, and I may carry your umbrella in the sun, just don’t expect me to dig you up, when the zombie apocalypse comes...

Book preview

Danny Long Legs

Well I’ll be hogtied, it’s Danny Long Legs! he says as a twinkle glimmers in his eyes and a soft smile draws itself across his wrinkled lips as he looks over the photograph that Clare passed him.

D-D-Danny Long Legs?

Sure as hell is! We used to sing songs about him when we were kids, not that D-Danny Long Legs w-was his name, it’s just what we called him back in the day on account of his long legs. Harry says as he hands the photo back to Marilyn with a shaking hand. To be true I don’t think I ever knew his real name, but t-the fella in your photo can’t be your guy because he’d be dead by now, so I’m sorry you made the trip all the way up here.

Clare looks down at the photo and bites her bottom lip, then looks up at Harry once again. What if I told you this photo was taken last week.

Harry looks at her and chuckles softly, Shit girl for that to be Danny he’d have to be at least a hundred and fifty years old, and from what I’ve seen so far in my long life, that’s pretty much impossible, not looking like that anyway. Maybe he’s his kin, but there ain’t no way it’d be him.

B-But what if it was him, what if he was even older than one-hundred and fifty years, or even two-hundred! What then?

Then I’d be telling you that you’re the one that needs to be in one of these places instead of me. he scoffs as he thrusts a thumb over his shoulder with a playful wink.

T-Tell me about the song you used to s-sing as a k-kid? she asks nervously.

It was just a song, the kind kids sing to make fun of other kids. he grunts as he forces himself to his feet uneasily. It won’t solve any mysteries for you Clare, it’ll just open new ones, so stop looking for answers in the past, because they ain’t there. Now if you don’t mind, I-I-I, I have to have my afternoon nap, you’ll understand naps more when you’re my age, he says as he turns and shuffles away.

Danny, Danny, crawling on the wall. Danny, Danny, taller than tall. Danny, Danny, under your bed. Danny, Danny, he’ll make you dead! Clare coarsely sings off-key. Harry stops in his tracks and slowly turns back to her, his eyes bright and alive once more as they dance with energy.

I knew he’d come back one day! I-I-I, I told Duncan, I told him that he was just sleeping, that he wasn’t really dead. Harry says excitedly as he scrambles back and snatches the photo from her hands. Was this taken down at the old mill, or at the toy factory?

She stares at him for a few moments, almost dumb founded by the questions as her bottom lip trembles and her gaze moves past him.

He slaps her across the arm with the photo, Come on girl, don’t come all this way and get my hopes up just to clam up in the end game. Where is the devil?

I-I-I, I never sh-should’ve c-come, I-I-I, I led him to you, she says as she looks at Harry, terror written across her face. T-T-The so-song, i-it wasn’t the k-kids who sang it, w-was it? she asks nervously, but she didn’t need to wait for Harry to answer the question as the lights flicker and a raspy voice starts singing. Danny, Danny, crawling on the wall. Danny, Danny, taller than tall. Danny, Danny, under your bed. Danny, Danny, he’ll make you dead!

A Pot Not For A Plant

Silas slowly creeps over to Robbie’s side and flexes his finger like an insect wiggling its legs then reaches gently for the bucket, before snatching it from Robbie’s hands.

Children, he hisses through clenched lips as he shakes his head in disappointment. The sprout must be given life through love and nurture, not with violent assaults that leave it near death each and every time you touch it! he growls then looks over to the withered plant and cups it’s fragile frame in his free hand. Hush my little one, he knows not what he does.

P-Please, Robbie stammers. P-P-Please give me another c-chance, I-I-I promise I’ll d-do better this time!

Silas looks down at him with a screwed-up face, before he pulls the plant from the pot and tosses it across the yard, with a thud it hits the dry brick wall and drops to the ground in a lifeless heap. Robbie’s eyes dart back from the plant and into Silas’s hate filled eyes.

You will do better, or I will toss you to the side next time, he hisses as he folds his arms across his chest and stands sternly over Robbie. NOW! Clean up this mess, replace the soil, and find me a sprout that calls your name!

C-C-Call’s m-my name? Robbie stutters.

Have you failed already by not trying, or have you failed just by wanting to try?

I-I-I, I don’t get the question or the t-task, s-so how can I fail?

By doing this, what you are doing now, you are failing. You must try regardless of understanding, and only then will you succeed.

Robbie’s lips quiver and curl, then he thrusts himself forward and grabs the lifeless plant from the ground and holds it high into the air. FUCK YOU OLD MAN! FUCK YOU AND YOUR RULES! KEEP GOING AND I’LL K-K-KI…. his words trail off as the plant’s roots twist and turn