Micro Fiction Horror
These are the stories of 100 words that intrigue us most.
* 90% Beef by Kamran Connelly
* My Mother's Eyes by Leslie Wibberley
* Melted by Deanna Davidson
* The Dead Ones by Andy Hawthorne
90% Beef
by
Kamran Connelly
Day ninety-three, they call off the search. Twenty-seven missing children over three years. Same story, no clues, no bodies recovered.
The news report plays on TV as they flood my restaurant, famished from their exhaustive effort. Local cops, out-of-state marshals, alphabet agents.
They all want to taste my famous burgers.
A plump cop comes back for seconds, the ketchup of his first burger still clinging to the corners of his mouth. “I’ve been hearing about this joint for a few years now. What’s your secret?” he asks.
I laugh, “I could tell you. But you wouldn’t believe me.”
Kam’s short story BLOOD BANK due to be released by Baynam Books and DEATH BED INC accepted by Twisted Dreams Press, is published online at The Horror Tree, Trembling with Fear, WitCraft, and T. Saunders publishing for his works of fiction. Has poetry featured in three anthologies, a novella featured in the Paul Cave Prize for literature. And is shopping around his debut novel, The Extinction Process.
My Mother's Eyes
by
Leslie Wibberley
I have my mother’s eyes.
I never wanted any part of her, especially not her eyes. Her cold, unforgiving eyes. My sister insisted it was my duty, as the oldest, to take them. I agreed, but only for a year.
Today marks the anniversary of Mom’s death.
Washed-out blue and glassy, her eyes float in the jar of formaldehyde. They’ve shrivelled to half their original size, but even depleted like this, their judgemental gaze still has the power to make me cringe.
I dump them into the toilet and press the lever, smiling as they disappear.
Such a fitting end.
Leslie Wibberley's work has been published in multiple anthologies and literary magazines, including Pulp Literature and the Bram Stoker-nominated anthology: Not All Monsters, and has placed first in Writers Digest's Annual Competition and Popular Fiction Awards, the Chanticleer International Book Awards, and the Pacific Northwest Literary Contest. She is represented by Naomi Davis of Bookends Literary.
Melted
by
Deanna Davidson
The light of a burning candle hypnotizes me, controlling my mind. I relax, body slumping, eyes unfocused on everything except the whispering flames. They lull me into submission, and I wonder how they would feel against my scared hands. I plunge them into the fire, welcoming the soft tingles dancing across my skin. Heat licks my fingers, charred flesh crackling like sparklers. Melted flesh drips from blackened bones, gathering in the wax pool, blood turning it red. The trance evaporates, releasing my mind from hypnotic shackles. Pain replaces warmth with icy shards. I scream as my bones turn to dust.
Deanna has received a Bachelor's Degree in English: Creative Writing at California State University, Northridge, as of May 2025. Her work has been featured in Sword & Kettle Press, Mythulu Magazine, Northridge Review, ParABnormal Magazine, Flash Phantoms, Milk & Cake Press, Vine Leaves Press, and Five Minutes.
The Dead Ones
by
Andy Hawthorne
Will Bennett talked to dead people. The departed wandered, confused and needy. He sat in the park, smoking. The first one approached: a middle-aged woman. “Can you help me?”
“No. You’re dead.”
“Am I?”
“Yes. You’ll drift off soon.” He exhaled smoke.
“You’ll be here soon.”
Will spun around. A tall man with black eyes and purple veins sneered at him.
“You what?”
The man swung a gleaming, razor-sharp axe. Will ducked, but he was too slow. His head exploded in an arterial spray of crimson.
The smoke from his cigarette rose silently, joining the ghosts in the morning air.
Andy Hawthorne is a 61 year-old indie author from Coventry, England. He usually writes comedy. He has six published novels on Amazon. But sometimes, he wanders into the shadows.