There once was a young lad, just out of boyhood, who was loved by many women and made love to them in return. He was the son of a rather wealthy businessman, who was unaware of his son’s lifestyle.

The lad had made love to many women, and his unfaithful ways were known across town, whispered in the half empty mugs of angry fathers and jealous husbands, who dared not tell the father lest he accuse them of slander. So it went on for many days, until inevitably, one such tryst lead to a girl getting with child. When her father learned of this, he wasted no time in telling his fellow grandfather-to-be. Angered, the man summoned his reckless and wild offspring to him, and gave him an ultimatum; either he marry the girl and take responsibility for his actions, or be disinherited and cast out. He had until sunrise.

The young lad left that night, troubled, for he so enjoyed the life of a bachelor, but he also was unsure of how he should make his own way if he were to be disinherited. Certainly, he had friends, but would those friends stand by him in this troubled time? He doubted it.

As he drove down the road in his fancy car, he came to a stop at an empty spot in the woods, got out and began to smoke, thinking if there might be some other way out of this predicament. Then, ever so softly, he heard something shuffling about in the underbrush.

Curious, the young lad peered into the darkness, and saw nothing. He supposed it to be a fox or badger and was about to dismiss it when he heard more shuffling, this time much louder and coming closer.

The young lad again peered into the darkness, and thought he saw a shape climbing up the embankment. He thought it looked like a man crawling on his belly, so he called out to them. After all, why would someone be out at this hour, crawling on their belly?

As the crawling man came closer, his head came into the headlights glow, and the young lad saw the decaying, bloated face of a carcass. The face stared right back at him with maggot filled eye sockets, mouth hanging open to reveal a swollen, purple tongue that rolled to one side. Patches of skin were sloughing off, revealing grey muscle beneath and rotting teeth. And it was crawling closer and closer across the road.

Without a moment to waste the lad bolted back into the car, shoving his key into the ignition with trembling hands. But the car wouldn’t start, instead weakly sputtering and wheezing. The lad cringed as he heard the carcass crawling across the gravel road far quicker than he had expected, and kept trying in vain to start the car.

The door of his car suddenly and violently swung open to reveal the carcass now directly in front of him, silently reaching out a rotten, bony hand right for his ankle. The lad had but a moment before he tried to get out through the passenger side door when something grabbed roughly at the back of his neck and pulled him back, forcefully turning his head back to the carcass. And as the lad stared at those maggot filled eye sockets, he saw something just behind it that filled him with far greater terror.

“Bury this carcass by sunrise,” it and a thousand other voices said, “or we will take you to our own lands.”

The lad tried to scream but found his voice had left him, so he could only watch as the carcass clambered into the car and lay on his lap, both arms wrapped firmly around his waist. No matter how hard he tried the lad found he could not pull the carcass off him. Then the car door slammed shut, and the engine roared into life.

With not a moment to spare, the lad drove straight back to the town, intending to bury the carcass in the church graveyard. Along the way, he found another graveyard. Delighted, he stopped the car and was about to get out when he heard a tapping on his window. When he looked, he saw a young girl with long, stringy black hair and pale, dirty skin standing there.

“Take that carcass elsewhere,” she said softly, “for he is not welcome here.”

The lad, now as pale as the girl, started the car and drove off, not daring to look back. In time, he came upon yet another graveyard, and anxiously pulled in, hoping to finally be rid of the carcass. However, the first thing he saw was a tall man, as white as a sheet, standing in his way.

“Take that carcass elsewhere,” the man said in a voice like crushed stones, “for he is not welcome here.”

The lad, stunned now, did as he was told. And so it went on through the night, every graveyard he found, there would be a pale figure not of the living waiting for him, and he could not bury the carcass there.

Eventually, the lad, now thoroughly exhausted, could see the first rays of the sun bleeding over the horizon when he came upon yet another graveyard, just outside the town. The first thing he saw was an open grave with a shovel and pile of dirt next to it. Feeling the grip of the carcass go slack, the lad quickly pulled up to it, then hurriedly got out and dumped the rotted thing down unto the ground. Possessed by a demonic speed, the lad grabbed the shovel and began piling the dirt into the grave. As he smoothed the fresh soil gently with his hands, the sun peeked its head into the sky and he realized he was saved.

Returning to his father, the lad declared he would marry the girl. Within a few months he had done so, and lived a long, happy wedded life – though he was always wary of graveyards.

Cheater

Can you feel it? I know you can. That thing that when you wake up late at night shivering, it is watching. You try shutting all of the doors, windows and curtains, whatever. Just trying to escape the feeling; thinking it’s the crisp chill of the night. But you know you’re wrong. You try to take pills, drink, eat anything. It keeps you up at night though, causing you constant discomfort.

It wakes you up with a hot sweat nearly every night, looking around frantically, feeling sick with fright. It gets closer as you rub your eyes, clearing them of the blur. As you do so, it gets closer and closer till you can almost smell its pungent breath over your sweaty, red face. You know your time is almost up on this earth; but you don’t want it to have the satisfaction of ending you. You’re stronger. At least… you think you are.

You go to the medicine cupboard and take one last glance at your reflection on the mirror on it. The blinds over the bathroom mirror are swaying in the cool breeze, but the windows are all shut. Your eyes are bloodshot and bags hang from underneath them black as the midnight sky. You caress the cold touch of the mirror as you watch his eyes widen from the gloomy doorway behind you, a malicious smile now on his bony face. You reach into the medicine cabinet, and pull out a tub of sleeping pills. Hesitant, you remember what the people had told you.

“You can be around anything long enough to become tolerant of it.” you wonder if that works with the bad memories that still haunt you to this day. That is until you perish the thought and rest your forehead against the cool surface of the bathroom mirror. Your eyes begin to tear slightly, it just watches and anticipates the ending…almost like a brilliant horror film. The sort of stuff you used to like watching.

You open the tub taking your time, no escape now… it’s closing in on you. You signal it to stop with shaking hand. Its harsh smile soon turns into frown; but it does as you say. You reach into the tub and pull out a hand of pills. They were miniature, but “dosage of maximum 2 recommended a day” as it read on the label you took little time to examine. 2 would be too little to end your pain now.

You find yourself crying uncontrollably as you pop each of your last few pills individually into the inside of your bone dry mouth. His smile once again recovers as you find yourself choking in regret of what has become of you, struggling to swallow. A stabbing pain passes into your ribcage, then into your heart. You fall to the cold tiled ground, drooling and cursing at the eyes of death. It watches you mercilessly until your eyes are blurred and you begin to drift away. Your last breath of life escaping from your lungs…

You see it for a little while… in your head. The feeling of the darkness still lingering with its eyes still staring. You stare at it back for a while, that is until it begins to fade away as the dark side of your mind retreats away and a calming light is in the distance before you as the word ‘cheater’ echoes in the darkness around you; followed by a deep unsettling laugh. This does not stop you from cracking a pleasant smile for the first time for as long as you remember as you walk in to the light ahead.

You wake up to the safety of a hospital bed. The room is quiet and peaceful. You are at peace for the first time in a long time. At the foot of your bed, stand 2 familiar faces. A man and woman, you remember them as if you saw them a long time ago… but somehow, they still remain vaguely on the edge of your mind. They smile warmly at you, skin pale as a ghost. You smile back, feeling reassured and safe in the eyes of these people. You pull yourself from the bed, not saying a word.

You feel nothing. Not even the brisk feeling of your bare feet on the ground below you. You walk over to them, whom are still smiling at you. You walk hand in hand, not knowing why you trust them but something in your conscience tells you to. Not feeling the need to question your actions, you begin to walk out of the single clinic room and in to the growing mist of nothingness…