I've been a bit lax on my blog this week, as I've been busy getting Trespass ready for it's relaunch and fixing up my newsletters so that I can hand out my freebies in a more organised way.

So here's a short free story for you, and I hope that makes up for it.  I was prompted to get my ass in gear and post a story by this challenge from Chuck Wendig, and the song, “What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster?”

Perhaps this is more of a vignette than a story, but I'll let you decide.

A Monster Under the Bed

Jo loved college, especially living away from home. A long way away.

She shared the flat with two girls. They were great company, until the Christmas break when the whole campus emptied overnight.  Except for Jo.

Soon, the silence gnawed at her. Work. Keep busy.

Eventually, when exhaustion was just a distant memory, she dragged herself to bed. But there was no deep restful sleep for Jo. Only a fevered half-sleep, filled with the familiar echoes of her lonely childhood: leering faces, taunting, tormenting; hard fingers, grabbing, pushing.

Dizzying fear, surged through her, burned in her mind, and turned in on itself, twisting, writhing, spiralling out of control… and it whispered softly in her ear, its voice hard and cold, and it told her what to do: Make them stop. Hurt them. Cut them.  Cut them all.

No.  Her eyes flew open. She stared up at the ceiling, and made, once again, her nightly vow. She would never hurt anyone again. Those days were over. And no one would ever guess at the things she’d hidden deep in her past. No one. Unless they read the file, of course.  But that too was carefully hidden.  The case was locked, and she’d pushed it as far as she could into the dark and dusty space where no one ever looked.

Under the bed.

***

I hope you enjoyed that little story.   Comments very welcome and please feel free to share the story.

More Free Stories

If you'd like access to even more free stories, including audio stories, and a couple of free books, then please sign up below to join The Awkward Squad, and freebies will come hurtling towards your inbox.

[wysija_form id=”5″]

Thank you and have a very happy festive break.