Monsters & Demons: A Collection of Short Horror Stories Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Arraziel

  Click-Clack

  Legion

  Live Art

  The Fortuneteller

  Harvey

  The Nest

  Please Help Spread the Word!

  Connect

  About Brian Rella

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Copyright

  MONSTERS & DEMONS

  Brian Rella

  ARRAZIEL

  JESSIE’S MOTHER PURSED her full lips in the mirror and dabbed them with bright, red lipstick once more, putting the finishing touches on her face. She turned to the left, then to the right, and smiled at herself in the mirror. The creep came up behind her and put his arms around her waist, nuzzling her neck and Jessie saw him whisper something in her ear. Her mother opened her mouth in a fake, shocked grin, and slapped him playfully on the chest. He grabbed her by the wrist and kissed her hard. Jessie turned away. Gross.

  “Steve,” her mother said. “Not in front of the kids!”

  Like she cares.

  “I want you, babe,” he said. “You’re so hot.” Then he whispered something again, but this time Jessie heard the word “MILF.” Disgusting creep!

  Jessie still held on to the belief that Jenna was a good mom, but she had no taste in men. Steve was a creep, in a long line of creeps Jenna had brought home since her father died two years ago. He was one of the bigger losers in Jessie’s eyes and was always hanging around their house, sleeping over, and making disgusting comments about Jenna in front of Jessie. She had no idea what her mother saw in such an a-hole, but she imagined it had something to do with the noises that came from behind closed doors when they thought Jessie was asleep.

  “OK, Marie,” Jenna said. “Take care of my little girl.”

  “No problem, Jenna,” Marie said, and then cracked a smirk at Jessie. Marie had come into Jessie’s life with Steve. Jessie didn’t really know the whole story with Steve and Marie; Marie was his daughter, or step-daughter, or something. That was really all Jessie knew. She watched Marie smile at her mom and then glance at Steve, flashing a smile at him too. Oh, she’s so sincere. He’s probably kissing her, too. Double gross.

  Honestly, Jessie could not see what women saw in guys like Steve. Jenna was beautiful. She could have any man she wanted and, yes, Steve was a good-looking guy in that “construction worker” kind of way. He was muscular and had a swagger about him, but he was such an a-hole. Anyone with half a brain could see it. He had this wannabe-urban-cowboy style. He wore big cowboy boots and a belt with a huge buckle engraved with long horns. It was so cheesy. And he was totally playing Jessie’s mom for sure. Jessie would bet a million dollars he was sleeping over at other women’s houses, too.

  “Enjoy your date night,” Marie said with a big smile. Marie had babysat for Jessie many times since Jenna and Steve had started dating and Jessie hated her. She was always on her phone or watching the TV too loud while Jessie was trying to read. She was sure Marie couldn’t read.

  Jessie loved reading, especially horror and dark fantasy books: Stephen King and Clive Barker were her favorites. She would stay up all night reading sometimes, but when Jenna and Steve went out, reading was difficult.

  Marie was kind of short for a sixteen-year-old. Jessie didn’t think Marie was particularly good-looking either. She was fat and her hair had fried, split ends from being overly dyed jet black, but she did have big boobs and a round butt, which the boys seemed to like. When Steve and Jenna were out, she’d sit her fat butt on the couch, munching loudly on family-size bags of chips, yelling into her phone, or cackling at the TV.

  Things with Marie had recently gotten much worse. She had a boyfriend or something and now he was coming over too. Marie made Jessie stay in her room when he was here and Jessie could hear the smooching, moaning, and squeaking coming from the living room. It was disgusting. She had to buy a noise machine for her room and put it next to her bed to drown out the nastiness with white noise. Jessie couldn’t wait until she was eighteen so she could go away to college and never see any of them again.

  “You girls have fun,” Steve said and winked at her.

  Ugh! Such a creep! Just go!

  Jenna and Steve walked to the front door and Jessie saw Steve give Jenna a tap on her backside as they were closing the door behind them. Jenna laughed, and they were gone. Jessie was happy to see them go. Now she could get back to the book she was reading and drown the world out.

  “You,” Marie said. “You need to stay in your room tonight. My boyfriend is coming over and we need some privacy. Go eat your dinner and then get in your room.”

  Jessie would have gone to her room anyway to read, but she didn’t like Marie telling her she had to do anything in her own house. Jessie stared her down. “This is bullshit, Marie!” she said. “It’s my house!”

  Marie stepped toward her. Jessie was tall and skinny for a fourteen-year-old. She’d just gone through a growth spurt and wasn’t quite used to her longer limbs yet. She backed up awkwardly as Marie came just inches away from Jessie’s nose. Marie wagged a finger at Jessie and her face contorted into something angry, ugly, and not quite human. “You’ll do what I say, bitch, or you’re dead,” she said. “I’ll kick the shit out of you if you don’t get in your room and stay there! Got it?”

  Marie wasn’t kidding. She’d done it before. Marie was good at fighting; Jessie was not a fighter. And her mom always seemed to brush it off whenever Marie got into a fight with Jessie.

  It wasn’t worth it, Jessie decided. She’d planned on going to her room and reading anyway. She sighed, went to the kitchen, grabbed her food and a drink from the fridge, went to her room, and slammed the door. She didn’t want to look at Marie another second. One day, this will all be behind me and I won’t ever have to see these people again.

  “That’s right,” Marie yelled after her. “And don’t come out the rest of the night!”

  “Bitch,” Jessie said under her breath. She put her food and drink down on her desk deciding she wasn’t really hungry anymore. She felt miserable and then caught a glance of herself in the mirror across the room and began critiquing her looks.

  Jessie loved her hair. It was long and naturally blond, like her mom’s. Her face was ok too. She had high cheekbone and wide blue eyes, but she wished her body wasn’t so awkward. She had these long limbs and no curves. She was straight and flat, like a long piece of wood and wished she had a little more of what her mom and Marie had in the boobs and a butt department.

  She started feeling sorry for herself and then she thought about her dad and got really sad.

  Jessie’s dad, Michael, had passed away a couple of years ago when he had an accident at the construction site he was working in the city. Something happened with his harness and he fell fifteen stories to the ground dying instantly. Jessie and her dad had been best friends and she was devastated. He was a real man, not like Steve, and treated Jessie and her mom right. They hadn’t had much stuff in their small house, but they’d had lots of love.

  Her mom was shattered when she got the news and almost didn’t make it. She didn’t talk or eat for a month and Jessie had had to make her own dinner, get herself ready for school, clean the house, do the laundry, and everything else her mom was supposed to do for her, not the other way around. Jessie understood what her mom was going through, but she had been hurting too and was twelve years old. She had wanted to mourn her dad, but someone had to take care of them and everything fell on Jessie.

  Then the mailman came one day and delivered the check, which changed ev
erything. Her mom suddenly came out of her walking coma. Apparently her dad had really taken care of them, and the check was big. He’d taken out an extra insurance policy and, when he died, it paid out. A lot. So much that her mom didn’t need to work at the salon anymore. She didn’t need to do anything anymore.

  That’s when Jenna started dating again and the line of losers, currently stopped on the biggest loser Steve, started coming around. Steve said he was a friend of Michael’s from work, but Jessie had never seen or heard of him before and her dad had never mentioned him once that Jessie could remember.

  Steve and her mom went out a lot, and they got drunk a lot. Jessie had been happy to see her mom snap out of her depression at first, until she saw Steve for who he was. She knew her mom still wasn’t right after her father’s death and had hoped she was just temporarily blind and looking for some comfort and companionship, but Steve was practically moved in with them now. Jessie bet the only reason he wasn’t living here was so that he could cheat on her.

  Jessie was feeling really low. She hated her life and missed her dad. She began to cry quietly as she crawled into bed, turned on the noise machine, and slipped under the covers. She did the only thing she could do to escape her crappy life: she read.

  After a while, her appetite returned and she put the book down and went over to the desk to have a look at her now ice-cold dinner. She could hear the muted ruckus outside. Marie was cackling and she heard the muffled voice of a boy, too. She looked at her cold chicken and green beans and then looked at the door. Screw it. It was her house. She could go where she wanted. Marie couldn’t tell her what to do. She wanted hot food and could take whatever Marie was going to do to her. She opened the door and went out to the kitchen with her plate to warm it up in the microwave. The noise from the couch stopped immediately.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Marie called from the living room.

  Jessie didn’t respond, walked right to the microwave, put her dish in, and punched in the time to warm up her food. Then she turned and stared at Marie, defiantly.

  Marie had her shirt off, bra on, and the top button of her jeans undone, spilling her rolls of fat out into plain view. The boy stood, looking from Jessie to Marie and back to Marie again.

  “I told you to stay in your room,” Marie snarled.

  Jessie kept staring at her.

  “Get back in your room now,” Marie said. “Or you know what’s going to happen.”

  Jessie felt the blood rush to her cheeks. She can’t talk to me like this. I don’t have to take this crap. “No,” she said flatly.

  Marie didn’t like that. She didn’t like that one bit. Her face twisted into a nasty knot as she sat up and struggled to button her pants over her jellyroll. The boy she was with chortled and Jessie snickered.

  “Is something funny, you little bitch?” Marie said getting off the couch, her big, fat boobs spilling out of her bra. She stormed into the kitchen and grabbed Jessie by the arm.

  “Get back in your room!” she screamed.

  “No! Let go of me!” Jessie yelled and she tried to pull away, but Marie was too strong. A little fear crept up on Jessie. This is going to get ugly and I’m going to lose. She knew Marie was fifty pounds heavier than she was and just a little crazy.

  Marie started pulling her out of the kitchen. “Let go! Stop it!” She protested but it was no use. Jessie grabbed hold of the side of the wall and that stopped her movement for the moment.

  Marie turned and slapped Jessie across the face, hard. Jessie felt the sting on her cheek and her eyes began to tear up. She reflexively let go of the wall and fell to her knees. Marie dragged her by the arm toward her bedroom as Jessie clawed at the carpet with her other hand, but Marie was too strong and pulled her right into her room, dropped her arm, and punched her in the side of her head.

  “Come out again and you’re dead!” she said. Then she kicked Jessie hard in the ribs and left, slamming the door behind her.

  Jessie was doubled over on the floor in pain. She caught her breath and crawled along the floor, pulling herself into her bed. She cried herself to sleep.

  ***

  The next morning, Jessie woke early. It was still dark outside and she was still dressed in her clothes from the day before. Her head hurt from Marie’s punch and she rolled out of bed and winced at the stab of sharp pain in her side. Lifting her shirt, she saw the big black-and-blue bruise forming on her ribs. She shuffled into the shower and let the water run over her beat-up body, staring down at the drain as the water swirled out into the sewer, wishing she could wash off all the crap in her life, and watch it swirl away down the drain too.

  She dressed for school and went out to the kitchen to get some breakfast. After some cereal and juice she was feeling a little better. She got her bag together and left for school before anyone else was up.

  She took the shortcut through her neighbor’s yard, through the woods, following the creek into town. She’d go to her favorite spot at school—the tree in the back corner of the playground—and read until school started. It was way better than sitting with her mom and eating breakfast. Her mom was probably hung over from last night, again. I bet Steve and Marie stayed over too. God, I hate them both!

  The fresh spring air felt good on her face. It was a little chilly, but that was fine. It felt good to be outside and walking, alone, away from her screwed-up home. She came out of the woods by the volunteer firehouse and the gas station on Main Street and walked down toward school. All the stores appeared closed except for the deli that had a line of early risers buying newspapers, coffee, and bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches. The bacon smelled good, and Jessie stopped in front of the deli to take a whiff, closing her eyes and inhaling, holding her breath, and savoring the smell of bacon grease and butter. When she opened her eyes she noticed something peculiar a few storefronts down. A light was on in the consignment shop window. What are they doing open at this hour?

  She made her way down the street to check it out, the smell of bacon still in her nose. There was a truck out front and some men were moving boxes out of the truck and into the store. An older woman with dark brown skin, maybe fifty, stood at the curb directing the men. Jessie stopped and watched for a minute.

  “Hello, dear! Gorgeous morning, isn’t it!” the woman on the curb said.

  “Hi, ” Jessie replied. Morning? It’s still dark. What’s so gorgeous about it? “Are those all clothes?”

  The woman laughed. “Why, no, dear,” she said. “These are books.”

  “Books?” Jessie said. “I thought this store sold old clothes.”

  “Not anymore, dear,” the woman said. “Now it sells old books, among other things. Would you like to come inside?” The woman laughed again. What’s so funny and why does she keep calling me 'dear'?

  Jessie loved books, but she had school in a little while and was getting a weird vibe from the woman. She was too…happy, or…something. “Well, I’ve got to get to school,” Jessie said.

  “Suit yourself,” the woman said. “I’ve got lots of unpacking and stacking to do anyway.”

  Jessie stared at all the boxes going in the store. She moved a little closer and peered into the front window and saw boxes stacked almost to the ceiling. “All those are books?” she asked.

  “Sure are, honey,” the woman said. “I’m a collector. Do you like books?”

  “Yes,” Jessie said.

  “Well, you’ll have to come by sometime and check out my collections. I have lots of books in my store. Now, let me see…I’m usually pretty good at this. I bet you like horror stories, don’t you?”

  Surprised, Jessie looked closely at the woman for the first time. She had a flattish nose and her hair was grey and black and long, and tightly curled into an orderly mess. She was very tall, hourglass shaped, had a kind, loving look, like she was someone’s grandmother.

  How’d she know what kind of books I like? Jessie thought as she watched the movers bring in an old, plush couch with red-ve
lvet cushions. The couch looked really comfortable, like a couch you’d want to curl up on and read a book.

  “Neat trick,” Jessie said, smiling, but a little suspicious.

  The woman laughed and her whole mouth seemed to open and block out the rest of her face. “It’s my gift!” she said exuberantly. “You might say that I can tell a book by its cover.” She laughed at her own joke. Jessie hated when people laughed at their own jokes. Steve did that a lot.

  Jessie was intrigued by the woman despite this and her quirkiness and decided she’d come back after school to check out the woman’s collection. She needed a new book anyway. “OK,” Jessie said. “Maybe I’ll see you after school.”

  “Wonderful!” the woman said. “My name is Olga. See you soon, miss…?”

  “Jessie.”

  Jessie grinned, a little weirded out by the encounter, and made it to her favorite tree at school way before first bell. The sun was coming up now and there was light dew on the grass glistening in the early morning rays as she sat down under her tree and read until the first bell rang.

  School was boring as usual. She did all her homework during lunch and her free period, except for math. She hated math, and would save that for later so that she could stay in her room at home and not see Steve or Marie, who were sure to be there again tonight.

  Occasionally she thought about the weirdo Olga and her bookstore. I wonder what kind of horror books she has? Jessie was almost finished reading The Shining for the hundredth time and she would need another book soon, so it had been good timing, running into Olga. She hoped her books weren’t too expensive being that they were old and collectibles.

  After school, Jessie walked back to Olga’s bookstore. The truck was gone and there was a sign up above the door now that read “Olga’s Odd Books and Antiquities.” Jessie opened the door and a little bell above the door rang. It was an old brass bell that sounded when the edge of the door bumped it, not some electronic noise maker that most of the stores had these days.