SEAHORN EPUBLISHING HALLOWEEN EDITION
2015
Copyright 2015 properties of Phil Seahorn All rights reserved by owner of the content in which this ebook is based. Under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication will be produced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the owners of the content in which this ebook is based. Seahorn Epublishing www.facebook.com/seahorn epublishing Second Edition: October 2015 Seahorn Epublishing is a Facebook based epublishing service which produces for the Internet written, audio, and video content, to be sold to Internet outlets as content. 1.Ebook 2.Science Fiction 3.Fantasy 4. Anthology 5. Horror
CONTENTS p.4 “THE CLOUD” p.8
”OPEN WINDOW”
p.10 “BAD DREAM”
THE CLOUD Manuel MaGilicutty always got the luxury seat in first class by the window. He had insisted on it. The newspaper that he had just got hired on, ”The Washington Post”, spared no expense for the man who was spearheading their ”New Media “ section of the online version of the paper. He had been assigned coverage of the end of in the U.S., as it was going on Spokane, Washington. Having lived all his life on the East coast, Manuel had been reluctant to take the job. But having just graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, Mo, the position presented itself. Plus, Manuel, who was African American, Cuban , and Irish , wanted to get out of the St. Louis after the riots last year and this year. He felt that because of his multi ethnicity, was a target. Manuel didn’t need to get into it with any racist fool, black or white, in St. Louis. So it was that he was nearing the Washington State border, 75, 000 feet above earth. He saw the mountains as they appeared under the cloud cover. He very seldom looked up while looking out of a window of a plane in flight. This time, he did. As the plane was preparing for descent at the Spokane airport, Manuel, as well as other passengers, saw what he saw. Ahead of the plane appeared what seemed to be a wall of clouds. That thought, which tumbled under his breathe, was so bizarre in and of itself. But what was really amazing to Manuel was that the wall of clouds seemed perfect: not like a series of clouds conjoined. It looked like a solid wall of white. Manuel strained his head. He could not see the top of the cloud. “If you look to your left, folks, we seem to have what we call in piloting a plane, “an Ariel phenomena,” said the Captain over the plane’s loudspeaker. 4.
“Ariel phenomena, my ass� Manuel said under his breath as he scrambled to get his digital camera out. Manuel managed to get a lot of the cloud on video. The weirdest thing was, the wall of clouds (or wall of one cloud, Nathaniel thought) went on for miles. The plane descended, with the horizon of the cloud and the horizontal going on for what seemed like miles in the sky. Nathaniel exited the plane, and took shuttle to the hotel in which he could stay until he was able to locate an apartment. Manuel, Nathaniel, once settled in a booth in the cafeteria of the hotel, spent an hour searching for info related to the cloud siting. There were Facebook entries and YouTube videos. There were post and articles on Yahoo, AOL and a lot of other online news outlets. After two hours of this, Nathaniel decided to go to the downtown area of Spokane to grab something to eat, as the cafeteria food at the hotel was just that: cafeteria food. He returned to the hotel and sat in one of the cafeteria booths again. It was 3:00 in the afternoon. Still intrigued by what he and apparently a lot of folks around the country saw. He was amazed that the cloud sightings stretched as far north as Canada, and as far south as Mexico. By 4:30 Spokane time, posts on his Facebook page started talking about drones being sent out to further investigate this cloud. The loud had to have been almost a thousand miles wide to be seen by half a continent from north of south. But it was pictures transmitted by the drones that were something that made Nathaniel literally sit up straight and away from the laptop. He felt like he had been physically hit in the chest. Manuel sat back down, and started to read and scroll. The giant cloud was in the shape of a huge cross. But what the close-ups showed of the cross was something out of a science fiction movie. Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of angels, arms stretched out as well as wings, formed the cloud. Each individual was clothed in white flowing gowns, 5.
glowed a bright yellow white rhythmic flow, as if floodlights were being played upon them. Each of the angels stood with arms and wings outstretched. And each of these angels, in all the pics and videos pulled from the net, consisted of every nationality on the face of the earth. It was 5: 30 in the evening, then. Manuel went downstairs to where the wide screen television was. The room of the hotel was filled with people who worked and were stay ng at the hotel. Some of them were whispering and pointing to the screen. Others were praying and weeping. Still others looked at the screen, arms crossed in defiance of what their own eyes (via the widescreen) was showing them. Nathaniel then went back to the booth. He had to get backstory on this cloud, this seemingly religious event that would mark the most, and obvious, proof that the religion in the world had gotten it right all along. Post after post, column after column, wrote of the “end times” and that this was surely the sign of the coming rapture. Manuel was catholic by birth and religion, but even HE did not believe in things like the rare” commonly depicted in his own Bible as well as media. But here it was, Manuel thought, proof that there is a God. Or a very, very clever company of special effects cats that had simply out done itself. Manuel stayed in the booth until 6: 30. He was still glued to the computer screen when he felt, rather than heard, the rumble of the floor” Holy Shit!” yelled Manuel, grabbing his laptop protectively as he quickly sat up and exited the booth. But it wasn’t an earthquake. The floor was rumbling. The cross disappeared. Then, the roar in the air overwhelmed everyone in the crowd. The sky tuned red, then black. The sky was devoid of stars. And from out of this blackness, a red hand appeared, just as huge as the cross in the sky. The hand (or more like a claw) was tipped with huge yellowed nails, the 6.
size of mountains. The hand reached down toward Manuel and the crowd. It was 7:30 p.m. Then everything went black. THE END
7.
OPEN WINDOW Cambridge Jones sat by his very open window on the fifth floor of his apartment overlooking the Spokane River. He had been updating his Facebook posts when he heard the flapping of wings. He instinctively looked up from the marble topped desk her was sitting, pushing against the bright auburn tabletop, inching the high top black leather workstation chair he was sitting on. He looked out into the starry and black Halloween Night. He saw people far below walking along the river in costumes ranging from pirates to several very interesting versions of Batman and Captain America. Thinking the flapping was just exaggerated by the atmosphere of this Halloween Night and the God’s Gift he had been smoking, Cambridge went right on typing. He was thrown over in his chair more form the speed in which the very large black leather thing with bat wings flew directly thru the window he was sitting at than actually making impact with it. Cambridge instinctively rolled with the momentum of his fall. All those years of playing “Batman” in cosplay seemed to be paying off, he thought. Cambridge turned, half expecting exactly what he would see. He black leathery creature stood upright on hind legs like alligators, with long claws for feet .Huge red eyes buked from a jet black head and beak just like the “lizard birds” on all those Cryptoid sites he had searched online when he got tired of Facebook and porn. Cambridge drew the five inch golden cross with diamond studs and held it in front of him and aloft, pointing it at the know fully erect, almost six feet tall monster, readying itself to strike right across his apartment. Cambridge grabbed one of the 16 inch water bottles from the seven cases stacked against the far side of the window. Cambridge said three “Hail Mary’s and a blessing spell, grabbed one of the bottles of water, and threw it as hard as he could at the black leathery black winged alligator thing. 8. The creature screamed, emitting a sound like a screaming cat. "What did I tell you about those fucking dvd's?" ‘A voice could be heard from the floor below Cambridge.
Cambridge became more annoyed than afraid. He reached back, grabbed two more bottles and placed them in each hand. Cambridge made the sign of the Cross with both hands in midair. The bottles erupted on contact with the skin of the creature, spreading all the way up to the out The creature stopped screaming (so did the neighbor downstairs, after a while).The creature, the water bottles; all dissolved into a white and red bubbling ooze on the floor, then turned to dust. Cambridge grabbed a spray bottle from the top of his dresser. He started spraying into the air, as the dust from the remains of the creature drifted slowly out the window. Cambridge had held his "Jon Stewart 4 President" t-shirt against his nose. Bad shit happened if the dust was inhaled by humans. Cambridge muttered a “fucking hell”, sitting back down at his desk. He made a point of closing the window. "Next Halloween I’ll have to be more careful," he muttered, and went back to his postings. Then he heard a crash downstairs. And something he had never heard before on any Halloween since he had been born after The Last Big War. It was the sound of hundreds of flapping wings. Leathery flapping wings. Then the door to his study burst wide open. THE END
9.
BAD DREAM ONE
“Side effects to this sleeping medicine, you may experience out of body experiences,” Rollo Melvoin read. He had been searching for hermetic sleeping medicine online (a mistake already, he thought) when he came across this one page by some obscure South American manufacturer (another mistake, Rollo thought). He searched more sites on the same product. What he didn’t expect to find on sites that rated consumer shit was just how many favorable reviews the sleeping medicine had posted on it. “Laquisha” he said, once he reached his girlfriend via Skype. ”Wait, where the fuck are you?” He saw the background on his Skype window of his Mac screen. The background showed a sandy beach and blue waves. He had only seen his girlfriend yesterday afternoon. “Aunt Merril sent for me for the summer,” she said over the Skype video link. “Didn’t want to get into it with you because I know you wanted to come the next time she did this,” Laquisha said, sipping on what looked like a Voodoo Hurricane Punch. What Rollo was looking was the Louisiana coastline to the Gulf along the only road that led to his girlfriend’s aunt’s property in Plaquemine Parrish. Rollo thought this was some Kismet shit. “Ask your auntie about this herbal sleeping medicine shit and the side effects,” Rollo skyped.” “Tell her I’ll do another painting of her.” Laqusiha smiled, lighting up the Mac screen. “You know how she wants that painting,” she said, laughing, spitting out a little of the Voodoo Punch. Rollo flinched at the visual. Her aunt, still very pretty and redbone, was still 90 years old. But she was one of the most powerful griots down in the Parrish. If 10. anybody knew about astral travel, it would be her.
Laquisha got the link that Rollo sent her.” We’ll look it up, baby, just don’t do nuthin stupid.” Rollo sat back and looked at the Skype screen. He hadn’t had a good night sleep for five days, and it was making him very cranky. But he knew better than to piss off a fine ass redbone with griot blood. “If you mean ordering the shit before y’all check it out, it’ll take a week just to get here.” He looked at the on is Mac. A link appeared in the Chrome browser. “You can buy the shit downtown,” she said, realizing it was a mistake the minute she said it. Rollo looked at the link, then at his girlfriend. He couldn’t hide the smirk. “Don’t do nuthin stupid!!!!” she said. Rollo smiled, placed a kiss on the screen, and signed off. Then he got his jacket and went straight down to the herb store that had the medicinal sleeping herbs. Laquisha logged off, looked up, and saw her most beloved Aunt in her family of 265 on her mother’s side. Her aunt looked down at her favorite niece, and her protégée. “He’s going to do something stupid,” she smiled down at her niece and said.
Rollo spent an hour grilling the herbologist in the natural store downtown on the side effects of the herbal sleeping remedy. The guy was in his late 40’s, reddish black dreads almost down to the back of his ass. It didn’t help matters that the brev was high. And Rollo thought, really, really high “Look, brev,” Rollo said, taking a hit off the fat chiba that the herbologist lit up after listening to Rollo for twenty minutes ranting about the after affects. 11.
“Look, “said the herbologist between hits, “this is the real deal. Now you will defintely take flight the first time ya use it,” he said, his West Indian accent getting thicker the more he felt the chiba. Rollo asked for one packet of the herbs. He walked to the counter, and checked out his merchandise. As Rollo walked out the door, he could not help noticing the shit eating grin on the herbologist’s face. Rollo got home, put everything away that needed to be put away in his apartment, made sure the front and back door was locked, then sat down on his couch next to the work desk where the mac sat. He took the herbal sleeping medicine, laid down, and stared at the ceiling. He dozed off just when his girlfriend appeared on his huge 22 inch Mac screen. Rollo kept his Skype screen on. “Oh shit!” Laquisha appeared on the Skype screen. Her voice reverberated over the Mac microphone. Laquisha said this more out of abject fear than annoyance. She was pushed aside to the left of the Skype screen. Her auntie inched her face closer to the Mac sscreen. “Yep, baby girl, toldja”. Auntie Merrill got up from her seat next to her niece at the computer screeen. I’ll be right back,” said Aunt Merrill. Laquisha knew her boyfriend was in deep, deep shit. Auntie was reaching into the SPECIAL BAG.
Rollo sat up. He looked around his apartment, the walls glowing with a faint blue light. He looked behind him. There, on his couch by his desk, lay his body. Rollo swung his legs over to rest them on the floor. He felt the floor, but knew he could easily become intangible. He looked at his Mac screen. There was Laquisha on the Skype screen He saw that she was saying something. He had to adjust his astral ears to the physical. He 12.
heard what was coming over the loudspeaker. “Look out! “ Laquisha was screaming on the Skype screen, pointing behind Rollo. He looked behind him. The wall of his apartment faded, then tuned to a crystalline blue with white overtones that looked like clouds. Or smoke. Then, he saw it. Or rather, him. The giant herbologist from the herb store. Only this astral version of him was dressed in shit that Rollo and his girlfriend had seen in the voodoo halls back in Plaquemine Parrish when they were down south last. “Got to get more souls,” said the astral form of the herbologist.”Damballah get more souls, won’t need mine no mo!” Whatever the fuck, Rollo knew now why that dreadlocked motherfucker was grinning when Rollo left his store. Rollo immediate started to chant shit Laquisha and her aunt taught him a while back, then he looked at the computer screen. He saw Laquisha and her aunt holding hands and they were chanting shit, too. He looked back at the wall. The motherfucker astral herbologist dressed like a Voodun griot started advancing toward him, but in stop motion shit. It was like the motherfucker was walking toward Rollo in syrup. Rollo remembered: he was in astral form. Rollo decided to get creative. He thought hard, and then it appeared. He grabbed it, and said out loud: ”Set to kill.” The astral replica of a Star Trek phaser (circa “Next Generation”) emitted an ectoplasmic lights of orange and red. It hit the still stumbling astral form of the herbologist. Rollo knew that the astral form of the herbologist was in Rollo’s astral projection, and was subject to whatever reality Rollo wished. Sure enough, the astral form of the herbologist stopped with a horrified look. He then erupted in an ever expanding, radiating aura, ranging in color from orange to red then yellow. 13.
Then nothing. “We should leave him like this,“ he clearly heard Laquisha’s aunt’s saying to her. Laquisha looked at the screen. The thought hit Rollo: they can see me in astral form? He looked at the screen, then touched it. Laquisha smiled, then touched the screen. She looked up and away from her Skype screen. She glanced back at the screen, with a sad look on her face. “You’re right, Auntie, he heard and saw Laquisha say on the Skype screen. “He must not remember a thing about what just happened,” Laquisha was saying, nodding her head. Rollo recoiled from the mac screen. Fuck, he thought. Then everything for Rollo went completely dark.
Rollo woke up, body feeling like he had been in some kind of fight. He ached in places he knew good and damn well that just lying on that couch should not have produced. Instead of a headache, he felt like he had smoked an ounce of the best chiba around, then passed out. Good morning,” said a microphone voice. He looked over at his work desk to the huge Mac screen. He looked outside: it was still dark in Spokane. He looked at the screen.It was still light, and Laquisha was holding a punch. She had a worried look on her face. The screen then panned quickly to the left. It was Auntie Merrill, with a look of disgust and contempt. No change there, Rollo thought, getting up from the couch. Then he thought about it, What if he left the Skype screen still on, then dozed off. What if Laquisha and her aunt had been watching, and he started dreaming about Laquisha? Oh fuck, Rollo thought. A wave of embarrassment washed over him, turning his 14. burnt umber face a tad darker.
Rollo looked at the screen, Both the LaCroix women where smiling at him. “We weren’t peeking while you slept, but yeah, you had the screen on all night,” said Laquisha. Rollo sat back on the couch, relieved. ‘Yeah”, he said. “Must have been a bad dream.” THE END
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