Dark & Stormy: An Anthology of Horror

By Elsa Pair, Weldon Burge and Phil Ford

Take Cover, a Storm is Coming!

In the shape of thirteen stories, dark and menacing, lightning strikes many times. A genie visits a junkie to grant him his every wish. A young boy hears voices in his family's new home. A man wakes to a kindly old woman, or is she? A woman and her grandmother are on

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archer Publishing
• Release date: Nov 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9781959838272

Elsa Pair

ELSA PAIR graduated from the University of Houston, where she worked as poetry editor for Glass Mountain Magazine. Her work has been published in Glass Mountain, Defunkt Magazine, and Superfroot Magazine, among others.

Book preview

DARK &

stormy

_______________________

AN ANTHOLOGY OF HORROR

An Archer Publishing Book

Washington, D.C.

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DARK & STORMY: An Anthology of Horror

Published by Archer Publishing

815 Thayer Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910

This is a work of fiction.  Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. 

Copyright © 2023 by ARCHER PUBLISHING

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any printed or electronic form. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.  Purchase only authorized editions.

Click here to find this and other publications at www.ArcherPublish.com.

ARCHER PUBLISHING is a registered trademark of Archer Media Networks LLC.

The ARCHER PUBLISHING logo is a registered trademark of Archer Media Networks LLC.

Archer Publishing ISBN

978-1-959838-27-2

Whether on a stormy night or an eerily quiet one, whether in an empty house or at a wooded campsite, whether you’re being haunted, chased, possessed, cursed, or marooned, these stories are for you, horror lovers. These stories are for you.

Horror is the removal of masks.

Robert Bloch, author of Psycho

Stories

Introduction

Genie for a Junkie

Mack Severns

The Longest Chase

Laura Stewart Schmidt

The Old Man on the Porch

Weldon Burge

Dare to Survive

Cordelia Kelly

An Open Field

W.C. Wolfe

Clickets

Phil Ford

Soup

Moira Richardson

A Hunger

Elsa Pair

Map of Scars

Cyndi Gradel

Oh, Brother!

Mary Kuykendall

Stranger on the Plane

Janet Garber

Old Man Grins

Laurence T. Mullanix

Calinda Jones

Julianna Waters

INTRODUCTION

Is anything more horrifying than the removal of masks?

  Revelation is always unsettling. Whether it’s a situation, or information about another person, or about ourselves. In a situation, revelation can be surprising and violent, a derailment of our expectations. What we thought would be, suddenly isn’t, and it can have a seismic impact on our life, and even our perception of reality. A startling revelation about someone—especially someone close to us—also has tremendous impact, and can throw into question everything about the relationship. But the weight of the impact is more personal and subjective, depending on the value we’ve given that person, good or bad.

A revelation about ourselves however, is perhaps the scariest most upsetting and disorienting of all. How is it possible to keep secrets from ourselves? And yet, we do. There are always revelations on the road to self-discovery and self-acceptance. That’s when we find out who we really are. We uncover truths we’ve hidden to create a version of who we want to be, and hide who we truly are.  Then we must choose to share these truths with others, or to keep them hidden.

  The removal of masks, and revelations, is always disturbing. It catches us off-guard and makes us question everything we thought we knew. And depending on the weight of the revelation, and of its ramifications, things can get downright interesting, scary, and sometimes, even horrifying.

Dark & Stormy, the third in the Dark anthology horror series, is full of illuminating stories where revelation, in all its many forms, take center stage, and its devastating impact guides the story, the setting, and the characters. The sudden appearance of a genie—to a junkie!—makes for an unforgettable interaction in Mack Severns’ heartbreaking gem Genie for a Junkie. A young man in personal crisis decides to visit his parents, only to discover a bone-chilling terror in their backyard in Old Man Grins by Laurence T. Mullinax. An abusive father gets more than he bargained for in Laura Stewart Schmidt’s darkly satisfying The Longest Chase. In Moira Richardson’s Soup, a brash young man awakens to the hospitality of an old woman providing nourishment, but gets far more than he bargained for.

    A test of determination and fortitude takes place on a deadly TV show in Cordelia Kelly’s edge-of-your-seat Dare to Survive. In W.C. Wolfe’s atmospheric story An Open Field, a man seeking solitude among nature finds himself caught in the middle of a sinister occurrence, and in Phil Fords’ eerie Clickets, a young boy discovers his family’s pre-Civil War home already has inhabitants. In Weldon Burge’s story, tension and horror intertwine when a young man gets a stern warning to stay away from The Old Man on the Porch. In Julianna Waters’ dark dystopian tale, Calinda Jones offers her daughter a word of cautionary advice that could save her life. Elsa Pair’s A Hunger finds a young woman in the middle of a bloody murder mystery involving a monster, that strikes too close to home. Stunning revelations in both Mary Kuykendall’s Oh, Brother! and Janet Garber’s Stranger on the Plane reveal that their female protagonists have plenty of earth-shattering secrets to share. And finally, a brave but frightened woman must confront a horror growing within her in Cyndi Gradel’s quiet and jarring Map of Scars.

Archer Publishing’s Dark & Stormy anthology has gathered together authors with amazing talent, who understand the power of revelation, and intimate, atmospheric, and deeply unsettling storytelling. We are proud to present to you this collection of spine-tingling tales, many from female authors. We hope you enjoy them and that you’ll join us for future anthologies in the Dark series. Happy scares!

Archer Publishing

DARK &

stormy

GENIE FOR A JUNKIE

MACK SEVERNS

Leonard staggered through the dark alley gripping his chest. He hadn’t been shot, nor was he having a heart attack. Leonard was dope sick, and also suffering from alcohol withdrawal. He’d scored ten bucks panhandling at Exit 5A. Now he was looking to put it to good use. What better place than the hidden backstreets of Seneca Boulevard?

    He passed a foul-smelling dumpster and noticed a pudgy man sitting against the wall. The man was wearing ragged clothing with a worn fedora sitting atop the wild dreadlocks covering his head. He appeared to be staring at something sitting in his lap, or perhaps just sleeping off a drunk.

    Leonard stopped. He cleared his throat and said, Hey, pal? Rough night, eh?

    No response.

    Look, man, I ain’t trying to annoy you or nothing like that, but I could really use a fix. I’ll give you ten bucks for a tenth. Or just a hit of whatever you got. What’ya say, man?

    The man slowly lifted his head, the moonlight reflecting off his round cheeks. He smiled, surprising Leonard with a glowing set of white teeth, teeth that only movie stars possessed. One hit, huh? he said with a scratchy voice.

    One hit. Ten bucks. I’m hurting, man. Can you help a brother out?

    The man’s smile disappeared. Dope sick, huh? I got no fix for you, young fella. But I got something better. Something that was given to me. Now I’ll give it to you. He lifted his arm and held out an object for Leonard to see. At first glance it looked like a metallic light bulb, but as it gleamed in the dim light, Leonard could see that it was a large golden pipe resembling a bong. I can’t use it anymore. Here, take it.

    You’re just gonna give it to me?

    That’s what I said.

    Leonard reached out and snatched it from the man’s hands.

    But I need to tell you something, the man said, leaning his head back against the wall. His eyes seemed luminescent in the shadows. It’s not just a pipe, man. It’s a genie’s pipe.

    A what?

    "A genie’s pipe. You know, like I Dream of Jeannie. Three wishes." The man showed his brilliant teeth again.

    Leonard’s mouth contorted into a cynical grin. He thought this fat little man must be off of his homeless rocker. But the pipe, the pipe was beautiful. He could sell it, especially if it was real gold. And what if there was some residue inside—tar he could scrape and shoot, or smoke?

    The chubby man then stood up slowly, and began to walk away.

    Hey, Leonard said, where you going?

    I made my three wishes. I’m going to go collect my last one now. The man turned and looked at Leonard. Just rub the pipe, my guy, like in the movies. But I can tell you—it ain’t no Barbara Eden that comes out. The man laughed and walked off. As he disappeared in the shadows, he muttered, And be careful what you wish for.

    Leonard looked at the shiny object in his hands. He sat on the ground where the man had been sitting. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of matches. What could it hurt, he thought. He lit the empty bowl of the pipe and sucked hard. The pipe suddenly jerked in his grip. He chucked it to the ground and froze.

    He stared at the thing. It lay motionless, shining and inviting again. Leonard knew he was horribly dope sick and hallucinating. What else could it be? No biggie, right? He picked up the pipe and rested it in his lap. He thought about what to do with it, where to take it. Maybe a head shop would take it off his hands for a decent price. As he contemplated, he stroked the pipe.

    The thing moved again. He shoved it from his lap and watched it roll a few feet away. After coming to a halt, the pipe rattled for a few seconds, then stopped. Blue smoke began to emit from its mouthpiece. Leonard watched in amazement as the smoke billows started swirling above his head. The vortex drifted and skipped around, with a solid mass forming in its center. As the smoke cleared, a figure emerged, like the shape of a tall, thin man.

    Leonard’s jaw dropped and his bloodshot eyes opened fully. Something from an absurd dream stood before him, unreal, but tangible as the filthy alley around him. The