Dancing Bones the Devil's Delight

 

Sabina Music Rich on Unsplash

Dancing Bones

See that beautiful girl

at one time,

she was all mine

but I held on too tight

we got in a fight

now my bones

are all that's left of me

while my girl sings,

and dances, she laughs

and buys pretty things

for my bones hang 

high from a tree

I meant to kill her

and bury her deep

but she made a deal with the devil

and now I'm the one to dance and weep

she got a new life

and a new love

and each October

when the clock tolls midnight

I dance to her laughter

and the devils

sheer delight

for with the murderer

turned victim

the beast now has

two new souls

added to his account

this Halloween night.

 Yolanda Renée  (C) 2021

***

Do I even have to say it?

The Scream for Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

While this day is here, another one is near!

 

Photo by Andrés Gómez on Unsplash

Happy Halloween

Will this be a night of fear?

Or will the tricksters bring cheer?

Will the living count their blessings?

While the bereft search for the ghosts 

of loved ones taken too soon.

Because dear friends, voting day is near.

Do you want another four years filled with trepidation?

Or change, and a whole new nation?

It’s your choice.

Time to use your voice.

A vote for humble and true.

Or the corrupt evil that Trump spews?

A future where common-sense rules.

Or constant worry that dragoons

will soon knock on the door?

Please don’t hesitate.

You have a very important date.

Tuesday is November the third.

So please, make your voice heard!

Yolanda Renée (C) 2020

WEP Grave Mistake - Cleopatra's Curse

Photo by @rw.studios on Unsplash

Cleopatra’s Curse

Have you ever seen a beautiful young woman with a man that can only be described as ‘toadyish’? He’s at least twenty years older than her, potbelly, short, and mostly balding. She’s a towering model type: perfect body, perfect skin, just exquisite. You wonder, why, how, what?

Well, I’ll tell you. It’s all about the money. What else?

I married a very wealthy man—me, a girl raised in a trailer park who made a living as a waitress and dancer. People even referred to me as white trash, and yet, I made it to the top. And I mean the very top. Gold everywhere. Anything and everything I‘ve ever wanted and more, even acceptance. Now people want to know me, want to be invited to my parties. Hell, they clamor just to be in my presence or merely the same room.

My husband, as I said, is filthy rich, and yes, he bought me. But he also put a diamond ring on my hand and promised me that the world would bow at my feet. He kept his promise, and I’ve kept mine.

I take his abuse. It’s my only job. Make the man happy in the sack, anytime, anywhere, and anyway, he desires it. It was our agreement. I live in the lap of luxury and have people at my every command. Nothing I want is off-limits. I am fulfilled! I am rich, and his temper tantrums don’t last long, neither do the bruises.

You say why? I say, why not? Most of my life was hell: going to bed hungry, various uncles taking advantage at all ages. I was considered a whore before the age of thirteen. The few men I did learn to trust proved to be liars, but now I have a signed contract. Yep, got it on paper, all of it. And if he breaks any of the rules, he pays me a ten-million-dollar settlement.

It took a while, but I soon realized that most men are pigs. All they think about is getting the child, girl, or woman into their bed. And most will take advantage given just half a chance. And some will do it without any invitation or a so sorry immediately on their lips. Liars, users, rutting animals, the whole species!

So why shouldn’t I sell my soul for the best things in life? I couldn’t have gotten them any other way. This has worked for me for the last twenty years. But I will admit that I’m getting bored, and his violence comes much more often and without the usual financial reward. He’s been slipping but only to the point where he hasn’t broken the contract. I think it’s time to say sayonara!

We’re planning a Halloween cruise, so maybe the bastard will fall overboard and drown, leaving me a rich widow? All it will take is a little planning…

*****

Okay, so I figured the bastard wrong, the cheater. He’s not only broken our contract, but he’s also done me in. I can’t collect that cool ten million I was guaranteed because they don’t have lawyers on the bottom at the ocean, my new abode.

Hubby told the world that I fell overboard. Nice. But on Halloween night, the same night I planned his demise, he was a step ahead. I supposedly slipped on a wet deck during a masquerade party and went overboard in my beautiful designer Cleopatra costume, never to resurface again.

Dozens of men jumped into the ocean to find me but failed because, at that time, I was unconscious in the closet of our bedroom. When everyone finally retired, and the police reports were filed, my sweet, generous husband simply dumped me overboard with my feet solidly encased in cement. Yes, I was conscious, but my screams were muted by the gag in my mouth.

I cursed the bastard with each bubble that left my lungs as I tried my best to hold my breath. I did well until the cement my feet were encased in hit the sandy bottom, then in an instant, the air was replaced with seawater.

 

Exactly One Year Later

*****

Detective White carefully made his way into the Tower penthouse. The place was covered in water, sand, seaweed, dead fish, and seashells. If he hadn’t known better, he’d have sworn the site was located on the bottom at the ocean.

“Well, Derek, what can you tell me?” Detective White asked the coroner as he stared down at the two bodies lying side by side in the king-size bed.

“They drowned. No doubt about it. But the why and how, your guess is as good as mine.”

“You sure it’s ocean water, doc? I mean, we’re in a high rise. The doorman said no deliveries were made today or this week. And he saw these two an hour ago, alive and well.”

“Positive. Their lungs are filled with seawater.” He pushed down on the man’s chest, and deep green water seeped out. “I’ve tested it. It’s seawater. Look at the fish, sand, and seaweed. Whoever crafted this murder wanted to make a statement.”

“Yeah, but did they leave any clues?”

“Just the remnants of lipstick on his face. It’s clearly not the same color this young lady is wearing. Maybe that unique color will tell you the dame that wanted this man dead.”

Detective White laughed as he moved to the chaise across the room. A sick sound that had the coroner looking at him oddly. “The only woman I can think of who’d want him dead drowned a year ago. His wife, remember, she went overboard during a Halloween party on his yacht last year. She was wearing a Cleopatra costume.” He held up the wet costume he found lying on the chaise. “I think she came back for a change of clothes and revenge…”

995 Words

Yolanda Renée © 2020

*****

***

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Fog

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

A Halloween Fog

I’ve seen all the ‘fog’ movies and watched gleefully as the victims paid for their audacity. Slashers, horrendous creatures, and hideous bugs have all hidden their evil in the murkiness of a foggy night. But that’s movie-making, the scarier, the better. In reality, a walk into the thick mist is super energizing.

It allows me to disappear, lurk, stalk, and yes, kill with delicious precision. I bet you thought I was going to talk about how I enjoy being swallowed by nature. How I become part of it and relish the experience. Well, that’s all true, but for me, it’s all about the victim.

After all, I know their fear. It’s the best part. My victim’s terror is what feeds me. I can smell it on them as they cautiously move past me, unaware and yet very aware that I’m there. As the smell of panic becomes more potent, I wonder why they come out? Is it a dare? Are they looking for a confrontation? It can’t be to prove their bravery. They exhibit none! Because no one accidentally wanders into the woods in the dark of night. Well, no one but me.

My favorite victim is the lone young woman. Although I do adore the young couples looking for a place to be alone. But tonight, I’ve hit the jackpot. A young woman is walking nonchalantly down the path. She’s not cautious or fearful, which takes a bit of the fun out the night. The bitch is on her phone and barely paying attention to the direction she’s taken. Still, she’s the perfect victim. Lost, stupid, and unaware. I can’t just let her pass. She’s mine. All mine!

I move ahead of her and get ready to pounce—my best blade at hand.

I jump in front of her, grab her with both arms, and say, “Excuse me. I didn’t see you there. The fog tonight is so thick.” Then I give her my best laugh and wait for her to realize her fate.

She rolls her eyes. “I know,” she says. It was specifically prepared for the night. My people know the perfect thickness for a Halloween cover. It’s the best way to catch predators. Like you.”

Her smile shows perfect white teeth, a lot of jagged, and terrifyingly sharp teeth. I try to shake off my shock at her response. “What?” I mumble, caught totally off guard by her words and that mouth—those teeth.

But she only smiles. “What number am I? The tenth, isn’t it?”

“You…you know me?’

“We keep track. Thought the police would take you off the street, but the cops haven’t, so we have to.”

“You? Who are you?” My knife slips from my overly moist hand.

“Your worst enemy, my dear.” Her laugh stuns, and her teeth continue to grow. Before my eyes, her body morphs into the most hideous creature I’ve ever seen.

This monster was a mixture of dark colors, red, black, purple, and flowing with green blood coursing through transparent veins. She had arms everywhere, long, powerful legs and now stood at least ten feet tall—her mouth. Oh god, that mouth and those sharp, hideous teeth that dripped with putrid saliva caused my stomach to lurch in revolt. She wrapped her arms around me, and, in a flash, we were in the middle of the forest.

Within minutes I was stripped of all clothes. My hands were tied behind my back with twine, and with a grubby potato stuffed into my mouth, her even uglier friends gingerly lowered me into a large pot of cold water. She dropped in cups full of salt, pepper, cayenne, and several bay leaves.

“Dinner will be ready in about two hours,” she announced as she lighted a fire under the pot I was in. “We want this one to simmer awhile. I like my soup thick,” she told the crowd around her as two other monsters added several large pots of navy beans.

The crowd shouted their appreciation. I watched, dumbfounded, as the monsters settled down on the grass to continue their games and conversations. I noticed that the fog had separated. It circled the area and provided a dome of protection. What I once relished as protection had betrayed me. A higher evil had assumed power.

Fear the fog! Don’t venture down an unknown or even known path on a profoundly thick night, and especially on Halloween.

Listen to what I tell you. I know, I should have heeded my own words. Remember when I said that no one accidentally wanders into the fog on a dark and lonely night, especially on Halloween! What I thought was a beautiful, young girl proves my word.

Yes, I know it’s all too funny. Especially as these are the words of a serial killer. But if folks like me don’t get you—maybe these hungry creatures will!

835 Words

 Yolanda Renée (C) 2020

*****

Join us for the WEP October Challenge

Grave Mistake

Happy Halloween!

A Haunting Challenge

Photo by Daniel Jensen on Unsplash

A Haunting Challenge

It's Halloween, the one night I roam the Earth. It was my decision to leave this world. I was sure it would solve all my problems. I was wrong. Regardless, one fateful Halloween night, I walked into the ocean. Now I rise at 12:01 a.m. and return at 11:59 p.m. every year on that same day, Halloween.

I pray for the day my soul will finally be released, the day my problems will indeed be solved, but that can only happen after I pay penance for my error.

You see, suicide is wrong. It goes against all the laws of man and God. I knew this but didn't fully believe it. So yes, I committed the ultimate sin.

Given two options, hellfire for eternity or heaven, I chose forgiveness even though I knew a penance was due.

The devil would gladly accept my soul, he's told me so, but I want to prove that I'm worthy of God's grace, and the only way I can achieve that is to keep one hundred other people from doing the deed I accomplished. Since I died on Halloween night, it's the only night I can return to Earth to save like-minded souls.

Not an easy task as I am the way death has left me. Getting folks to accept a bloated corpse, dripping with seaweed, sand, and saltwater is not an easy task even on Halloween. My skin is gray-green, and I have open wounds caused by hungry sea creatures. With hanging flesh, dripping hair, and blackened eyes along with hesitant movements as I try to remember how to walk on land vs. floating in the dark void of the sea, I frighten more than impress.

My only salvation is that most of the world is also in costume. I get numerous compliments, mostly from drunken partiers, but finding a suicidal person willing to listen to my message is nearly impossible. I've been haunting Halloween night for over seventy-five years, and I've only saved thirty people. Not surprisingly, at first, I drove just as many to madness or death. Until I learned a method to the madness that worked.

Of late, I've heard through the rumor mill that I may get amnesty if I continue to do my best and complete a hundred years of service to the cause, but I've also heard rumors of an even longer punishment.

The task is challenging, but I haunt on as I have a goal to achieve because the sea's moist, icy darkness is much more palatable than Hell's arid burning brightness!

Please, my dear sad and lost souls, consider your quest. Your penance may be much more challenging and way longer than mine.

463 words

Yolanda Renee © 2020

****

Don't forget to check out the newest challenge

from the WEP

Write...Edit...Publish.

Grave Mistake

Happy Halloween!

Hunted - A Halloween Challenge

It's Time!

A Blue Moon will occur on
Halloween!
 October 31, 2020, at 12:49 AM.

Are you ready?

To help inspire you, 

Here is the second installment of my short story
Blood Moon.
It's title

Hunted

Enjoy!

If you missed the first installment 
just click HERE!

Photo by Vladimir Agafonkin on Unsplash

Hunted

I knew you'd be back. No one wants to miss out on the details of my death. After all, it's almost time for Halloween. And the gorier, the better, isn't that it? That's fine. I understand. Because this couldn't possibly happen to you. You'd have been smarter, more aware, less trusting. Yeah, I'll bet.

     So okay, you're curious. You want to know how a girl like me ended up on a mountain top surrounded by nothing but the darkness and trees. Thousands of silent trees, watching and waiting. They knew where the demon hunting me was located, but they refused to tell me. I could hear them whispering, laughing, even making bets on how and when he would catch me.

     Evil. The night was filled with it. I'm just not sure if he brought the malevolence or if it already existed, and he just learned how to harness it, but it's my goal to find out. I have the time…all the time in the world!

     But back to the hunt. Naked and with my hands still tied behind my back, he unchained me from his bed. His laughter reverberated as he calmly stood there sharpening his knife.

     "Run," he said. "See how far you get before I find you and demonstrate just how loving I can be." He licked the length of his knife and smiled. "Go. I always give them one last chance." Then he turned away, and I took off.

     I ran straight into the darkness and was enveloped into a pit of horror. The brambles tore at my skin, ripped tiny holes that seeped with blood and burned like fire. Even the ground betrayed me. The dead leaves and brittle branches crunched and snapped, breaking the silence and gave away my location. But the worst was the tiny stones that tore holes in the bottoms of my soft feet and left bloody footprints my pursuer could smell. Because obviously, the monster caught me. Of course, he was familiar with the area, but with the help of the forest, how could he fail? The creep grew up here. The bastard had honed his murderous craft in these woods.

     My monster loved the hunt, relished the capture, but he cherished the kill.

To be continued…

Join me next week when

I’ll publish the third installment of Blood Moon!

Titled

Masked

Have I enticed you?

Is your writing muse tingling?

Then join the WEP in October for

the Halloween Challenge!

A Grave Mistake, you ask?

Well, what in the hell is that?

Well, dear friend

It’s the next WEP task.

And believe me

there’s many away

Where errors take sway

Where ghosts and ghoulies will play

and many unorthodox ideas

 rue the day.

So, get out your pens and pads.

We’ve given you

A dare for your best scare

Because Halloween is for all

And who knows?

You may take

first prize for your Grave Mistake!

Write...Edit...Publish

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Tara Tyler has honored me today with a horror post!

https://taratylertalks.blogspot.com/2018/10/hot-genres-horror-mashups.html

IT’S EVIL WE BRING

I await the hour

the darkest of night.

For under the brightest moon

I venture out to spread doom.

This warning I give.

Beware the wolf’s howl,

the swoosh of the witch’s flight,

and take heed the flutter of the bats wing.

Listen closely my dear

to the crunch of desiccated leaves

and the scurry of startled rodents

for I am as close as you fear.

Listen to the whispers.

Relish the cold.

Let it give you comfort

but remember, I am most bold.

Carry your lantern high

Protect its light.

But walk with haste

and confidence this night.

Just be prepared

To run for your life.

For I am swift

On this most blood thirsty night.

Forget the silver, and holy water has no sting.

For on All Hallows Eve

the monsters own the night

and it’s evil we bring!

Yolanda Renee © 2018

HAPPY Halloween!

What Do You See?

I’LL TELL YOU WHAT I SEE!

Look at me.

Do you see the evil within

the rage unchecked

and the fires of hell awaiting to consume?

Look at me.

Is surprise my expression

fear of the unknown

or sorrow from grief unfathomable?

Look at me.

Is it horror you see?

Do you feel empathy or

a kinship to the true monster within?

Look at me.

I’ll tell you what I see.

A heart black as night

a soul withered by sin and damned to oblivion!

Yolanda Renee © 2018

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

A GREAT STORY / A HALLOWEEN STORY

H A P P Y  H A L L O W E E N !

tHE WINNER'S OF THE 

WEP HALLOWEEN DARK PLACES CHALLENGE

HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED!

VISIT THE WINNERS

AND READ

SOME AMAZING STORIES

here!

RELEASE DAY!

The Audio Version of

Murder, Madness & Love

releases today!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

For Your Enjoyment an excerpt!

Becky Meyers, usually a cautious girl, rushed from the hospital to the bus stop, but the next bus that could get her downtown was not for half hour, and she had promised Patrick, her boyfriend, she would not be late. For some reason, no matter how hard she tried, she could not keep that pledge. She simply could not squeeze everything she had to do into one twenty-four hour period. The full-time college student, full-time nurse, and part-time tutor simply did not have enough time and an active social life along with an inability to say no to anyone who needed a favor stretched life thin for the coed.

Today was their first anniversary, and tonight Patrick had planned something special. He had asked Becky to meet him at nine o'clock, at the First Street Nightclub. Amy, her friend, had volunteered to drive her, but Amy had to take double duty at the hospital because several nurses were out with the flu.

Not wanting to let Patrick down again, Becky thought about sticking out her thumb. Fed up with her tardiness, he wanted her to give up some of her projects, or forget their relationship. He had informed her he felt like he came in second, third, and sometimes even fourth on her list of priorities. She loved Patrick, and she wanted to prove to him that she could handle her busy schedule.

She mentally counted the cash in her purse as she made her way to the main road. She'd call a cab if she could find the money. A red Ford Mustang stopped, and the window lowered. Becky bent down to see the driver better.

"Can you give me directions for downtown? My GPS is running me around in circles. I'm all turned around visiting a friend in the hospital and don't want to get lost. Which street will get me there?

"I can show you. I need to get to a club downtown and just missed the last bus.

"Sure, come on. We can help each other."

Becky jumped in with no hesitation.

"Sorry about the seat. A friend spilled oil on the original, and they put this piece of crap in until I get it recovered."

"Such a shame, and in a new car at that," Becky replied. She noticed how uncomfortable and yet how odd the seat felt, but for the short ride, she didn’t care.

"I know what you mean, I just bought this in December, but they assure me it will be good as new."

She sat, happily chatting with the driver, explaining her predicament, and discussing relationships in general. Until, something clicked. Becky suddenly turned in her seat.

"I recognize you. You’ve been in the papers."

Her happy chatter went silent when the driver pulled a knife out from under a coat between them and, with a practiced backhand stroke, plunged the dagger through Becky's stomach, up and into her back. Her mouth and eyes formed perfect circles of amazement and horror. The blade held her body in place like a beautiful butterfly stuck with a pin to a display rack. 

Blood dripped from her mouth, and with one last sigh, her life ceased.

Memories of Murder 
the audio version is due out 
December 20, 2016

& 

Murder & Obsession
the audio version is due out 
January 25, 2017

TOO COOL!