The Spinetinglers Anthology 2011 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  The Hypnotist

  Pig Ignorant

  Choker

  Kirlia

  If You Ever Meet a Girl Named Maisie Mae

  The Final Reflection

  The Girl And The Mist

  Cedric and Chloe

  The Quiet Man

  Forgive And Be Forgiven

  Banana Boxes

  Mavis Trubshaw Has Left The Building

  The Vampyre

  The Cinder Cat

  Black Magic Woman

  Winston

  And the Coyotes Sang

  Roof People

  The Dinner Party

  Blood

  Firstborn

  Hello Stranger

  The Chicken in Black

  How Do You Like Yours?

  Back Into Hell

  Dealbreaker Case 097

  The room seemed suddenly to fill with small, intrusive noises: the chalky sound of the stiff pages being turned, the pencil shavings hitting the screwed-up balls of paper like rain, the swish of the girl’s dress, her assured slow breathing. Fred longed to speak - if only to divest all of these increasingly troubling, arousing sounds of their unwarranted power.

  Blood – Jaki McCarrick

  The Spinetinglers Anthology 2011

  The fourth annual anthology from the darkest minds in horror

  Introduced and compiled by

  Nolene-Patricia Dougan

  Featuring stories by –

  John Quinn, Rachael H. Dixon, Lee Mummery, Tony Walsworth, Nathan Robinson, Jeff Jones, Chris Thorndycroft, Ken Courtenay, Theresa Curnow, Sarah, Ziggy Kinsella, Nolene-Patricia Dougan, Ella Mai, Brian Wright, Lazaro Zugor, S. A Hunter, John Hunt, Jaki McCarrick, Emlyn Boyle, Ross Friday, Tracey Goodwin and Brian Brickbichler

  Spinetinglers Anthology 2011

  © 2011 All rights reserved

  eISBN - 978-1-906657-11-6

  Spinetinglers Elite Publishing

  22 Vestry Road, Co. Down

  BT23 6HJ, UK

  www.spinetinglerspublishing.com

  Original Source: Spinetinglers Anthology 2011

  First published by Spinetinglers Elite Publishing

  31st June 2011.

  ISBN: 978-1-906657-08-6 HB

  ISBN: 978-1-906657-09-3 PB

  No part of this e-book may be reproduced,

  stored in a retrieval system, or, transmitted by

  any means without the written permission of

  the author.

  This e-book has been formatted by

  Lauren Neill

  Spinetinglers Publishing

  UK

  This anthology is dedicated to all the members of www.spinetinglers.co.uk – without whom this anthology would never have been written.

  Whether you are a writer, a reader, or even a critic, your voice has been heard in the pages of this book.

  Introduction

  Introduced and compiled by

  Nolene-Patricia Dougan

  Hi folks, we’re back again with another Spinetingling anthology. I am not going to bore you this year with too much intro coz I do tend to rabbit on a bit. We have a couple announcements and a little bit of news, so I will cut right to it.

  Sadly, Michael McCabe has left Spinetinglers to move on to pastures new. We wish him all the luck in the world with his future endeavours, and hope to be reading his debut novel very soon. Michael left us just a couple of weeks before the Oxfam 50k trek, so we were in a mad panic to find a replacement. Step forward my cousin-in-law, Gillian, who agreed to be one of the team at the last minute. Unfortunately, a few of the marshy bogs that we had to trek through were a bit too much for Gillian, and around the 20k mark, horror of horrors, she got injured. However, the three Spinetinglers employees—Michael Halliday, Catriona Hill and myself—made it through and completed the grueling (I said grueling!) 50k trek. We climbed mountains, crossed oceans and rivers, and at one point, we were so high up we were walking through low-hanging clouds! I am not joking! Michael was an absolute gent throughout and Catriona’s positive attitude lifted our spirits from beginning to end. Despite all this, something strange happened. In and around the 41k mark, a monster was unleashed – a tired, blistered, bitchy little monster began snarling and swearing. This creature was the scourge of some unnamed mountaintop in Carlingford and it became even more enraged when it found out that the trek had been mismarked; when we thought that we only had 1k to go, we actually still had over 4k. In case you haven’t guessed, that monster was me. I threw a complete hissy fit, swore at a few strangers, and was about to give up on the whole thing, but the ever-encouraging Michael and Catriona practically dragged me through the rest of the way. So, I have to officially thank them both for putting up with me.

  I have to just say—at this point, there were people who walked twice the distance we did. Some foolhardy, pig-headed people actually walked 100k. I have to congratulate them, as they would have been walking through the night and deserve a special mention. Despite the traumatic last 10k, I actually did enjoy the day, there was a great sense of camaraderie between all the trekkers, and Oxfam raised quite a lot of money. However, I am not sure Spinetinglers will be participating again next year. I think it is a bit too soon to decide—some of my blisters have still not healed. But, I am glad I did it, and I would recommend to anyone to give it a go, but make sure you are fit and have plenty of Compeeds.

  What of Lauren, I hear you ask? Lauren is allergic to boggy swamps and Irish weather, so she did not take part in the trek but she was in our support team. Lauren brought us drinks, food and moral support whenever we needed it and she did it all in flowery pink wellies that made us all smile. On the subject of Lauren, we are thrilled to announce that she has been promoted to Spinetinglers’ Head of Publishing.

  Lauren joined Spinetinglers only one year ago as a publishing assistant and in this short space of time, she has proven to be invaluable. She edits manuscripts, formats galleys, massages authors’ egos—including my own—and does all of this with a sort of muted calm that stops the rest of us from panicking. Moving ahead, Lauren will be integral in helping us shape Spinetinglers into the publishing house that we want it to become. World domination cannot be achieved without her. Her vision and ambition for Spinetinglers matches our own and we know that the future of Spinetinglers is safe in Lauren’s unshakable hands. With Lauren in command, we know that Spinetinglers will become the first choice for aspiring authors.

  Now that we have got all the announcements out of the way, we have to get to the business at hand: The Spinetinglers Anthology 2011. As usual, it is a veritable feast of every imaginable creature that goes bump in the night. Some authors have excelled themselves—Jaki McCarrick’s turn of phrase is exquisite, her writing is as soft on the ear as poetry. I could listen or read her sublime little devilish tales all day. Nat Robinson has to be one of our most prolific writers, and his efforts have been rewarded as he has three entries in this year’s anthology. Also, some of our veteran Spiney authors are back this year; Tony Walsworth returns with more macabre tales, deliciously infused with his wicked wit. We also have some great debut authors. Check out John Quinn’s story, The Hypnotist—I think it will put you off Hypnotherapy for life and your kids may, in time, may come to thank you for reading it.

  All in all, it has been another great year and another great anthology, to which all the Spiney members have contributed. And so all that is left for me to say is good luck and keep writing.

  Nolene-Patricia Dougan

  31st October 2011

  The Hypnotist

  By John Quinn

  Sheila had always hated spiders.
She hated their long legs, the way they scuttled around, but more than anything Sheila couldn’t stand the thought of one touching her bare skin. Whenever she did think about it, her flesh crawled and her legs turned to jelly. It wasn‘t just a hatred of spiders, it was a fear. She knew it was silly to be afraid of something so small, but she couldn’t help it. Whenever she saw one, she froze. The source of this fear was a mystery to her, but she had been terrified of spiders for as long as she could remember.

  She recently tried to face up to this fear when her six year old daughter ran out of the bathroom, screaming about a spider in the bathtub. Sheila immediately froze. Her first instinct was to wait for her husband to deal with it when he got home, but she felt that this was a little ridiculous. It’s just a tiny spider, she thought, and it can’t hurt you. She decided to go into the bathroom and get rid of the spider herself.

  “Show me where it is, Honey.”

  Her daughter walked to the bathroom, pointed at the bathtub, and then refused to go any further.

  “It’s in there, Mom,” she said.

  Sheila took a magazine and crept towards the bath. If she could just get the courage to coax the spider onto the magazine, she could throw it out the window.

  When she looked into the bath she let out a loud groan. The spider was huge and hairy. Sheila immediately felt weak all over. She even found it difficult to lift her hand and wipe the perspiration from her face, but she was determined to go on. She wanted to be strong for her daughter. It was ridiculous to be afraid of a spider. Get a grip, she thought.

  She lowered the magazine into the bath, moving it slowly towards the spider. The closer the magazine got, the more it shook in her hand. The spider suddenly tried to scuttle up the wall of the bath, all of its eight legs moving frantically, but it kept slipping back down the smooth surface of the wall to the bottom of the bath.

  Sheila screamed at the sudden movement of the insect, letting the magazine drop into the bathtub. Another scream, her daughter’s, echoed across the walls. Sheila turned to run out the bathroom door, almost knocking her daughter down in the process. With one swift movement she grabbed her, and ran out of the room.

  Sheila sat on her bed wringing her hands, her whole body trembling, tears running down her ashen face. Her daughter stood a few feet away, watching her mother with wide eyes. She had never seen her mother behave this way before. Neither of them went into the bathroom again until Sheila’s husband came home from work and got rid of the spider.

  Sheila was humiliated. She should be able to take care of a little spider, and she shouldn’t act so hysterical in front of her young daughter. Something needed to be done about it. She had a friend who was terribly afraid of dogs ever since she was bitten by a stray mongrel as a child. She remembered this friend telling her that she saw a hypnotist and he was able to cure this fear. Usually Sheila was skeptical about hypnotists, but after the day’s events she decided that it was worth a try. She picked up the phone and dialed her friend’s number.

  “Hello Monica? It’s Sheila,” she said.

  “Hey Sheila. How are you?” Monica said.

  “I’m fine... but listen. Remember before when you told me about that hypnotist you saw? Well, I had an incident with a spider today, and I was wondering if I could get his number.”

  “Sure” said Monica, “he’s really great, he’ll help you out, I’m sure of it. His name is Jeffrey Doyle. But I should tell you, his methods are a little… unique."

  “At this stage, Monica, I'll try anything. So if you recommend him then that's good enough for me.”

  “Oh, I definitely recommend him, he practically saved my life. Hang on and I’ll get you the number.”

  After a short pause Monica came back on the line and read out the number. Sheila jotted it down. She decided that she would call him first thing in the morning.

  ***

  Sheila arrived at the hypnotists’ office at 11.55am, five minutes before her appointment. When she first called his office she was surprised at the address she was given. It was an address in a suburb, but she could now see that a small office had been added to the side of the house. She was expecting an office in the city, but she guessed that from the hypnotists’ point of view, the current arrangement made more sense. No rent to pay, or heavy traffic to face during the rush hour.

  She got out of her car and walked up the pebble stoned driveway towards the office door. Just as she got there the door opened and a man stepped out.

  “Hi. I’m Jeffrey,” he said “and you must be Sheila, right?”

  “Yes I am. How are you?” She asked a little awkwardly.

  “I’m good. Come in and make yourself comfortable.”

  When she first saw him she noticed that he looked a lot younger than she expected. She put him at about twenty eight. He was an attractive man, tall and well-built, with dark hair and dark features. His brown eyes seemed to draw Sheila in. Her original fears of a crazed old hypnotist greeting her at the door immediately faded away.

  She was also surprised when she entered his office. It was more professional then she had originally anticipated. To one side there was a desk, equipped with a computer and telephone. Behind this desk was a large comfortable chair, presumably for Jeffrey, and facing it were two smaller chairs for clients. Running along the other side was a couch, and at one end of this couch was an armchair. All of the furniture looked modern and expensive. Sheila immediately felt that bit more relaxed.

  Jeffrey took a seat at his desk, and beckoned for Sheila to take one of the chairs facing him. When he sat down he opened a drawer and pulled out a small folder. Sheila saw that her name was printed on the cover in bold letters. Jeffrey noticed her looking at it.

  “Don’t worry about this,” he said smiling, “I make folders on all my clients so I can take better care of them. I see here that you have a fear of spiders.”

  “Yes,” she said. “It’s at the stage where I can hardly even move if I see one. Just a few days ago I tried to take a spider out of the bath and I scared my daughter half to death.”

  “I see, well, let’s move over to the couch and we’ll see what we can do about this problem.”

  “Do I have to lie down?” She asked smiling slightly.

  “That’s entirely up to you,” he answered, “as long as you feel comfortable.”

  “OK,” she said as she sat down, “but I should warn you now, I’m a little skeptical about this kind of thing.”

  To her surprise, Jeffrey laughed.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “You’ll get a bill and if you feel that the treatment didn’t work, you can come back for one more try. If that doesn’t work, I’ll cancel the bill. I only expect to be paid if I am successful.”

  Sheila couldn’t argue with that. It seemed more than reasonable, and she also liked Jeffrey. He was charming, confident, and he had those dark brown eyes. She felt like she was in good hands. What’s the worst that can happen, she thought, if it doesn’t work, I don’t pay. With that in mind, she relaxed and sat back into the couch, ready for Jeffrey to begin.

  He told her to close her eyes and relax.

  “Imagine that there is a bucket at your feet,” he said, “and that all your worries and stresses are leaving your body, and falling away into this bucket.”

  Sheila, surprisingly, felt herself becoming more relaxed and at ease as she followed the instructions.

  “Good,” said Jeffrey. “Now I want you to take ten deep breaths. I will count down from ten, and as I count each number you will take a breath, hold it and then let it out slowly, and with each breath you will feel more relaxed.”

  Jeffrey started to count down from ten, and Sheila took her deep breaths. In between each breath Jeffrey instructed her to relax, telling her that she is falling into a deep trance, and despite her initial skepticism, Sheila was surprisingly easy to hypnotize. By the time Jeffrey counted to one, Sheila was in a deep sleep.

  For Sheila, who had never been hypnotized before, it was an unu
sual feeling. It was as if she was asleep, but she could still hear Jeffrey speaking to her. He asked her a few initial questions to make sure she was in a hypnotic state before beginning the treatment.

  “Okay, Sheila,” he started, “you are no longer here in my office, you are back in your house, in the bathroom, standing beside the bath.”

  In Sheila’s mind, she was where Jeffrey told her. It felt so real, the only difference between this and reality being Jeffrey’s soothing voice continuing to instruct her.

  “You look into the bath, Sheila,” the hypnotist continued, “and you see a spider, the same spider you saw a few days ago, but you are not afraid. You decide to help it, to take it from the bath and release it out the window.”

  Sheila became visibly tense on the couch, but this was part of the treatment, so he continued.

  “You know that the spider can’t hurt you, so you don’t need a magazine, you are simply going to pick the spider up in your hand and bring it to the window. You are reaching into the bath now Sheila, and the spider crawls onto your hand. You can feel all of its legs crawling over your skin.”

  For Sheila, deep in a hypnotic state, this was not a fantasy, it was real. She could feel the spider, and as she sat on the couch, under the control of Jeffrey, her whole body shuddered and her face and back became damp with sweat.

  “You have the spider now, Sheila, and you are walking towards the window. It is crawling up your arm, but you don’t mind, because it can’t hurt you. You go to the window, open it, and put the spider out onto the window ledge. The spider looks at you, and then crawls away.”

  As Jeffrey told Sheila that the spider was gone, her body relaxed.

  “You got rid of the spider, Sheila. You are proud of yourself. You knew that it couldn’t hurt you. You were not afraid of it. You are proud of yourself and your daughter is proud of you too.”