Natalie Gray
Bio
Welcome, Travelers! Allow me to introduce you to a compelling world of Magick and Mystery. My stories are not for the faint of heart, but should you deign to read them I hope you will find them entertaining and intriguing to say the least.
Achievements (7)
Stories (181)
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Pathogen, Ch. 5. Content Warning.
In hindsight, faking a potentially deadly illness was neither Marnie's smartest nor proudest choice. The minute an EMT tried to stick a needle in her, she rose up off her bed, stunning everyone with her sudden, miraculous "recovery". Mrs. Snopes was suspicious from that moment on, but the school nurse was as gullible as ever. Despite her protests that she felt so much better than before, he insisted she be taken to the hospital with her peers for a full check-up just in case. At least Julian was given permission to go with her, making the experience marginally less awful.
By Natalie Gray10 months ago in Horror
How My Brain Works. Honorable Mention in Self-Editing Epiphany Challenge.
As a proud owner of a Bachelor's degree in creative writing, I'd like to think I have a basic understanding of the editing process. On paper, it seems fairly easy: you write, you look for flaws in what you've written, you revise. Below is an excerpt from one of my college assignments, which may look familiar to some who know my work. I've since uploaded it here, as the prologue to a series I've named "Aidan and the Forest of Enq."
By Natalie Gray11 months ago in Critique
Laundry Day
Paul had been dragging his feet for two weeks, but there was no beating around the bush anymore. He'd worn the same pair of boxer shorts for three days in a row, after turning them inside-out of course. Also, he wasn't sure his boss would deem a pair of polka-dot Bermuda shorts - the only clean pants he had left - work appropriate. Even his bedsheets could do with a wash. With great reluctance, he stuffed the entire contents of his hamper into an oversized drawstring bag and hauled it down the five flights of stairs to the laundry room in his apartment complex's basement.
By Natalie Gray11 months ago in Humor
All My Love, Buford McClaine. Runner-Up in Love Letters Through Time Challenge.
July 4th, 1861 To my Darling Rebecca, Not a day goes by that I do not think of you. Right now, I wish with all my heart that I could be there today at your uncle's plantation. My mouth waters at the thought of all I will be missing at that barbecue. I can smell the pit now, with those hogs all dressed and sizzling away on it, just about ready to eat. Were I not a gentleman, I might insist that you try to save some for me, and send it up here in a basket. The mail around here is awful slow lately, however, and some of the boys running it get powerful hungry. If you ask them, though, they will blame the half-open care packages they give us on mice. Such was the fate of that sponge cake you tried to send me on my birthday, which I am told was delicious.
By Natalie Gray11 months ago in History
Pathogen, Ch. 3. Top Story - February 2025. Content Warning.
Marnie walked around in a kind of trance the rest of the day, unable to process what she'd learned in first period. Trevor Kennedy couldn't be dead. There was no way. Based on everything she knew about him - which admittedly wasn't much - he was healthier than a horse; tall, funny, good-natured, and captain of the varsity basketball team. Captains of high school basketball teams did not just drop dead like fruit flies.
By Natalie Gray11 months ago in Horror
The Diary of Katherina Minola
February 26th, 1593 My new husband, Petruchio, has once again found our dinner “unfit” for consumption. This maddening behavior has persisted for several days now. As I write, I feel quite faint, and I fear I may not stay awake long enough to finish this entry. He vexes me so; with his foul odor, rough manners, and appalling sensibilities, I feel most days that I share my marriage bed with a filthy, flea-riddled cur! We have yet to consummate our marriage, simply because I cannot bear the thought of him defiling me so. It makes my skin crawl even to think of it!
By Natalie Gray11 months ago in History
Green Stuff. Runner-Up in A Taste of Home Challenge.
The memory gets hazier every year, but I'll never quite forget the first time I tasted it. Thanksgiving Day was the occasion; we were all gathered together at my paternal grandparents' house, just like every year before or since. I remember it was cold, and that I was pretty young. How young, I can't say for sure. Old enough to feed myself, but not old enough yet to fix my own plate. My Dad walked alongside me down the buffet my Maw-Maw, great-grandmas, aunts, and mother set up in the kitchen. Daddy held the plate for me, loading up that Styrofoam trough with everything I pointed to.
By Natalie Gray11 months ago in Feast
Pathogen, Ch. 2
"I'm home," Marnie called through the open kitchen door, barely hiding the cringe in her voice. As expected, sharp footsteps answered from up the hall, marching swiftly and with purpose toward Marnie's doom. Within a minute, her mom's stern face came into view.
By Natalie Grayabout a year ago in Horror
Pathogen
"Now, can anyone tell me the property for X? Anyone?" Crickets filled Mrs. Snopes' fifth period math class. Someone in the back row coughed nervously while a few other students shifted in their desks. One guy a few seats over from Marnie was actually snoring. The idiots on either side of her were more interested in trying to lob spitwads into the sleeping guy's open mouth instead of the problem on the board. Marnie herself was too busy looking out the window, listening to her favorite podcast through the wireless earbud carefully hidden in the cuff of her oversized black hoodie. There was only one person with their hand in the air - Bridgette - seated in the front row with a huge, smug grin on her face.
By Natalie Grayabout a year ago in Horror
Jenny Isn't Home
Bobby was probably the luckiest guy in the world. At least, that's how he felt. It was March of 1963, and Jenny Boudreaux - AKA the hottest girl at Lafayette High - had just agreed to go with him to the Spring Formal. She'd already turned down a half a dozen guys who'd asked her before Bobby, one of whom was the captain of the baseball team. All those jocks had their jaws on the floor, though, when Jenny had said yes to Bobby... probably wondering how a nearsighted, ninety-pound asthmatic like him had managed to do the impossible.
By Natalie Grayabout a year ago in Horror
Beautiful Stranger
People are always talking about how hard it is to find love. Especially online. Like, you always have to look out for creeps who just want nudes and fake profiles that try to scam vulnerable, lonely people out of their hard-earned cash. It's pretty scummy, and I'm honestly not sure which is worse. Even with the legit matches you get, it's almost impossible to find someone you really click with. After all that hard work digging through the muck and mire, once in a while you think you've struck gold. That is, until you actually meet them in person. And find out the hard way that the 6'4" twenty-something sensitive jock/poet you matched with is actually an overweight, balding, part-time pizza delivery boy in his late thirties, who hasn't showered since junior high.
By Natalie Grayabout a year ago in Fiction
