psychological
Mind games taken way too far; explore the disturbing genre of psychological thrillers that make us question our perception of sanity and reality.
Locket in the Scry
Clematis petals sparkle as you turn them in your hands. Icy violet, amethyst, plum. Once, in a moment of soft boredom, I pulled the flower tightly over my thumb and twisted it in the light-the shimmer was a secret world revealed. The remembering of it is a kindness.
By Sarah Snider5 years ago in Horror
Patches
Had she the capacity, the Surgeon might’ve felt something like guilt. She picked up the small heart-shaped locket and pressed the tiny release on its side. Its gilded coverlet sprang open, clapped against the meat of her palm. She considered the photo inside, then clicked the locket’s mechanism shut and placed it on the Donor’s meager pile of possessions, where it shone bright against the drab, threadbare tunic and coarse Foundation-issued canvas trousers. How the Donor had kept it from Patrol Corps was anyone’s guess.
By John Rockford5 years ago in Horror
As Above, So Below
Run… Run… Run… Henry’s legs burned, but he could not stop running now. The heavy footsteps of a creature lumbered behind him, his breathing coming in short bursts through his mask. Henry half led, half dragged Gabby through the brush, the girl unable to keep up with his strides. The tears ran down her face, he could see through the clear plastic of her mask that her eyes shone in the light of the moon. She knew better than to utter whimper. Years on the road had taught her that.
By Jordan Gibson5 years ago in Horror
Darker Than Midnight
Darker than Midnight The world is so stupid or at least I always felt that way. As I zoned out in history class twirling my hair, I thought about what life would be like if the cursed hadn’t shown up. They came about twenty years ago in 2018. They can turn anyone they want into one of them. Out of fear society has become strict. We have really harsh laws now. Like we can no longer have more than two kids in order to keep the population low. For some reason the government thinks that will reduce the number of infected. I really despise this rule, honestly, but not because I plan on having kids. But because when I was 6 my parents were going to have another child. They already had two, me and David. It wasn’t on purpose, their birth control failed. Mom continued working as a nurse while pregnant, but her co-workers noticed her symptoms. Because one of them reported it, a police officer stormed into the house. He made her take a pregnancy test, but he wouldn’t let her go into the bathroom alone in case she cheated. The test was positive. So the officer dragged David out of his room and shoved him in line with me.
By Ann Goffman5 years ago in Horror
Widowmaker
I could feel the life draining out of her with every passing second. My hands wrapped tightly around her throat, our eyes locked, adrenaline coursing through my veins. It was kill or be killed, but there was one thing I couldn’t shake as her convulsing spasms finally abated.
By Bradley Ramsey5 years ago in Horror
Brass Clockwork
Thunder rolled in the distance and the gentle sound of rain began to patter against the ramshackle roof of Heinrich's shack. As the last gravekeeper within the small town of Eiselbracht; he had spent the majority of his life living among decay and deceased. Chill had begun to creep down from the mountains near his home, bringing frost and cold mist in the mornings and evenings to settle upon his headstones and cobbled pathways.
By Adam Hardy5 years ago in Horror
Garden without Birds
I was nineteen years old when given the opportunity to try Radionuclide therapy. My lover was shipped away to Cyprus last year, I hadn’t been able to pull myself from the mud. I’ve always been taught to wipe the shit off my face and get up one more time. That time seemed impossible. I was a waste disposal site in every sense of the term.
By Rachel Milt5 years ago in Horror
RED/GREEN
Red/Green By Aoife Nally So unripe, so unready. Oh my God, the thought of it, walking in silence beside him into a dark wood. A man so many years my senior. I’d never felt as young as that. It was the green of the year; first shoots brushed the cuffs of my upturned jeans. A place he didn’t show just anyone, a secret place only a few had ever heard of. We walked through the cathedral of trees, I felt verdant eyes blinking down on me, watching from ancient places. I was not prepared for this. There was a strange undulation on the forest floor, as if the earth had been carved out. A wild place forced to comply over hundreds and hundreds of years. I’d heard stories of men in vines and leaves, stag horns and heavy leather, up to strange rites in ancient places. Never heard of girls going there. I wondered why he wanted to show me this. I knew his sister, while she was alive, she was kind and quick and smart. Maybe he missed her so much he wanted to spend time with me. I knew they had been really close and sometimes in my dreams I could speak to her. I’d ask her about the oak wood and her much older brother and the men who danced in leaves. I never told her that the first time I met him the chain around my neck broke the heart shaped locket fell into my hands or that the first two words in my head when our eyes first met were “have me.” “A heart unchained” that’s what he said, taking the locket from my hands. I felt very naked without the weight of it on my neck. But for the first time I could feel the breeze across my throat. I guess he kept it. I haven’t seen it since.
By Aoife Anastasia5 years ago in Horror
Strange Comings
“Here hold this” I handed my now 12 year old daughter- my late momma’s heart shaped locket -as we heard the police checking door to door for all weapons and valuables. This has happened to us many of times over some of us know some of us refuse to face the knowing of that pain. We heard about when the police come and round everyone up something serious was about to happen and ours lives might’ve been taken this night. When they find our bodies they will find my mommas heart shaped locket on my now 12 year old’s body.
By Mona Muwwakkil5 years ago in Horror
Silence
The whistling of the teapot jolted me straight out of my skin and I trembled as I took it from the heat and poured the hot water into my cup. A stiff quiet had fallen over the house like a blanket. I dropped the teabag in and stared into the water as it steeped, the grayish-green of dried tea leaves seeping and swirling until the water turned murky. Warm, damp frills of bittersweet steam wafted into my nose, a sensation that often comforted me on nights like these.
By E. M. Otten5 years ago in Horror
The Flashlight
Isidoro takes a refreshing inhalation of the cool mountain air as he hikes along the trails in a quiet wooded area. He had worked sixteen days consecutively and was ready for a calm, relaxing day all alone with nature -- hiking, bird watching, and skinny-dipping in the lake.
By Rick Henry Christopher 5 years ago in Horror
