Nightmare“Empty Houses” by Caspian Gray
“Cake Between the Teeth” by Steph Kwiatkowski
“See with Your Eyes, Not with Your Hands” by Monte Lin
Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett
There are three first published stories in the 105th issue of Nightmare, one of which is flash fiction.
“Empty Houses” by Caspian Gray
She and her boyfriend have just moved into their own house in this short, mysterious horror story. The previous owner left the house filled with mirrors, some of which reveal images that are ‘off’ in a way that’s hard to define. In the end, they decide to put any weird mirrors in the basement.
When their cat vanished, she was upset. And even when she thought she saw its reflection in a mirror, she didn’t relate the weird mirrors to the cat’s disappearance. That is until her best friend went missing after staying over for the night.
The pace of Gray’s story labored in a couple of places, but the mystery pulled the reader through to the end.
“Cake Between the Teeth” by Steph Kwiatkowski
The Days Inn night manager watches the couple enter the foyer in this horror short. The biker in black leathers had found a drunk on the road, and now she helps him into a room she books for him.
The receptionist tries to strike up a conversation with her. She is friendly but aloof. Later, when the manager checks the room, she finds the drunk in the bed and an overflowing bathtub. The bathwater is too dirty to see through, forcing the manager to reach into the water, fearful of what she’d find.
The prose was easy to read and mysterious. In the end, the author left it to the reader to decide how this story ends.
“See with Your Eyes, Not with Your Hands” by Monte Lin
In this flash horror story, a schoolboy wakes up to find several eyes have grown on his left index finger. None match his Asian eyes. His father is unsympathetic, blaming it on his son’s unclean habits. And the boy’s school friends ridicule him.
The boy is embarrassed and would rid himself of the affliction if only those eyes didn’t look so plaintive when he goes to poke them out.
This story snippet gives an insight into how it feels to be a victim of prejudice.
You can follow Kevin P Hallett’s writing on www.kevinphallett.com.