Hello, readers and followers. Welcome to the first Creepy Samples
Offering for my new publication,
A Day of Reckoning and Other Frightful Tales.
This is the first of several offerings you will find here; each one,
containing an excerpt from one of the stories contained inside the
book.
Today's tale is called "Angel of Death." It concerns a man named Tom
Flanagan, who, due to his interest in the paranormal, is allowed to
spend an entire night alone in the Boytsville Library, which exists
within an old plantation-like house formerly built and owned by a family
seemingly cursed with a history of tragic deaths. We pick up the story
with Flanagan, having just read the final words of Scarlet Thatcher, the
last of the original family members to live in the house, coming to a
frightful realization.
An unusually strong gust of wind whistled around the corners of the old
building. Tree branches pounded against the windows as if attempting to
gain access to the building itself. Emotionally shaken and now fearful,
Tom turned his attention once again to the diary's very last page. The
author's last words invoked in him a sense of profound sadness as well
as personal terror.
"Tonight, I myself witnessed the appearance of the dark being that has
plagued my family for so long. The others are gone, and I know now that
I will soon fall victim to its inescapable grip of death. I wish for
only one thing. May my chronicles survive the passage of time and serve
as a warning to anyone who may one day discover them. Beware this
harvester of souls, this Angel of Death!
February, 24, 1904”
Tom closed the book and placed it on the shelf. His blood flowed like
ice through his veins as he pondered all that had transpired this night.
Tonight, I saw the same angel that Scarlet had seen. I'm sure of it. It
was not just my imagination, or an optical illusion. I'm sure of it
now.
The frightened man could quell neither his thoughts nor his fear. He had
seen a ghostly figure—a woman; probably Scarlet. And the books falling
to the floor with her diaries opened? Could she have been trying to warn
him?
The sound of a woman's mournful cry interrupted his thoughts. The
sorrowful voice, although not loud, reverberated throughout the library.
A profound understanding took hold even as pure, unbridled terror
gripped him to the core of his being. She's crying for me! Scarlet's
mourning over me!
Then, he saw it; a dark-robed, hooded figure gazing at him from the
other side of the building. Its icy stare boring into his very soul. The
figure began moving toward him—slowly, methodically—drawing ever closer
with each step; its eyes never breaking contact. Tom lost all composure
as the being approached.
“No! No! Get away from me. Please, go away!”
Well, there you have it! For information on where you can find this and
my other publications, just go to the the introduction at the top of
this front page.
Thanks for reading. Keep it spooky, y'all!
Illustration by K. Kiera.
