Hello readers and new followers! As promised with the announcement of my new publication, "Gruesome Encounters," I am resurrecting my tradition of Creepy Sample Offerings, which involves relating segments of each story contained inside the book.
Today, I begin with the first piece that appears inside the new publication. It's called "Decorations in the Witch House," and it takes place in and around a small southern community called Westerville. Regina is a rather strange and solitary woman who lives outside of town. Both she and the townsfolk seem to prefer it that way.
We start at the beginning of the story before skipping deeper into the tale in order to continue with the original scene:
All eyes fell upon the woman as she entered the bar. Voices that had been so boisterous—so filled with
loud drunken nonsense only moments before, now fell to a whisper as she stood by the door, taking note
of everyone on the premises. She looked toward the pool table at the back of the large room. That's when
she saw them; all four of them. One of the young men had just taken a shot, splitting the balls to the far
sides of the table when he looked up and caught her gaze.
“Hey y'all,” he said to his companions. “Look at who just walked in.”
Their eyes, like those of the rest of the patrons, stared at her in disbelief as she returned their gaze; her
eyes cutting to their very core. For a moment she held eye contact, glaring at them intently, holding them
fast with an invisible power none present could fathom, before finally breaking the spell, thereby allowing
them to avert their own eyes from her.
She sauntered across the room, heading for the bar. “W... what can I do for you?” the bartender asked.
“A shot of Tequila,” she responded, “top shelf.”
“Yes, ma-am.”
The bartender returned with her drink and watched in astonishment as she drank the glass' entire
contents in one fell swoop. “I'll have another,” she informed him.
“That'll be eleven dollars,” the man told her upon returning with her second drink.
She handed him a five and a ten. “Keep the change,” she instructed to his delight.
The woman didn't guzzle her drink this time. Instead, she strode over toward the pool table with glass
in hand: her eyes once again holding them fast.
***
She stopped a few feet from the pool table, holding the four young men in her gaze. Their
discomfort with her presence was obvious.
Bobby was the first to speak up. “We... We didn't mean nothin' the other day. We'd just had a lot to drink is all.”
“Yeah, we was just drunk. That's all it was,” Danny interjected with a boyish expression on his face.
“You... You ain't told nobody nothin' have ya?” one of the others asked.
“No, no I haven't,” she informed him, taking note of a look of relief on all their faces. “But that doesn't
mean that I'm letting y'all off the hook. It doesn't work that way; not for me it doesn't.”
“So, what is it that you want?” Danny inquired.
It had become obvious to Regina by this time that Danny was the ringleader of this bunch. She took a
secret delight in this knowledge as she recalled his abhorrent behavior that other day on the road. She
decided to focus most of her attention upon him.
Looking deeply into his eyes she provided the answer to his question. “Come Saturday, I want you
boys to come out to my place and do some work for me. I've got some tree limbs and brush down that
need gotten out of my way, and there's some other stuff I can't do myself. Do that for me, and the matter is
closed. If you don't show up, I'll be making out a police report.”
“No problem, we'll git there,” he told her.
She gave him directions to her house and concluded her negotiations with more demands. “Just the
four of you. Be there at ten o'clock. Nobody else comes. You get no other help. I want y'all to pay for what
you did with sweat and blood.”
Regina finished her drink, turned her back on them, placed the empty glass on the bar, and headed for the exit. The four exchanged sighs of relief as she walked out into the street.
***
Later that night, after the encounter at the bar, Big Dan Walker, as the locals called him, sat in his easy
chair with a bottle of beer in hand. So, she wants me to pay penance for my bad behavior, he thought to
himself. Well, she ain't seen nothin' yet. Oh, I'll work alright, but I'm gonna work at more than just moving
tree limbs.
He took another swig from his near empty bottle, and spoke aloud. “Ya know what I think, little lady? I
think you're just a bit shy. I bet you're at home right now, thinking 'bout me, my bod, my natural charm,
and how you really can't resist me. Saturday's comin', and you and me are gonna have some fun.” He took a final swig from the bottle, emptying it before continuing. “Yep, we sure are!”
Well, that's it for this time around. I hope you enjoyed this week's offering and I'll have another for you in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep it spooky.
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