An excerpt from "Join the Club" from
...Jessica told Alan to be there 5 minutes before 11, to bring a flashlight,
and she would meet him. He got there
just as she asked. She stood alone in
front of the old house, but Alan could see a few of the other club members were
standing across the street, watching.
When Alan reached her, she gave him a kiss. “What’s with them?” He asked.
“They were betting me you wouldn’t come.
We’ve tried to recruit people in the past, that backed out at the last
minute. A couple of them are even
jealous, because they’ve tried to recruit people they really liked, but I was
lucky and I found you. She smiled and
kissed him again. He leaned close to her
ear and asked; “And when would I be giving you that spanking?”
She laughed and said, “You get in the club, and not only can you pick
the time and place, but that will just be the beginning.”
“I’m ready,” he said and
started to walk towards the house.
Jessica grabbed his arm. “Not
yet. Here.” She gave him a strange flat
silver dollar sized stone with a carved series of symbols. “Keep that amulet with you. And drink this.” She handed him a small bottle. He put the stone in his pocket, then opened
the bottle and smelled it, and said, “Eww.
Do I have to?”
“Yes. Do it for me, and you can tie me up when you
spank me.” Alan downed it before Jessica
finished the sentence. As he swallowed
the awful tasting drink she quickly waved her hands around his face, holding a
similar stone to the amulet she gave him, and said a few strange sounding
words. He looked at her with a ‘WTF’
expression. “Part of the ritual.” She
answered in response. “If I don’t do all
the role play, I’m sure I’d hear about it from the other members.” Then she
kissed him and said, “Good Luck!”
As he opened the creaky
old gate and walked towards the front door Jessica called out; “Please don’t
quit Alan. Join the club!” He didn’t turn to answer, but raised his hand
and gave her thumbs up...
As one of the blogs helping the author, Larry Hochwald, to launch his new book, Not From Around Here, we get to publish this story and leave it up until Halloween. (No other review site will have it.) But first, you just got to read a small excerpt from a new, full length horror story, included in the book, called "Join the Club". I'll be talking about that story in my review of the book, soon. In spirit, it's a little like a short version of "50 Shades meets the Shining" and was, page for page, the scariest thing I have read! In the meantime, here is another wonderful and spooky story from the book: A Present for Mikey (in the newly rewritten and edited book version) It's one of the shortest stories in the book, but I think you'll agree with me that good Halloween treats come in small packages!
A Present for Mikey
Losing a family
member is never easy…. It was 11:50 PM
on July 22 and the family sat awake huddled around a small coffee table
littered with candles and pictures of the one family member not with them that
night. The mother and the father and the older sister were there, but Mikey
their young boy was only a memory now. In
10 minutes, at exactly midnight, it would not only be his 7th birthday but also
the first anniversary of Mikey’s death.
He had drowned in the family's new pool.
At that time he was turning six and everybody was saying what a big boy
he had become. When the rest of the
family went to bed that night he was already sound asleep but he must've woken
up soon after the last of them had drifted off.
It was a hot night and everyone was excited with the new pool. Sure, he had been warned not to swim alone, but
after all he was such a big boy now!
“I think what I’ll
always remember most is that I have never known any kid more universally liked
than Mikey,” his older sister said, breaking the silence.
“It's true,” his
mother began, “little kids are cute and it's hard not to like them, though boys
Mikey's age are often a bit too rambunctious for some people. Mikey, though, had a way of engaging
everybody. I never saw one of those sour expressions cross anyone's face like
‘this kid’s a little too much.’”
“I know. He was an
absolute delight. Though he didn't have to be for us to love him as much as we
do, but he was. I think about him every
day. I miss him every day. I just want
us to be a whole family again.” As the
father said that, the clock struck midnight. They all closed their eyes huddled
around the table. Tears streamed down
the mother’s cheeks. Soon tears stained
the sister’s and the father's faces as well.
The stillness was
broken, first by the sniffles and moans of the family, but then by something else. The sounds were very low at first. Though
each heard them, they assumed it was only their imagination and that the others
couldn’t possibly hear. It was splashing. Splashing like someone struggling in the
pool. Then the voice, faint, yet filled
with panic.
“Did you hear that?”
The sister asked. “Someone's calling for
help. It’s Mikey!”
“That’s impossible!”
The father yelled as they all jumped out of their seats and ran to the large
picture window overlooking the backyard and the pool. They stood frozen in
shock and fear. There was a figure thrashing in the water. It looked like a
little boy.
“Oh my God, how could
this happen, how could another kid get in our pool this late?” The mother cried out as she started running
towards the back door. The father, right
behind her, put his hand on her shoulder and stopped her. He pointed out the window as he turned on all
the exterior lighting. It did appear to
be a little boy, but not just any little boy.
Though from the distance they couldn't be sure it was Mikey, they could
be sure it wasn't just some other kid.
The figure was dark, and gray, despite the illumination. And he wasn't just calling for help, now his
voice, which sounded like Mikey’s, seemed louder and they realized he was
calling for them: “Help me mommy, help me daddy, help me sis!”
“But how can this
be?” the mother asked.
“I don't know,” the
father responded. “Mikey, the kid that
everyone loved, the child that no one found fault in, perhaps even heaven has
come to love him as much as we do, and has decided to give him a special
birthday present. Another chance!”
“Maybe it's we who
are getting a second chance--- and I'm taking it!” The mother cried out as she started running
to the back door with the sister and father right behind.
Without hesitation,
they all jumped into the pool and swam to the figure bobbing in the middle.
When they got to the ghostly figure they all cried out at the same time: “That's not Mikey!” They looked at each other scared and
confused. Suddenly, they realized they were surrounded by dark gray figures;
men and women, girls and boys. The
figures started to grab the family and pull them under the water. They fought
back, confused, filled with panic, their minds racing as they tried to resist,
but still they were pulled under. The
gray, ghostly, assailants showed no emotion as they seemed inexorably driven to
complete their grim task. Despite the
panic, or because of it, the family fought so very desperately, just as their
lungs screamed for sustenance, but it was to no avail.
Soon their thoughts
and their struggles ceased. The family
now floated lifelessly in the pool. The
gray figures huddled around them. One of
the figures, an older man, gave the slightest hint of a smile and said: “This
is a good surprise.”
“Yes,” one of the
others, a middle-aged woman, agreed, “Mikey’s such a terrific little boy, so
delightful, so endearing. It was unbearable to see him sad and suffering and
missing his family.”
“I know it's just
part of the territory, we've all had to deal, but he's such a great kid…we just
had to do something,” a younger man said.
“We had to get him a
birthday present,” another young man said.
“Not just a birthday
present; the best present we could,” a young lady said.
“His family. We knew we had
to get him his family!” the little boy who played the drowning kid, to lure the
family into the pool, said with a smile.
The gray, lifeless
figures began to fade away. Soon all
that was left in the pool were the three floating bodies. They were a complete family once again.
* * *
