“Bellechasse, my friend in Paris, is the only non-medical man I know who keeps a collection of human skulls—nearly a dozen—randomly displayed in the library of his grand apartment overlooking the Quai d’Orsay. One winter evening he poured me a brandy and explained why.”
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“That’s when she started digging. At night, under a full moon, so I could see her out there, she would bury the corpses of cats and then dig them up a few weeks later, boiling what was left. The house would smell so bad she’d spend the whole day with the windows open cleaning with vinegar and lemon. I don’t know where she got the idea, but it wasn’t from me. I never asked for bones. She wrote messages on paper, whispering with her eyes closed. She got skinnier with every note she wrote. She’d pour oil over the paper and then sprinkle them with white powder and set the small bowls in neat rows in his closet.”
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“Lara’s basement was a dank, unwelcoming place. The fireplace was plastered over, the window a thin rectangle that looked up through a grate. It had no furniture and little light, and Lara doubted that any person could improve it. But the lodger seemed unbothered. “Trust me,” he said, “I’ve seen much worse.”
“It was only then that Lara remembered to ask his name. “Since,” she said, suddenly shy, “you’ll be living here and everything.”
“‘Me? Oh, I’m the Devil.'”
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We’ve selected three fine short stories as the winner and two honorable mentions in the Summer 2021 Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award competition. Accompanied by original illustrations from artist Andy Paciorek, all are now available for your reading pleasure right here.
In addition, these three pieces will also be included in our print anthology, 21st Century Ghost Stories: Volume II, due out from Wyrd Harvest Press (Durham, U.K.) in September. Cheers.
Volume II of our print anthology, “21st Century Ghost Stories,” has just been published. It contains all of our Summer 2018 to Summer 2021 winning and honorable mention stories from The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award contest and The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition—30 fine supernatural short stories in all!
