Did you enjoy reading about the schoolboy werewolf Kevin Baxter in ‘BITE’? In ‘Slasher’, we return to his hometown of Trexham, and explore it’s dark past. Not only that, but ‘Slasher’ will explore the county of Southumberland even more, showing some horrifying events that took place in the neighbouring city of Tornwich – on the other side of Wald Forest.
I was inspired to write this book (which will consist of a quarter of short stories – as well as an interlude) through my love of 80’s slasher films. It was never intended to be so closely related to ‘BITE’ by being set in the same place, but I felt it was a perfect opportunity to write a series of books set in the fictional county of Southumberland. In ‘Slasher’, we will finally learn the story behind the mysterious ‘Bunny-Man Bridge’, as well as seeing what Trexham is like one year after the events of ‘BITE’, when a mysterious ‘Figure in the Dark’ visits. The book will then move away from Trexham in its second part and set up my next novel (‘Ghost Train’) by delving into the grisly past of the city of Tornwich – where the past of a dangerous ‘Cannibal’ is shown as well as the frightening old lady called ‘Freda’, who is hiding something in Wald Forest. In each of these stories I will pay tribute to an 80’s slasher film by making reference to it. See if you can spot the reference in the story below – ‘Teething’ – which will be the interlude to ‘Slasher’.
‘Teething’
Somewhere in Southumberland…
‘Somewhere in the county where evil always lurks,
There is a little girl, fell victim to a curse,
Her teeth are much sharper than they ought to be,
And when family discover, they always try to flee.
But there is something more sinister waiting to be seen,
Hiding in her closet, something thought of only in a dream,
He waits there in the day, and whispers to her at night,
And she develops a deadly power; the ability to bite.’
1.
Carowyn
“Did you really send them out?” Emily breathed down the phone.
“Yes!” Carolyn exclaimed, growing tired of having to answer the same question over and over, “Why would I admit to something that could get me into a lot of shit?”
“Well… why did you do it?”
“Are you taking the piss?” Carolyn screeched again, “you know why! She’s a right bitch!”
There was a moment of silence that passed between them, before Emily seemed to decide it was best not to pass judgement, “Well… you did put her in her place I suppose.”
“Fucking did.” Carolyn stated proudly, “Just don’t say anything, yeah?”
“I wouldn’t do that to you, Carolyn.”
Yeah, because you know what you’d get, Carolyn thought, knowing she had a hold over most people she knew in school.
“Well…” Emily said again, nervous, “I’m going to get off, have fun babysitting.”
“She’s not too bad, actually, she’s been sleeping since I got here.”
But she was too late, Emily had hung up.
You better be careful or you’ll be next, Carolyn thought, at the same time beginning to regret what she had done just as quickly as she had become proud of it.
Was spreading naked photos of one of the biggest bitches in school really that terrible?
Nobody liked her, she deserved it, surely Emily knew that too?
“Carowyn!”
She’s awake.
Carolyn paused the TV show she had been watching and ran upstairs to check on her two-year-old cousin.
“Carowyn!”
“Coming, Kayla!”
When she reached the door to the baby girl’s bedroom, she heard the child gurgling and laughing playfully.
Somebody woke up happy, Carolyn thought.
As she opened the door to her cousin’s room, she thought again about her actions at school that week; during the days she had been in, anyway – it was exam season and year eleven students weren’t required to go in every day. She felt that what she’d done had been a good idea at first, but after speaking to Emily she wasn’t so sure anymore. People might turn against her. But why?! She was a bitch! Nobody liked her! They should be thankful she’d given them something to gawk and laugh at. Ungrateful bastards.
Confusing. Fickle. Bastards.
“Carowyn!”
“I’m here, sweetheart.”
Carolyn pushed open the bedroom door and looked at her niece, who was laughing and swiping playfully at the air.
“What’s up, honey?” Carolyn picked Kayla up and looked into her eyes.
Her dark, brown eyes.
“Teeth!” She shouted.
“Aw, are they hurting again?”
Carolyn gently probed her cousin’s mouth with her fingers.
And felt the spikes.
They started snapping before she could really register what was happening.
“Naughty Carowyn!!!”
2.
Mommy
“I might go home in a minute.” Amanda stated as she hit the ‘shut down’ button on her computer monitor.
“Well, it’s later than usual, your girl will be missing you.”
“Oh, yes she will!” Amanda said, thinking about Kayla.
“How’s she getting on, anyway?”
“She’s good.” Amanda responded, snapping out of her trance, “Her teeth are getting pretty painful now, though.”
“Aw, poor little thing. Who’s been watching her?”
“My niece, Carolyn.”
“Oh, Carolyn!”
“Yeah, she watched her when she’s off school – it’s exam season so her timetable has collapsed. She offered to keep an eye on Kayla, but I made sure to tell her to get some exam revision done, too.”
“Well, it’s very kind of her to do such a thing during a stressful time for her. I’m surprised you let her.”
“I did tell her that she couldn’t at first, but she insisted. So, I told her she could as long as she revised.” Amanda started neatening her desk and throwing her essentials into her handbag.
“Nice of you to take care of each other like that. You send everyone my love.”
“I will, see you tomorrow.”
Amanda left the office building and walked to her car. She drove to pick her daughter up from college, which was only a few minutes’ drive down the road. Helen, as usual, questioned her mother as to whether she was ready to confront her husband yet.
“Not with you kids in the house,” Came her usual response.
“I’ll take us all out, then. You’re doing it tonight, Mom.”
Amanda nodded, knowing it had been a long time coming.
As she drove home, she mentally prepared a speech to give to a cheating husband.
3.
Daddy
“Oh God!”
“Arthur!”
Their groans of pleasure blasted through the huge classroom and out into the empty hallways. As their movements became still for a moment, one last scream of ecstasy leapt out of their throats and then died away to heavy breathing as Arthur let his body relax and fall onto the naked, warm, smooth body of his favourite student.
“Oh God,” He breathed.
“I know,” She whispered back.
They lay there in silence for a few more moments, catching their breath and allowing their bodies to relax from the intense act which they had just enjoyed. After those moments, Arthur decided that he had to go home to his wife and children to avoid further suspicion being placed upon him. He knew that his eldest, Helen, already suspected something, but was in the dark as to whether or not his wife, Amanda, knew.
Probably, he thought; he knew that his daughter and his wife were very close, and shared a lot of things that they wouldn’t with him.
As he started getting dressed, Charlotte started her usual assault in the form of relentless questioning regarding when they could be together properly, if he had told his wife yet, what would happen to his kids and if they would be coming with him, blah blah blah.
He’d already explained the situation to her. He didn’t want to leave his children, but he did want to leave his wife.
It was a very tricky situation and he didn’t really have a clue as to how he was going to deal with it; he just kept trying to keep Charlotte happy with promises that they could be together soon, even sometimes suggesting they should wait until she had finished her degree so they wouldn’t have to hide their relationship (which she sometimes seemed content with, but then the questions would always come along again).
Today, she wasn’t having it, she actually stood up to him.
“I don’t want to wait.” She stated.
He said nothing else to her except that he would see her tomorrow, which she appeared to reluctantly accept.
Then, he headed home.
4.
John
John pulled his fist back and then launched it forward again, unleashing his anger and frustration into the ribs of his victim.
“Next time I ask for your fucking money you will give it to me!” He shouted as he threw his helpless victim to the ground.
“Please stop!” Dan pleaded, clutching his chest and writhing on the ground in pain.
John stepped forward and drove one of his hard, black school shoes between the boy’s legs. He couldn’t see if he his foot had reached its intended target because of his massive gut blocking his view, but Dan’s cry of pain let him know he must have hit what he wanted to hit.
Standing back, John looked down at Dan, and thought about how weak and pathetic he was. He couldn’t stand him, and he hated having to go to school every day with someone as shy, quiet and useless as Dan was.
“You better hope I don’t see you at school tomorrow.” John said, walking past Dan and spitting on him.
Exiting the alleyway, John started his journey home.
5.
Daddy’s Home
“Hello?” Arthur walked into his silent house and shut the door.
“Amanda?” There was nothing.
“Carolyn?” Nothing.
Arthur started to feel worried. If his wife wasn’t home yet then Carolyn should still be there, babysitting Kayla. Of course, there could be a normal explanation; maybe Amanda had already come home and had taken the girls out. However, Arthur had come to understand that, after many years of being a father, the irrational thoughts always grow more rapidly, shout more loudly than the rational ones.
Standing at the bottom of the stairs, Arthur heard his baby daughter giggle playfully.
“Kayla?” He shouted up the stairs.
“Daddy’s home!”
What? It was his daughter, but it didn’t sound exactly like her. There was something different, her words were formed more perfectly, the letters all there and the words intact. Usually, her shout would have been missing letters and sounds, perhaps sounding something like “Daddy ’ome!”
He started walking up the stairs, each step creaking underneath his feet.
He heard his daughter giggle again.
As he reached the top of the stairs, and the irrational thoughts in his mind started to tell him that someone had broken into his house and was currently with his baby daughter, he felt something jump onto his back.
Stunned, he fell forward, tripped over the last step and struck wildly at the air with his arms as his face smashed into the wooden floor.
He quickly turned his face as he felt blood gushing from his nostrils, and saw the door to his daughter’s bedroom start to open. Kayla stood in the doorway, perfectly balanced on her two legs. Arthur blinked rapidly to try and clear his eyes of liquid to see his daughter properly. Her mouth was gaping open, and short, sharp spikes protruded from her pink gums. Around her mouth was all bright red, and as he continued blinking, Arthur recognised it as blood.
“Naughty Daddy!” Kayla screeched, and started giggling as she walked forward.
Arthur tried to stand, but then felt whatever had jumped on his back shove his head down.
He felt his body start to shake with fear as his daughter knelt down beside him, stroking his face with her blood-covered hand.
The thing on his back jumped off.
He saw the small, furry, brown figure walk across his vision and sit itself beside his daughter. It was her favourite teddy bear. Its eyes were glowing an evil red, fixated on him.
“Naughty Daddy cheated on Mommy.” The toy said. It sounded deep, robotic.
For just a moment; one very bizarre, strange, horrifying moment, Arthur’s terrified mind, knowing he was about to die, took him back to a romantic night many years ago with his then-fiancé Amanda, they had watched a slasher film about a child’s toy that came to life and started killing.
That was his last thought.
“Naughty Daddy!” Kayla repeated, as her teeth came closer and began to snap.
6.
Fatty Johnny
John closed the door to his house and the silence hit him like a slap in the face.
“Hm,” He voiced, thinking that it was odd that nobody was home yet, but relishing the opportunity to have some quiet time before everyone got home.
John walked into the living room and switched on the TV, resting his feet on the arm of the chair. Just as he was getting engrossed in the programme he was watching, a thought struck him.
Isn’t Kayla here?
He thought he could remember that Carolyn was supposed to be watching Kayla today. That would mean if his Mom and Dad weren’t home yet, they should both still be here.
Deciding it was best to check, he stood from the chair and made his way up the stairs. Reaching the top few steps, he saw blood.
He stood still for a while, feeling his heart begin to thud against his chest.
“Fatty Johnny.”
Kayla?
It sounded like her, and it had come from her room. He started walking towards the door to his little sister’s room as he heard her start to giggle.
“Kayla?”
“Fatty Johnny.” The phrase was repeated, but this time Kayla hadn’t said it, this time the voice had been deep, sounding almost robotic.
He pushed the door to her bedroom open and saw the dead bodies of his Dad and his cousin.
His scream got trapped in his throat as something struck his leg and sent him flying into the bedroom. Crashing down on the floor with a loud ‘thud!’ he saw a black, not entirely human, hand begin to cover his face as he felt teeth begin to tear into the back of his neck.
7.
Mister Bogeyman
“You ready?” Helen asked as she and her Mom started to approach the front door.
Her Mom nodded and they stepped into the house.
They immediately heard giggling coming from upstairs, followed by a very deep, low, muffled voice.
“Who the fuck is that?” Helen asked.
“Must be your Dad.”
Despite her answer, they both started to walk up the stairs slowly, listening to Kayla giggle and the deep hum that always followed her laughter. Helen dropped back as her Mom took the lead, trying her best to listen to the deep voice that was speaking to her sister and see if she could recognise it.
Reaching the landing, Helen saw drops of blood on the wooden floor.
“Mom?” She breathed.
But her Mom didn’t turn back, she just kept walking forward, like a woman in a trance, towards her daughter’s bedroom.
Helen decided that her Mom must have seen the blood but had chosen to ignore it, and so she began to follow her to Kayla’s bedroom. She sped up when her Mom started opening the door. Reaching her Mom as the door opened wide, she peaked over her shoulder into the bedroom.
“Hello.” Said the teddy bear.
“Mommy!” Kayla exclaimed.
Helen and her Mom both started to scream at the same time; Kayla was sat in between Arthur and John’s bodies, whilst the talking, moving, red-eyed teddy bear was sat on top of Carolyn’s body.
“Naughty,” Spoke a voice.
Seized by terror, Helen and her Mom turned their heads slowly and reluctantly to the right, where the voice had come from. They watched, frozen in shock, as a black, deformed hand opened the wardrobe door.
“Well, it’s Mister Bogeyman!” The teddy bear monotonously exclaimed.
“Bogeyman!” Kayla excitedly shouted.
“Naughty,” He said, as his red eyes locked onto Helen and her Mom.
Amanda quickly lunged forward and picked up Kayla, prepared to speed out of the room with her.
But the teeth started tearing.
July – August, 2016
Before you go, you can also see the blurb to ‘Slasher’:
In the summer of 2013 an evil came to the small town of Trexham, Southumberland in the form of a flesh-hungry, blood-thirsty beast that operated under the full moon.
But that wasn’t the first time evil had come to Southumberland, and it certainly wasn’t the last.
In 2014 the evil came back to haunt Alan Shaw, ‘The Figure in the Dark’ followed him one sinister night.
In the 1950s the evil arrived, creating the local legend of the ‘Bunny-Man Bridge’, situated in Trexham, passing through Wald Forest; a terrifying legend that won’t seem to leave the small town alone.
Somewhere in Southumberland, a family became horrified when discovering what was really happening to their ‘Teething’ baby.
A few miles away, the lively city of Tornwich was panic-stricken in the mid-nineties after a well-known serial killer and ‘Cannibal’ escaped captivity.
At the start of the new millennium, the horrifying truth about the old lady called ‘Freda’, who lived in the outskirts of Tornwich, came to light.
Southumberland has a dark past, and an even darker future, read about it all in ‘Slasher’.
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