Editor’s Pick from Next Great Horror Writer Contestants

HorrorAddicts.net continues our Horror Bites series with
a bundle of new fiction by our Next Great Horror Writer Contestants.
Featuring work by:
Jonathan Fortin
Naching T. Kassa
Daphne Strasert
Jess Landry
Harry Husbands
Sumiko Saulson
Adele Marie Park
Feind Gottes
JC Martínez
Cat Voleur
Abi Kirk-Thomas
Timothy G. Huguenin
Riley Pierce
Quentin Norris

With introduction by Emerian Rich.

HorrorAddicts.net is proud to present our top 14 contestants in the Next Great Horror Writer Contest. The included stories, scripts, and poems are the result of the hard work and dedication these fine writers put forth to win a book contract. Some learned they loved writing and want to pursue it as a career for the rest of their lives. Some discovered they should change careers either to a different genre of writing or to a new career entirely. Whatever lessons came along the way, they each learned something about themselves and grew as writers. We hope you enjoy the writing as much as we did.
Just 99 cents at Amazon.com

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A sneak peek inside…
CHERRY BLOSSOMS AND YOKAI
by Adele Marie Park
Submitted for the 5000-word Musical Short Story Challenge, Episode #142

Everything has a place you told me, so where is my place now you are gone, grandmother?
I light the incense and stare at your picture on the ancestor shrine.
Tears start to fall. Hot and salty, the taste of mourning. Your body is ashes, some in the urn in front of your picture.
Why did the rituals and purifications give me no comfort?
There’s a bird of panic fluttering inside my chest making me gulp air.
You’ve been gone forty-nine days. We must give away your belongings now. I don’t want to. Everything should stay the same. If you want to come back you won’t recognize anything. I can’t talk anymore. The panic bird sings louder. My arms have pins and needles shooting through them. I must get up. No air. I’m dying.
“Emiko? It’s time to go.” Mum’s voice echoes in my ears.
I can’t let her see me like this.
Making it to the kitchen, I wash my hands in cold water. Allowing it to flow over my wrists calms the panic bird. It recedes as slow as a tortoise but finally, it sleeps and I can function.
We talk little in the car. Mum asks me if I want to drive but I can’t. Who knows when the bird might wake up? It’s not safe.
Outside your house, I notice the curtains are still drawn and you’re not standing at the window waving to us like usual.
I don’t want to do this. Scrabbling through your possessions like a forensic team tagging and bagging evidence.
My heart lurches and the bird stirs.
“Are you okay?” Mum asks.
I want to say no. A year into university and the one person I love more than mom dies. Leaves this world and me behind.
I bow my head and whisper, “Yes.”
It’s what she wants to hear. She has her own grief to cope with. I’m old enough to deal with my own. Except I’m not.
Inside, only the scents of incense, cinnamon, and green tea remain. It’s an empty shell, an abandoned home.
“I think we’ll start in the attic.” Mum touches my hand and gets my attention.
“Yeah.” I glance upstairs…To read more, click here.

Author: Adele Marie Park Growing up on an Orcadian island, surrounded by folktales and the sea helped me become a writer. Horror is paranormal and it is as solid as your heartbeat when you’re home alone and the floorboards creak upstairs. Enter my world at  http://www.firefly465@wordpress.com
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