Nightmares Unhinged: Twenty Tales of Terror by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction / Horror Anthology
Publisher: Hex Publishers LLC
Published: 2015-09-07T22:00:00+00:00

A lone cloud blocked the sun and cast a thin shadow over the trail. Goosebumps spread across Patricia’s arms. She rubbed her exposed shoulders–she needed more than a tank top, at least for the morning. She took a T-shirt from her backpack and pulled it on.

She yawned, wishing for nothing more than to be back home and in her bed after a long shower. No: a bath. She wanted to soak forever in a hot bath. Her yawn became a sigh.

“Tired already?” Mick said. He was ahead of her on the trail and turned to stare. Patricia saw the same disappointment and annoyance on Mick’s face she knew so well from outings with her father.

“I’m okay,” Patricia said, hoping Mick couldn’t tell how little she meant the words.

“Sure you are,” Mick said, making no effort at all to hide how little he believed her. “Suck it up. You’re the one who wanted this trip.”

“I know,” Patricia said. “I just hadn’t expected it to be this cold. We always go hiking in July.”

“It’s late September, Trish,” Mick snapped, “and you knew that when you stuck us with this weekend. And we couldn’t go this July because of my job. You think I don’t know that? You think I’ve forgotten how many times you’ve mentioned it?”

“Mick, I–”

“Just don’t, Trish,” he said. “Don’t. You picked the date, so suck it up. We’re here, and we’ve got two more days of this. So don’t.”

Patricia didn’t move, and was not surprised when Mick turned and strode off, quickly disappearing around a bend in the trail.

Suck it up, Mick said.

Same advice Patricia’s daddy gave her so many times. Didn’t sound any better coming from her fiancée than it had coming from her father.

Suck it up.

Patricia drew a deep breath, then another, shouldered her pack and adjusted its straps, then set out after Mick, moving fast so she could catch up, although she didn’t know why.

She was panting when she caught sight of him again, still a distance ahead of her on the trail. He was leaning against a tree, watching her. That was a good sign, she thought, and an unexpected one. She hadn’t expected to see him again so soon. Much less to find him waiting for her. Her father had never done that much for her. When she couldn’t keep up with Daddy on a hike, the bastard simply left her behind. Maybe Mick was less like Daddy than Patricia assumed.

She tried to calm her breathing, not let Mick see how winded she was. It didn’t work–the closer she got to him, the more clearly she could see his sneer. Daddy’s sneer.

“You’re out of shape,” Mick said as she neared him. “And the weight you’ve gained doesn’t help, does it, Fatty Patty?”

Patricia didn’t know why she ever told Mick about the nickname. The weight her father mocked so mercilessly was long since gone before Patricia met Mick. Not before Daddy died, though. She was still Fatty Patty to her daddy when he went.

Patricia was aware of the extra weight.

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