Body Shocks: Extreme Tales of Body Horror by Ellen Datlow

Body Shocks: Extreme Tales of Body Horror by Ellen Datlow

Author:Ellen Datlow
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781616963606
Publisher: Tachyon Publications
Published: 2021-10-19T07:00:00+00:00


I sat next to him on the park bench.

He was feeding the birds, watching all the little girls on the jungle gym, nodding, friendly, to their mothers and nannies. He didn’t notice me. At least, not until his nose began to twitch. An unwashed body will garner attention sooner rather than later. His head swivelled and his eyes took me in—not that I would have been of any interest to him. He smiled and pointed towards the children as they played.

‘Which one’s yours?’ he asked, although he must have known, couldn’t have thought for a moment that my shell, still in its nightclub finery with smudged makeup and bird’s-nest hair, had care of any child. He grinned slyly, as if we were in cahoots.

I turned towards him, shifted my torso, the body beginning to lose its flexibility. My clumsiness made it look as though I was showing him the woman’s breasts, presenting them.

Disdain. Contempt. Amusement. All of these were in his face.

I raised my stolen hand and clicked its fingers. Sparks flew but didn’t take. I did it again and there were flames—at first just at the tips, then they crept to engulf the hand, scorching the arm, catching quickly on the synthetic fabrics of the woman’s outfit. It sped across the shoulders, split its forces and half-leapt downward, while the other continued upwards to set the bleach-blonde coif ablaze. I smiled at him from lips that curled and blackened and shrivelled back against teeth furred from no brushing.

I watched him long and hard, waiting, poised for that look, that hint, that signal.

For the light in his eyes that said he was afraid—because they’re all afraid, in the end, and that’s why I can take them—for the whimpering as he begged for his life.

His eyes remained dead, but for a lazy curiosity.

He stood and walked away as my body burned to a symphony of children’s screams.



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