www.storymania.com
Storymania Logo

 

 

Short Stories




Ersatz Jerry Cornelius by Potter Michael My short story take on one of my favorite Characters from one of my favorite authors, Mi... [743 words]
Lost Chance by Michael Potter A couple find themselves stuck in a small town when their car breaks down. [13,439 words]
Qz by Michael Potter Short story about an evil government controlling a drug that produces enlightenment. [2,593 words]
The Clock by Bernadette (Some Call Me Just read this. [229 words]
Windows by Dennis Coleman Sam Holloway considers all that he sees from the boardroom window. [915 words]
Why Won't He Bless Me? by Paul D Deleon A unique look at a day in my life when I spent the majority of my time asking for a bles... [1,601 words]
Where Is My Dad? by Neil Southern A few sad words that may well touch many [96 words]
Too Late For Coffee by Liilia Morrison An old man's last days with an angel [1,489 words]
The Sun by Jessi This is a random piece of writing. It doesn’t really have a category. It’s just something I wrote when ... [72 words]
The Little Fisherman by Riot - [652 words]
The Light Side Of Dark by Lisa M Setser Being on earth for so long being a Guardian Angel is taken its toll on Azerial. He hasn’... [3,888 words]
The Kent State Tragedy- Its Impact On Me by Greg Dinunzio About to flunk out of college, a horrible tragedy saved my academic li... [305 words]
The Day That Will Never Be Forgotten by Ryuichi Minamino A story about an accident, from a survivers point-of-view [491 words]
The Books Cover Was Wrong. (Part 1:Introduction) by Jessi People are not who they seem. [304 words]
The Beginning Of The End by Donna Carmona A short story about my mom's illness. [1,656 words]
Red Sun by Doc Byron A father's worst nightmare comes true [390 words]
Pooh On Meditation by Michael Potter Short comic satire [135 words]
Ovidio Gets A Smoke by Liilia Morrison A party turns sour but Ovidio ends up sittin' pretty. [1,160 words]
Overwhelming Experience Of A College Freshman by Greg Dinunzio Culture shock does not describe the feeling that a sheltered seve... [349 words]
One Way Road by Ben Stuart A naturalist short story about school and its effect on a boy. [946 words]
Now Who Does This Remind You Of? by Me - [388 words]
Night’S Predator by Jessi I love vampires. Everything i write about them i feel conected like i am the one that is hunti... [207 words]
Next Generation by Christopher Evans Slap stick funny gender reversal, where a man get pregnant. Watch him deal with the cravings, ... [4,133 words]
My Wife And The Invisible People by Greg Dinunzio My ex-wife is very kind and thougthful to people who do not really exist.... [225 words]
Loop Life by Jessi Sometimes life feels like one giant loop [679 words]
I Have A Lot Of Ideas, But... by John Pirandello I have a lot of ideas, but each time I try to transform them in a story, exactly ... [1,430 words]
Goaland Fantasy by Michael Potter A short story about a place where the characters can do anything. [983 words]
Eternal Heartache by Wanderer Bass In honor and memory of Grandpa Buddy. [597 words]
Easter Monday by Neil Southern A True drama - In a brief moment [247 words]
Dumped by Jessi Today the love of my life. dumped me. he got with another girl then got rid of me. i dont know what to d... [75 words]
Driving by Doc Boyer A lonely man drives around aimlessly looking for that ''special'' girl. [262 words]
Driving Batsy Bats by Gino Russo The Joker finally gets one in the win column over his oldest foe... All names and characters... [1,770 words]
Dreams 1 by Wanderer Bass This is the most recent dream I can remember. I am above the influence and these are always weird drea... [355 words]
Destination Unknown by Greg Dinunzio Her life is a never ending journey in search of something that she will never find...brief ... [391 words]
Catching Stars by Riot - [185 words]
Breathe Your Name by Alice F Jones What would you do if the love of your life was your mistress? Would you run or choose for a l... [571 words]
Black Coffee by Jonathan Brucato Insignificance can put a smile on your face. [2,617 words]
Billie The Mole by Adam Robinson A short story about a mole. [797 words]
And The Lord Said . . . by W N Dayley God, Jesus and Satan discuss the fate of Humanity. [3,380 words]
A Summer Day by Corey Moon I wrote this srory kind of late, and its only my second, i just recently discovered writing and i ... [1,037 words]
A Nondescript Woman by Dennis Coleman Is she Truly a plain Jane, or is that what she wants us to know about her? [5,448 words]
A Merchant's Last Journey by H H J S Harrishafizjohnsonsieczkowski Abu-Hussam is a wicked man, but eventually through his suffering finds not only himse... [4,216 words]
A Curious Life by Jessi Dolphins live a curious life... [215 words]
A Brief Return by Neil Southern Faith, madness or harsh reality? [219 words]
How A Teenager Advoided A Pervert by Amarjit Bhambra A lot of teenager girls are not aware of dangers that they would face when co... [819 words]
Face To Face With Daylight Robbers by Amarjit Bhambra A tricky situation... [288 words]
(Cont.. Part 2) The Prince And The African Grey by Amarjit Bhambra This Chapter is continued to my story "The Prince and the Afric... [1,552 words]
Zaloo-Loo Ruled Her Tribe by Amarjit Bhambra Some Tribe secrets remain a mystery to the Moden world. I made up a story based on tr... [1,857 words]
Wolves In Silver Point by Jan Lappalainen Tyler faces terror at his farm [5,654 words]
Will I See You In The Morning? by Nicole Johnson This is about my soul mate, although we cannot be together right now. [720 words]
Vic Voegelin And The Iwo Jima Letters by Greg Dinunzio A recent news story triggers memories of a fine man who taught us honesty... [311 words]
Unrequited Love by Kimball A drunken rewrite of a previous story. [674 words]
This Is It! by Neil Southern A strange offering of pure thought [336 words]
The One Or “We Thank God For Second Chances, But Who Do We Beg For A Third?” by Anslem B Gentle One man gets a shot at perfection.... [1,167 words]
The Love Of A Mother by Kimball A story I wrote last year, but never got around to submitting. [1,253 words]
The First Valentine by Anslem B Gentle The Origins of Valentin's Day. [1,539 words]
Talk by Iam Noone A girl suffering from the eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa [305 words]
Tales Of Unknown: The Trial Lawyer by Jeremiah Semien Take a journey, in the future, where the government, wants to control, man-k... [9,357 words]
Sunday School by Buxton A short story about Graeme, who at 9 makes the most out of Sunday School by obsessing about his F... [3,592 words]
Standing Alone by Bk Kinsel Alone [110 words]
Square Peg by Steve Drost A short snapshot into the morning routine of a public-transit user. [1,254 words]
Samantha Jane by Riot - [465 words]
Reflection Of A Hero by Reginald F Byron Eddie, sound asleep, wakes up to find a new obstacle flat in his doorway. Little does he k... [3,545 words]
Rag Doll by Jan Lappalainen A day in the life of Marius... [999 words]
Pressure by Iam Noone A girl who is pressured into drinking and ends up in the hospital. [406 words]
Poor Daddy by Randall Barfield Carl saw the freshly-dug hole and broke into tears... [438 words]
Mrs. Bilkhu And Her Two Little Finches by Amarjit Bhambra A very sad little story - very diffcult to write through my tears. They... [926 words]
Littlefish.Comchat by Richard W McLin This is the short story of an online predator,loosely based on real events as seen by me on ... [546 words]
Incredible India (Around Nagamalai ) by Priyah Natarajan Nagamalai is a very beautiful place in Kerala (India). The travelougue des... [1,489 words]
I Had A Dream Last Night by Neil Southern How sure can we be about reality? [300 words]
Eye For Eye by Steve Drost A man commits murder and suffers no ill effects [2,758 words]
Double Negative by James Fund A story from the point of view of someone struggling with his past and his inability to be hone... [1,896 words]
Deer Valley by P L L Loomis Me and a few of my friends did this skiing thing a Deer Valley and I was sad that it was ending. [528 words]
Chocolate Fetish by Iniquity Asylum I always wondered how long it would be before my Queen-size bed would absorb—steal, crunch, wi... [765 words]
Celeste by Anslem B Gentle One woman's journey to be free of childhood. [1,056 words]
Blood-Stained by Iniquity Asylum I sighed and realized that tonight was another night that I would have to deal with a broken hear... [1,672 words]
Ashley by Riot - [180 words]
All Over The Page by Kevin M Pasquale This is a short story, told in the 1st person point of view, about David Grimes. He is a "mes... [4,340 words]
A Walk In The Dark
A Very Short Novel by Deepak Gupta The Emerging of India from the eyes of a common man. [1,337 words]
10 Real Adsense Secrets by Naren Sundas Sri Ganesh Infotech 10 REAL secrets for quickly growing your AdSense earnings to $100, $300, even $500 A DA... [536 words]

Go to page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 [15] 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
TITLE (EDIT)
A Walk In The Dark
DESCRIPTION
A man goes for a walk in the woods.
[977 words]
TITLE KEYWORD
Horror
AUTHOR
Steve Drost
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
-
[February 2007]
AUTHOR'S E-MAIL ADDRESS
stevedrost@hotmail.com
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (4)
Eye For Eye (Short Stories) A man commits murder and suffers no ill effects [2,758 words]
Nine Eleven (Poetry) Something that occurred to me after September 11, 2001. [94 words]
Outside (Poetry) A haiku about winter [12 words]
Square Peg (Short Stories) A short snapshot into the morning routine of a public-transit user. [1,254 words]
A Walk In The Dark
Steve Drost

      

He paused at the entrance to the woods.

The woods weren't primeval. They didn't grow wild over an undesignated territory. The area they covered was perfectly square. They were city woods. Domesticated, tame woods. Woods that you could lead on a leash and expect them to obey.

But they were dark, so he paused. It seemed like the right thing to do.

After a moment, he took one step into the gloom. He shivered. There was something cold and elusive about trees, he thought warily. Grand, unbounded forests, or polite, well-behaved trees like these all seemed to have an inimical quality to them that made him uneasy.

He began walking up the path into the heart of the trees. The damp in the air seeped into his bones, making them ache. The path where he was walking was covered with crushed limestone, but off to either side of him lay deadfalls of tree branches like the forgotten bones of large animals.

Walking alone in the woods didn't seem like such a good idea anymore. He had to make a conscious effort not to speak out loud, to reassure himself with the sound of his own voice. The path was wide and spacious, and only a few hundred feet behind him, he could hear traffic passing on the road… but the sound of the cars was muffled, and it was getting dark. He realized with a sudden pang of breathless anxiety that he wasn't going to reach the end of the path before it was full dark.

Above him, the moon glowed bright and impassive, like an unblinking eye. He stopped for a moment and looked up at it. He felt his fear fade a little. The moon was reliable. It had not changed or become threatening. He could count on the moon. But the moon was always so cold. Had it always been so? He felt his comfort drain away slowly, and he began to feel dizzy. He could draw no water from the moon. He tried to begin walking, but his legs felt so heavy that he could hardly lift them. Finally, he tore his gaze from the moon. Grimly, he began to pick up his feet and put them down again. After a moment, feeling returned to them, as though they had fallen asleep.

He began to walk faster. He felt foolish doing so, but he was frightened. The scuffing of his feet seemed very loud against the ground, and the sound they made was bouncing back from the undergrowth around him in a peculiar way. It almost sounded like there was more than one set of footsteps. He suddenly felt compelled to run, but he forced himself to maintain his pace.

The light from the moon made everything glow silver; it made everything change. Everything was different and twisted. Even the flowers that appeared comforting by the light of day were sinister and forbidding. He could imagine dark, formless shapes rising from the gloom beside the path and engulfing him without making any sound. Somehow that was the worst - that they would make no sound.

He shook his head - he was being foolish, giving himself the heebie-jeebies. But the knowledge that he was being foolish did nothing to make him feel less frightened. He tried to calm himself by controlling his breathing. But the more he tried to steady himself this way, the louder his body screamed for oxygen; it left him weak and trembling and terrified. He stopped, his heart thumping queasily in his chest, rested his hands on his knees and took a deep, shaking breath. His chest felt too small, as though he couldn't get enough air to satisfy it. His nose and fingers were tingling.

There was a sudden snap in the underbrush, and his heart leaped into his mouth and began to hammer wildly. He broke into a shambling gait that was nearly a run, stumbling once as he tried to look over his shoulder, but his brain was so overloaded with terror that his feet became tangled and he tripped. He scrambled up, his palms scratched and bleeding, his breath rasping in his chest. His mouth was filled with the dull iron taste of fear. His feet seemed too heavy to lift, and when he looked around him into the woods, he realized with despair that he had stumbled right off of the path, and he couldn't see where it was. Clouds had covered the moon, and he could make out no shapes in the darkness around him. There was not a hint of moonglow. There was no light to guide him. There was nothing. It was as though the shapes he had imagined coming from the gloom had materialized and swallowed him


He tried to call out, but all that came out was a moan. The thought of daylight finding him here, curled up on the forest floor between the rotting carcasses of trees was almost too much for him to bear. He could feel his sanity fraying like a worn rope.

There was something coming from behind him. It had a dark, savage animal smell. He couldn't see anything in the dark, and he was so terrified now that he was blubbering. Each heartbeat pulsed in his eyeballs, and he seemed to see phosphorescent vapors twisting like jet contrails across his vision.

He tried to crawl, but with a fresh burst of horror he realized that he couldn't move his feet. Something cold was holding them. He tried to scream, but all that would come out was a whisper. He tried to struggle, but something was moving slowly up his leg toward his belly…

…and then his mind was mercifully gone, drowned in his own madness like a tidal wave.

In a tree, an owl watched impassively. It blinked and turned its head once, as though testing the air, then spread its wings and glided away.

 

READER'S REVIEWS (2)
DISCLAIMER: STORYMANIA DOES NOT PROVIDE AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWS. ALL REVIEWS ARE PROVIDED BY NON-ASSOCIATED VISITORS, REGARDLESS OF THE WAY THEY CALL THEMSELVES.

"wow this sound like it could become something so creepy. that feeling like you sit on edge of your seat." -- Bug off.
"Oh my gosh that was soo scary! I mean just the thought of what could happen next...wow sends chills down my spine. But I can relate to this story about being freaked out like that and my luck if I did go far in the woods at night something would get me...I think you should write something that tells what happens..." -- Jordan.

TO DELETE UNWANTED REVIEWS CLICK HERE! (SELECT "MANAGE TITLE REVIEWS" ACTION)

Submit Your Review for A Walk In The Dark
Required fields are marked with (*).
Your e-mail address will not be displayed.

Your Name*     E-mail*

City     State/Province     Country

Your Review (please be constructive!)*


Please Enter Code*:

Submit Your Rating for A Walk In The Dark

Worst     1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10     Best

COPYRIGHT NOTICE
© 2001 Steve Drost
STORYMANIA PUBLICATION DATE
February 2007
NUMBER OF TIMES TITLE VIEWED
2111
 

Copyright © 1998-2001 Storymania Technologies Limited. All Rights Reserved.