Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

He nudged my knee w ith his foot, a gentle way of keeping me pr esent befor e I tucked
myself completely away in my head.
?Even though you so cr uelly r ebuked my pr oposal the other night ? as far as I r emember
it ? I fully intend to spend the r est of my life w ith you. And if that means spending a life
w ith your ghosts as w ell then I might as w ell get to meet them.?
I w ish it was something as homely as he imagined: the cuddly shade of gr andma or the
family dog. A memor y that w ould embr ace him as its ow n. Something w e w ould laugh
about thr ough the year s.
?Lots of people hate Chr istmas, it?s nothing mor e than that.?
?Is that w hen he left??
The flat was a soft hive of ticking r adiator s and gentle clocks; it had been our s for less
than a year but w e had made it a cosy bur r ow for waiting out the w inter. To tear open that
dank coffin w ould leave us r ipe for the cr ow s and car r ion-eater s.
?Sor t of. He wasn?t a gr eat dad.?
Guilt w or med in my gut to speak ill of the dead.
?Mum said she didn?t want mor e kids but he wanted a boy. He talked about toughening
me up. ?Got to tough her up?, he used to say. Make me the son he never had, I suppose.
Stupid bastar d.?
?Jesus.?
Steve sat up str aight, to show he was listening. It tumbled out in a r ush.
?One w inter he took me hunting. I r efused to shoot anything. He called me a pussy, a
little bitch. Said that the big bad w or ld w ould come looking for me and I needed to be able
to fight back. Needed to know w hat death felt like.?
Heavy black boots in the snow. Footpr ints, stalled in their pr ime. A shatter of bir ds
fleeing the fr osted pines as one r eflex.?He killed a deer. Dr agged it back to the house by its
hooves. I cr ied the w hole time. Got sent to bed w ithout dinner and listened to him and
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