Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

stomach dr enched in the blood that oozed fr om the gunshot w ound that had killed her.
Simon fr oze and was suddenly, hor r ifyingly, awar e of the r ifle, heavy and har d in his hand.
He stood, unmoving, gaw ping at her. Tear s str eamed fr om his eyes. Snow flakes settled on
his lashes; he could taste them as they began to fill his open, gaping mouth.
He looked ar ound him. In the pitch dar k of the moor he had stagger ed onto, he could not
tell w hich way the hotel was. He could not tell. Stunned, stupefied, he just star ted walking?
anyw her e.
And watching him, as he disappear ed into the uncompr omising mass of moor land, a stag
stood tw itching, stamping his fr ont hoof and snor ting hot air into the cold night air.
Back at the old hunting lodge, car headlights illuminated the Hotel?s fr ont façade as a car
pulled into the car par k and stopped. Tw o w omen left the car and appr oached the fr ont
door s of its gr ey, gothic face.
?It?s all in dar kness,? one w oman said to the other. ?They w on?t be open.?
Sur e enough, w hen they got to the door , a sign told them unequivocally:
?CLOSED FOR WINTER.?
About the author
A.J. Black is an ?emerging?writer with a special interest in the classic ghost story
genre. A prolific poet in her youth, she studied English Literature at York University
and went on to pursue careers in photography, then countryside conservation and,
most latterly, running her own business on the Isle of Skye. She currently lives
near Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands, where she is concentrating full time on
her writing. Her first novel, The Seamsis, the tale of a successful TV medium who
becomes a haunted man himself after the mysterious death of one of his clients.
She has also completed a full-length collection of traditional ghost stories, The
End of the Branch Line and other Winter Ghost Stories. A website to promote her
work is currently in progress.
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