Four in the Morning
- Edwards, Erdelac, Crisler,
Marquitz
Excerpt of
Cenotaph:
I
used to believe Hell was a place sinners went when they died, but
I know better now. Stick around long enough and life becomes your
Hell. It doesn't wait for you.
No
man should outlive his children...especially not his
grandchildren, but that's what I did. Been to ten funerals all
told in the last forty years, and each time another piece of my
heart was torn from my chest and put in the cold ground to be
covered over by dirt. All the pieces are gone now. Nobody bothers
to ask about them anymore, it's been so long. Even the photographs
on the mantle have yellowed, the edges darkening in their frames,
but the memories are still there; still sharp.
That's
the worst part, I think.
It
takes me ten minutes to crawl out of bed each morning, my arms and
legs tingling something fierce, the joints swollen and damn near
fused together, but the past is there waiting for me every day.
Like a little pup whose whole existence is its master, the
memories pounce me the moment my eyelids creak open, dowsing me in
the wet and sloppy kisses of sorrow before I've even had a chance
to wipe the drool from my chin. If that isn't Hell, I don't know
what is.
I
turned seventy-three last week, and aside from the automated phone
call from my insurance agent wishing me a happy birthday, it was
the same as every other day since Rose and the kids passed on.
Empty.
Reviews:
"...if you like dark, dirty and realistic horror
tales, I recommend this anthology." ~ TMSO
Read the full
review at The Atheist's Quill
"FOUR IN THE MORNING is a fine collection, showcasing a
quartet of talented new writers I'm looking forward to seeing more
from."
~ Nick Cato at The Horror Fiction Review
"With varied tonal destinations, from the esoteric,
the gangsta, the intense, the elegiac, and sometimes reaching into
the holiest of Twilight Zone territories, FOUR IN THE MORNING is
an outstanding collection of stories, all unique unto themselves
and relentlessly entertaining."
~ Benjamin Kane Ethridge,
Bram Stoker Award Winning author of BLACK AND ORANGE and BOTTLED
ABYSS
