Bloody #Valentine #Horror Event - Dearly beloved by Clarissa Johal #paranormal #flashfiction

Join Us today for the

2016 Bloody Valentine Horror Event
Free reads: flash fiction, book excerpts, tales of broken hearts, historic tidbits of love gone wrong, videos, photos...but no mushy stuff.

Hosted by author A. F. Stewert

Featured authors scheduled to appear are:

Clarissa Johal
Ash Krafton
Nick Paschall
Miracle Austin
John Linwood Grant
Debbie Christiana
Steve Vernon
Cinsearae S.

***

Photo courtesy of freeparking :-| via Flickr
This story is fiction and does not reflect 
these people in any way

Dearly beloved
by Clarissa Johal

The ghost stood at the top of the stairwell and gazed down at her body. She worried the ring on her finger, which even in death seemed to cut into her skin. My body is like a crumpled thing. Who knew it could be twisted into such an awful shape? The man who was crouched beside her body wept loudly.

 "How could this be? My dearest wife!"

 “She suffered from hysteria,” the doctor said. “You mustn’t blame yourself—”

"Leave me be! I wish to be alone with her." He turned away to hide his grief.

The doctor nodded. “We shall wait in the parlor.”

"My darling." The man took her lifeless hand and held it to his heart. "I will no longer hear the music of your voice, or feel the silky touch of your fingers, or smell the perfume of your skin."

Hearing his words, the ghost descended down the stairwell until her long skirts could have brushed his cheek. She passed a hand through his shoulder. 

"I feel the chill of death." The man shivered and dropped her hand abruptly. "It is as if your shade were here with me." He stood and backed away from the body.

The ghost of the woman traced her fingers along his chest. She looked up at him and stood on her tiptoes as if to steal a final kiss. Her whisper was like a final sigh. “My beloved.” The woman plunged her hands into the man's chest.

The man's jaw went slack. A soundless scream was ripped from his lungs. Gasping for breath, he fell onto the floor, writhing. 

The ghost crouched beside him, her expression twisted in fury. She squeezed his heart until it stopped. With a strangled cry, the man went limp. Glassy and frozen, his eyes were fixated upon her as they’d never been in life.

Satisfied, the ghost of the woman stood. She turned and ascended the staircase. Reaching the top, she glanced over her shoulder at the two bodies crumpled on the floor. One was her own and the other belonged to her husband. The same man who had pushed her down the stairwell, hours before.