Helena, Page 2

pretty.

  It would look even prettier with blood on it.

  Helena lunged forward and stabbed the scissors deep into her shoulder. Susan screamed, shoved the little girl away and ran out of the bathroom, the scissors still embedded in her. She slammed the bathroom door shut.

  Helena started pounding on it, screaming.

  “Give them back! I want them! They’re mine!”

  Susan looked around. She saw the shovel leaning against the wall by the front door. She couldn’t lock the bathroom from the outside. But it would take Helena a moment to turn the door handle. She went to pull out the scissors, but stopped. If they had cut a major artery, she’d bleed out. Best to leave them in until she could go get stitches.

  She took a deep breath to steady herself, then ran over and grabbed the shovel, hefting it menacingly. Her shoulder throbbed painfully. It wouldn’t take much, the girl’s back was already broken. Just hit her to get her down, put a boot on her chest and slam the shovel blade down.

  The bathroom door opened and Helena stepped out, her body jerking more than before. She had hit the wall when Susan shoved her away, and her spine was out of alignment, making it very difficult to stand upright.

  “Stay away from me!” Susan shouted.

  “But, mother. I love you.”

  “No, you don’t. You want to eat me, don’t you?”

  Helena paused, and smiled sweetly. “Yes. That would be delicious.”

  Susan screamed and ran at her, shoving her down onto her back. Helena shrieked in pain and anger and struggled as Susan planted a boot on her chest.

  “Let me go! Let me go! I’m hungry! Mother! Please!”

  Susan paused. It broke her heart, seeing a little girl cry and beg like that.

  She shook her head.

  No. This was no little girl. This was a monster. A ghoul. And it needed to die, before it killed and ate someone.

  Susan slammed the blade of the shovel down onto Helena’s neck, and kept pushing, leaning all of her weight onto it until her head plopped off her body.

  Even beheaded, Helena continued to scream. Her body writhed and shook.

  She wouldn’t die!

  Susan stepped back and stared, trying to remember how they killed ghouls in those old movies.

  Fire. That was how Frankenstein was killed. They burned him to death.

  She scooped up Helena’s wriggling body and shoved it in her fireplace, then kicked the still screaming head across the floor, leaving a smear of blood in its wake.

  She toed Helena’s head into the fireplace, and it stopped screaming.

  The little girl looked up at her and said, “Mother, I love you.”

  “I know sweety. I know.”

  “It doesn’t hurt anymore. I don’t think I’m hungry now.”

  “That’s good. That’s real good.”

  Susan squirted starter fluid all over her little quivering body and drenched her hair, just in case, then lit a match and tossed it in.

  Helena screamed and wailed as she burned, and it broke her heart.

  Susan sat on the floor and cried.

  When Helena was nothing more than ash and bone, she scooped up her remains, put them back in her coffin, and then buried it once more behind the wall of her basement.

  It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair.

  She would’ve been a wonderful mother.

  Thank you for reading!

  I hope you enjoyed reading HELENA as much as I did writing it.

  As an author, I find it very rewarding to hear from fans. You are the reason why I keep writing more adventures for my characters. So please, if you get the chance, visit me at https://cassieshouseofhorror.blogspot.com or email me at [email protected] and let me know what you think!

  Good or bad, it doesn’t matter, I’d love to hear from you either way.

  Also, if you enjoy reading my books, could you do me a favor and tell your friends about them?

  And please, if you could take a few minutes out of your super busy day to leave a short review on the site that you purchased it from, it would be much appreciated.

  Every little bit helps spread the word about my books, and allows others to discover them, just as you have.

  Thank you so much for reading HELENA!

  Respectfully,

  Cassie Carnage

  Look for these other fine horror titles by Cassie Carnage at your favorite online book retailer!

  WE ARE ALL MONSTERS

  BLACK HEARTS AND BLOODIED LIPS

  THE DYING LIGHT

  Upcoming titles to be released by Bloody Whisper Books in summer of 2017:

  INFECTION: CADDIS INITIATIVE PHASE ONE

  Becca Espinoza’s entire life changes overnight. And it’s not just her; everyone is changing. Everything is changing. The whole world is becoming something beyond her wildest imagination, and worse than her darkest nightmares.

  Will Becca survive long enough to find her girlfriend and get her to safety? Or is everyone living in their coastal town doomed?

  ADDICTED TO THE ABYSS

  The last time Jonah Severin blacked out, he woke up lying in a pool of sticky, congealed blood, surrounded by the corpses of strangers. He couldn't recall his mother's name, nor what she looked like.

  This time, he woke up and didn’t even recognize his own face.

  When the blackouts come on, he is replaced by a darkness that is growing inside him. Every time he gorges on the blood of the living, it consumes a piece of his soul.

  Bloody and visceral, ADDICTED TO THE ABYSS follows Jonah as his personality slowly erodes away.

  What will happen when he becomes nothing more than a feral beast with no soul; no shred of humanity left intact to stop him from devouring everyone, including the man that he loves?