Monster Mashup - Spooky Short Stories with Special Bonus Zombie Short

Monster Mashup

  Spooky Short Stories with Special Bonus Zombie Short

  By

  M.J.A. Ware

  DIGITAL EDITION v1.5a

  PUBLISHED BY: CG Press LTD. at SmashWords

  Copyright © 2010 by M.J.A. Ware

  Cover © 2011 – Carolina Hernandez, https://carolinahdzz.carbonmade.com

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of any product referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Digital Edition License Notes

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  Would you like to know when more low-cost and free ebooks are released by M.J.A. Ware? Visit: https://www.MJAWare.com.

  * * * * *

  For Morgan, who loves monsters even more than I.

  * * * * *

  Table of Contents

  Infinite Reflections

  Bloody Marcy

  Monster in the Mirror

  No Way Out

  Steven, Space Stowaway

  The Price of Friendship

  Hobgoblin Horror

  Rolling Leprechauns for Change

  Hide-n-Go-Coffin

  Brother's Keeper

  Grandpa's Suits

  Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb

  * * * * *

  Infinite Reflections

  Jessie had that wide crooked smile on her face. The one she wears when she squeals on me.

  She carried a big ugly mirror with a worn wooden frame and she huffed her long bangs out of her face as little beads of sweat dripped a layer of makeup down her forehead.

  "What'd you do, hold up an antique shop?" I asked as she lugged the thing through the front door.

  "Found it in someone's trash."

  "Jessie, you're such a trash digger."

  "Eww, gross, Aaron. It was sitting out by the trash."

  "I knew I smelled something stinky."

  "Just get out of my way." I stepped back and watched her drag it up the stairs one step at a time.

  "Hanging it in your room to make sure your friends aren't vampires?" I hollered up.

  "No, stupid. I'm putting it in the bathroom."

  "Not our tiny bathroom." I marched up behind her. "You're already hogging it up with all the makeup you wear to hide your ugly troll face."

  "I'm taking down the picture behind the door."

  "Not the one of the little girl giving her dog a bath?" I hated that picture.

  "Yep. I'll be able to see the back of my hair." As she took down the framed photo, dust bunnies jumped off it.

  "No way. I love that picture. Besides, you don't need a mirror. I can tell you, the back looks just as bad as the front."

  She ignored me and slammed the door in my face. I put my shoulder into it and pushed my way in.

  "Aaron, stop it. I'm right behind the door."

  I always had to fight to get my turn in the bathroom. No lie, Jessie spent two hours getting made-up every morning. I was lucky if I could stick my head in to do a zit check.

  Jessie's dumpster-dive mirror hung from the back wall, right behind the door. It reflected off the bathroom mirror and back again—over and over, creating duplicate images as far as I could see. "Wow, it's like an infinity mirror."

  "Huh? Yeah, sure. But I can totally see the back of my hair."

  "Like I told you, it looks like-" Something caught my eye. Something moving, way back in the old mirror.

  I glanced behind me, but nothing was there except piles of over-priced makeup.

  I climbed over the sink, around Jessie, and sat on the edge of the counter.

  "Did you see that?"

  She ignored me and messed with her bleached bangs.

  "There it is again. Something's in the mirror." I was sure of it. Climbing out of one reflection and into the next. Jessie's big head hogged up most of the mirror—I couldn't really see anything except the arms.

  "You're such a dork." She grabbed a pink scrunchie and put it on her wrist.

  The thing climbed out of another reflection and came closer. A sick feeling welled up in my stomach, like when I sneak downstairs at night and watch one of those really graphic horror movies.

  "Jess, it's getting closer." Each passing second, it climbed forward, closer to the surface. I fought the urge to look away.

  The arms were clearly visible now. I expected them to be hairy, misshapen—somehow monstrous. Instead, they were smooth, undefined, non-human. Like they belonged on a mannequin.

  Checking behind me, I couldn't see them in the bathroom mirror. Only in this strange, old mirror that seemed to suck the light from the room.

  "Jess, quick, look—the mirror..." The hands reached out towards the surface, like two fleshy claws. "Get out now!"

  "Aaron, you are such a pain in the—" I reached for the door to push her out. Before I could, the hands burst through the surface.

  She screamed as the arms circled around her, pulling her in.

  "Hold on Jess, I got you." I grabbed her wrists. She dug her manicured nails into my arms.

  "Aaron, help!"

  It was like a lopsided game of tug-of-war. The monster reeled her in. First her waist, then her legs.

  Her eyes bulged—like a pair of white and blue Easter eggs—as her face disappeared into the mirror.

  She was gone.

  I looked blankly at my lone reflection. Arms burning from the struggle—nothing but scratches and a pink scrunchie to show for it.

  I peered deep into the mirror. I couldn't see much of anything; my own reflection blocked most of the view. I could see how an airhead sister might miss a pair of moving hands.

  There it was again—way in the back. Arms reaching out, desperately climbing closer.

  Panicking, I threw open the door and jumped out. The handle bashed against the mirror's wooden frame, nearly smashing the glass.

  I ran to the garage and found a large framing hammer—the kind you almost need two hands to swing.

  Back at the bathroom, the door stood open, blocking the two mirrors from reflecting off each other. I peered around the door. Nothing moved in the mirror. It seemed safe now that the mirrors didn't reflect off each other. Reaching across the counter, I carefully put away a plastic handheld mirror—I wasn't taking any chances.

  As big of a pain as she was, I couldn't smash the mirror until I'd gotten my sister back.

  Slowly, I closed the door. The mirror looked shinier, brighter, as if sucking up my sister had somehow restored it.

  The thing started climbing through the reflections. At first, it was far back, hard to see. As it got closer, the arms grew larger. It only took it a few seconds to get to the mirror's surface.

  My sweaty hand reached out and grabbed the door. Sharing this bathroom was enough brother-sister bonding for me. I hoped I wasn't about to join her.

  Ev
en expecting it, I jumped when the hands popped out. I swung the door open, blocking the mirrors from reflecting off each other.

  The arms, half out of the mirror, groped at the door. My foot braced it half open—still blocking the mirror, but out of reach of the monster.

  Two arms stuck out from the surface. Hands twisted, grabbing at the air. Fingers waxy, fused together.

  It was stuck.

  Somehow, my reflection now appeared behind the creature. Its face smooth and featureless—no hair, no mouth, no nose, no eyes. Like a mound of clay before it's sculpted.

  "Let my sister go," I demanded, my voice cracking.

  It ignored me and continued to struggle.

  "I'll turn you over to the military. I'm sure they'll have fun with you. Let her go."

  The creature's head tilted down toward the hammer in my hand.

  "Oh, this? If you release my sister, I promise not to smash you with a hammer."

  I dropped the hammer. "I'll bury the mirror in the ground. Someday, someone might dig you up." The monster seemed to stare back. "I'll even wrap you in a garbage bag first. That's a better deal than you're going to get from the military."

  The thing didn't have ears. Could it even hear? Just as I started thinking up plan B, Jessie plopped out. She cowered against the pot, her hands covering her eyes, like she was looking into the sun.

  "Aaron, how long was I gone?" she asked.

  "Just a minute or so," I said, stunned to see her alive. "Anyone else in there—besides the monster?"

  "No, I don't think so. No room. Too small. Too dark."

  I grabbed her hair dryer, a big professional one. Careful not to move the door, I swung the dryer by the cord, smashing it into the mirror out of reach of the two hands.

  It just bounced off.

  I tried again, swinging it over my head like a cowboy. Slamming it into the mirror with everything I had.

  Long, spidery cracks spread across the mirror.

  A piercing howl filled the room. Arms and mirror shattered together into a thousand shards.

  "Aaron, you promised not to smash it!"

  “I said I wouldn’t smash it with the hammer.”

  We buried the pieces in the backyard, even wrapping them in a garbage bag. Jessie was really freaked out for a while, but there was one benefit. Now, she doesn't spend nearly as much time hogging the bathroom.