Equinox E-Book

Wayne Kyle Spitzer

• Herausgeber: Wayne Kyle Spitzer
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

It was a moment that would stretch indefinitely until they lay naked and depleted in the over-cab bedroom of his fifth-wheeler, which was parked in the diner’s back lot, at which time she whispered, even while edging toward sleep, “Your ring. It glowed as we danced, did you know that?” His body stiffened immediately. “It what?” “Your hard-to-explain ring,” she said, and giggled a little. “It—it lit up. Where on earth did you get that thing? I’ve never seen anything like—” He sat up with a start, everything about him seeming suddenly electrified, suddenly rigid. “What color was it?” She tittered hesitantly. “And that matters because …?” He grabbed her by the throat—not particularly hard, but enough to hurt. “What color was it?” Her mind reeled. Hasn’t it always been just a matter of when? “Green. It was green. You’re—you’re hurting me.” He released her suddenly and looked out the window. “Green … by the gods. What shade?” He looked at her abruptly. “What shade, Sarah?” She began to inch away from him slowly. “Just —just green. Dark green, I think. It—it only did it for—” And then she was scrambling—disentangling herself from the sheets, tumbling dangerously down the thickly-carpeted stairs, climbing to her bare feet. A gunshot rang out as she reached for the door and wood chips exploded from the cabinets above her. “Open that door and we die—do you understand?” She looked to see him crouched at the top of the stairs, pistol in hand. “The best we can hope for now is to remain still … and pray they don’t find us. Now step away from the door—do it!” She stared at him for several breaths, her heart hammering in her chest, wondering if he would really shoot—if he was really that crazy. “Dark green, by the gods. Thazgul ...” Yes, she could see now that he was. Could see it just as clear as day. Could see that he’d always been crazy and had always looked it: she’d just been too stupid to see—too needy, too agreeable. Hasn’t it always been just a matter of when?

Leseprobe

EQUINOX

by

Wayne Kyle Spitzer

––––––––

A Horror Romance

Table of Contents

Title Page

Equinox: A Horror Romance

The End

Copyright © 2018 Wayne Kyle Spitzer. All Rights Reserved. Published by Hobb’s End Books, a division of ACME Sprockets & Visions. Cover design Copyright © 2018 Wayne Kyle Spitzer. Please direct all inquiries to: [email protected]

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this book is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The napkin read, simply: I feel it too. Meet me at The Gorgeous Dog at midnight ... Please? —Equinox

She tucked it into the pocket of her apron, glancing around the diner. No one had noticed—not even nosy Claire. She glanced at the clock: It was half past ten. More than enough time to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

“Did your lumbersexual leave a good tip?” asked Sally as she breezed past holding a pair of serving trays.

After returning from the table she added: “That was quite the fireworks display.”

Sarah busied herself with wiping the counter, pretending not to hear. And nosy Sally, she thought—although the young hostess had a point. It would have been hard to miss the instant attraction between her and the stranger.

She thought of the man’s large hands and arms (the latter of which had clearly been honed from work, not working out), his dirty fingernails, his unkempt beard, and snorted a little to herself. Lumbersexual?

Hardly.

She wiped the same spot on the counter in an effort to remove a stubborn stain—realizing, after a moment, that it was not a stain at all. It was, strangely enough, a burn mark.

Now, isn’t that curious, she thought, recalling his ring—that strange, shifting ring—which he had rested in precisely that spot. The ring she had first noticed when checking to see if he was wearing a wedding band. The ring which appeared to have been sculpted from pure, black obsidian and whose highlights changed with each movement of his wrist—first gold, then green, then blue, then maroon. The ring which had been the only thing about him to feel truly off—off and off-putting. Grotesque, even.

Obscene.

“Hello ...? Earth to Sarah ...”

She looked up, dazedly, and saw Norm looking at her with distinct displeasure. He motioned to the cash register where several people were waiting to be seated.

“Sorry,” she said—wondering just how many times per shift she said that—then hurried toward the inpatient group, where she apologized yet again and led them to a booth.

And tried very hard not to look at the clock on the wall.

––––––––

She saw him the instant she entered the bar—his size alone made him hard to miss—seated alone in a nook near the back; what’s more, he saw her, zeroing upon her immediately so that she suddenly got spooked and veered into the ladies’ room—where she closed herself in a stall and puffed on her vape pen furiously, wondering just what it was she thought she was doing and how she would extract herself from the situation if it should take a turn for the worse.

‘If?’ she reprimanded herself sternly. Don’t you mean when? Hasn’t it always been just a matter of when?

She straightened suddenly and stowed away the pen, rubbing the corners of her mouth to ensure there was no residue left from lunch, then hurried from the stall and quickly checked herself in the mirror.