I gave my guests a few topics to select from, and the lovely Patti Larsen (my fellow Canuck!) chose to regale us with 'My True Love Gave To Me…' --a weird, wonderful or TERRIBLE gift. Over to Patti...
This is a sad and tragic story filled with absolute horror. And while it’s not a Christmas story, it’s worthy of its terrible title…
All I wanted for my 25th birthday was a party. A gathering of my dearest friends, with wine (or beer) and yummy delicious food, happiness and presents and lots of music. It was, after all, my champagne birthday and I wanted to greet it with a bang.
And so, blissfully ignorant of the madness to come, I informed my darling husband in July about my wishes for said party and left it with him.
Said birthday was two months away in September. Yet, I had faith in him, in the fact he loved me and wanted only what was best for me. So, trusting in his ability to arrange my night of joy, I spent the next eight weeks eagerly anticipating the fun.
Oh what fun it would be! The event grew grander and more outrageous with the thinking and plotting until I was sure it would be the very best birthday ever.
The anniversary of the day I came into this world dawned fortuitous. The sun was shining, I was having a good hair day… perfect. I went to work in a haze of anticipation and came home in a frenzy of wondering what my sweet, loving, amazing husband arranged for me.
Imagine my surprise when I walked through the door to an empty house. Slight disappointment won for a moment. Until said sweet, loving and amazing husband told me to turn around and get back in the car.
We were going to my mother’s.
Joy be found! The party was, naturally, at her house to distract me, a feint by the most incredible man in the entire world, where everyone was no doubt lying in wait to surprise me. When we pulled up to the house, I giggled in glee. They’d even hidden all the cars so I would have no idea they were there.
I swept through the front door, ready for the bellowed, “SURPRISE!” from all my friends and loved ones.
Mom and Dad looked up from the books they read and said, “Hi, honey. Happy Birthday.”
What’s this? They were taking the whole secret party thing a little too far. Only then did my husband, he of the clever nature and supreme planning, turn me toward the dining room. My heart leapt! I lunged in, arms wide… to no one.
Something sat on the polished surface. Something… hideous.
“Happy Birthday,” my husband said.
It took my eyes a moment to adjust, to recognize. To accept.
There would be no party. Nay, not for me, not that day. Instead, there they sat, my present. A pair of steel toed, insulated rubber boots. And inside, nestled in each, lay crumpled a single wool sock.
The HORROR!
Looking for more horror? Check out my YA series, The Hunted, starting with book one, RUN.
Kidnapped
Alone, Reid gasps in one deep breath, another. It hurts his ribs, his lungs. He manages to roll over on his right side and regrets it. His shoulder screams in protest. Still, he is finally able to wriggle his numb hands loose from what holds him and claws at the cloth around his eyes.
Darkness. But not complete. The moon is up. Trees loom over him, the smell of spruce and fresh air so sharp it almost hurts. He jerks at the plastic ties around his ankles while. his vision swims through a veil of pain-laden tears. He manages somehow to force his screaming hands to work the ties loose and he is free.
Sixteen-year-old Reid thinks life is back to normal. His sister Lucy pulls herself together and cuts him free from a year of foster care. She promises to take care of him, that her new boss and her new life are what they both needed to start again. Until Reid is taken in the middle of the night, dumped in a wild stretch of forest far from home with no idea why he is there. Lost and afraid, he learns to run from the hunters who prowl the darkness, their only pleasure chasing down kids like him. And killing them.
About the Author: Patti Larsen is a middle grade, young adult and adult author with a passion for the paranormal. Her YA thriller series, The Hunted, is available now. Books one and two of The Hayle Coven series, Family Magic and Witch hunt are also out now, with the sequels, Demon Child and The Wild, due in December of this year. She is a full time writer and a part time teacher of her Get Your Book Done program. Patti lives on the East Coast of Canada with her very patient husband and four massive cats.
You can find her:
On her website http://pattilarsen.com/
On Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pattilarsenauthor
Her writing blog http://www.pattilarsen.blogspot.com/
Her book blog http://www.pattilarsenbooks.blogspot.com/
On Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/PattiLarsen
On Amazon.com and Goodreads
Thanks for hosting me, Ruth! Happy Creepfest!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! :)
ReplyDelete- Kim
Happy Creepfest Ruth & Patti!