Hugh J. O'Donnell

The crack appeared in the air along the side of the highway, near a stretch of road they called ‘The Deadly Curve.’ It made the trees behind it glow with an odd, sunset-colored light. It reminded him of the broken monitor on his desk.
He went to test his theory, sneaking passed the cops on guard duty. He picked up a rock and threw it at the crack. It made a ripple in the ‘air,’ and the damage expanded. He stared at the sky for a long time, knowing the boundary of his cage for the first time.

Thanks for reading! You can support me and find links to all my other work via my Linktree!

She grew up in The Spire, a beautiful city of terraced towers that grew up from the sea, ruled by a benevolent council of wizards.
Unless you lived in Undercroft, the sprawling neighborhood huddled at the bottom. She dwelt in the shadows at the base of the towers and lived off of whatever the upper class dropped.
One day, she found a weathered and stained book. The tome was still legible, if dirty and damp: A grimoire full of the ruling magicians’ secret arts.
She studied it eagerly, waiting for the day she would use her oppressors’ magic against them.

Thanks for reading! You can support me and find links to all my other work via my Linktree!

When the girl fell from the heavens, the villagers thought she was a goddess. Aside from the glowing, you’d never know it to look at her. She was curious and kind, and while she never spoke, she seemed to hear everything the villagers said, although she didn’t always understand.
The village took her in and adopted her. That year, they had the best harvest ever recorded.
When their lord came to collect the girl, for he liked fine things and cared little for the village, she didn’t want to go.
That was when they discovered her benevolence had a limit.

Thanks for reading! You can support me and find links to all my other work via my Linktree!

She set the forest ablaze to weaken him and smoke him out. In the firelight, her fine armor and weapons gleamed.
But she underestimated him. Order always underestimated Chaos.
The soul of the forest, he rose like a hawk on the thermals and called every creature still breathing to his aid. A murder of crows became his arrows.
She kept them at bay with her bright steel, but the groundlings charged from the burning wood and overwhelmed her.
As the forest died, so too did his power. Chaos lamented another draw as the husk of his avatar fell to earth.

Thanks for reading! You can support me and find links to all my other work via my Linktree!

The second the Sun sank below the horizon, he opened his eyes and raced outside. Once again, he had missed the sunset in all its fantastical and beautiful colors. He stared up into the gloaming.
He had always been an early riser. That hadn’t changed after he died. His eyes were better now than in life, but it wasn’t the same.
The gloaming wasn’t a sunset and never would be. Still, as the vampire watched the dull reds shift into twilight purples, he savored what light he could stand and worried for the night when it was no longer enough.

Thanks for reading! You can support me and find links to all my other work via my Linktree!

She was ready to leave almost as soon as they moved into the haunted house.
“We’ll flip it as soon as I get it fixed up,” he promised.
“This place needs a priest, not a handyman,” she countered.
“It’s not that bad.”
“So far this week, I have been woken up by mysterious howling, found threatening messages written on the bathroom mirror, and was chased down the hall by dripping blood!”
“So the house likes to play pranks.”
“Pranks?” She asked, opening the bedroom closet. A pile of skeletons tumbled to the floor.
“This place has good bones,” he protested.

Thanks for reading! You can support me and find links to all my other work via my Linktree!

I offered her the seed, and she examined it with a covetous expression. Her brown, twiggy hand hovered over mine.
“Long have I desired this,” she said. “In the place of a pumpkin king, you would have a queen, not spooky, but beautiful and terrible as the blood moon, as tempestuous as an early blizzard. Sweeter than all the candy corn of the earth!” The sky around her darkened. Leaves sprouted from her shoulders, flowing in a cape down her back, and a crown of stars wreathed her round, orange head. She pulled back her hand and the vision faded.

Thanks for reading! You can support me and find links to all my other work via my Linktree!

She tends the village’s scarecrows every day. She sets their poles, mends their clothes, and replaces their lost straw. She makes sure they are comfortable and in good working order.
Under her watch, none of the scarecrows have ever fallen.
But she is getting older, and the village has known safety and plenty for too long. The villagers laugh at the old stories and jeer at her as she does her rounds. Without an apprentice to carry on her work, she worries what will happen when she is gone.
She wonders what the villagers will do when the darkness returns.

Thanks for reading! You can support me and find links to all my other work via my Linktree!

As an undertaker, he maintained a grave sense of humor. He always wore his funeral best and drove a black hearse with custom RM41MORE license plates.
He kept Halloween decorations up all year long, and gave out full-sized candy bars each year.
It wasn’t until he died, with a packed house for his funeral, that they discovered his secret.
Hidden in a back closet were hundreds of carefully wrapped paintings, a lifetime of work. His art style was vivid and colorful, full of vibrant landscapes, happy portraits, and adorable animals. He captured all the joys of his life in paint.

Thanks for reading! You can support me and find links to all my other work via my Linktree!

Once a year, the villagers gathered outside the witch’s hut. It was always a night after the harvest before the hard frost turned the world white with snow.
She looked out at the crowd and smirked. Tonight was the one time they came to her willingly, without desperation in their hearts. They wanted to know the darkness she lived in, just for a night.
She considered showing them the true terror of the grave, but it was nice to be appreciated, even only once a year.
She sighed, put on her makeup, and got ready to give them a show.

Thanks for reading! You can support me and find links to all my other work via my Linktree!