Bedtime Tales of Horror: Comic Book of Fate Read online

  Bedtime Tales of Horror:

  COMIC BOOK OF FATE

  By

  Bradley Poage and Ryan Poage

  Copyright 2015 Bradley Poage and Ryan Poage

  Kindle Edition

  There was a knock at the door. Tom was kicking back in his recliner as he always did on Sunday. He had his coffee in hand, wand ready to switch to the Sunday football game. A frown quickly emerged as he found himself heaving up out of the chair. “Damn it. I just got settled!” he snapped.

  After making an annoyed sigh he set his coffee down and proceeded to the door. As he opened it, there was a light breeze blowing through. Below him was a white plastic bag fluttering. Reaching down, he grabbed the bag and then stepped back inside. “What the hell is this,” he uttered as he glanced into the bag to study its contents. Inside was a comic book. It was odd to find a comic book at his doorstep. He wasn’t one for comics, but something about this one left him wanting to open it up and see what the story was inside. It was the strangest feeling.

  Deciding to keep the book, he stepped back in and shut the door behind him. He walked over to the kitchen table. He took a sip of coffee and sat the mug on the table. He then opened the bag a pulled out the comic. He then pulled up an empty chair and sat down. Gazing at the title, he frowned. “Comic of Fate?” he uttered as he studied the cover.

  “Not much of a cover,” he commented as he noted the all black cover, binding and back.

  He drew in a long, deep breath and slowly lifted the corner of the comic. But just then the phone suddenly rang. Tom sighed and dropped the page. He quickly rose and ran over to catch the phone. He answered just as the phone stopped ringing. A frown emerged as he slammed the phone down against the receiver. He returned to his chair. He lifted the cup of coffee to his mouth pausing before taking a drink. He sat the coffee cup down. The cover had changed in the moments when he rose to answer the phone. The cover was no longer black. It was different. At least he thought it was different. Confused he sat for a moment and analyzed the cover. “I swear this was black…God, am I suddenly losing it?”

  Confused he shook his head. He grabbed the coffee mug and turned the comic over. The title was the same. But now on the cover and the back there was a face. It was his face!

  He looked to the mug in his hand. It suddenly dawned on him that the whiskey he had added might have been a little much. “That’s if for me,” he said as he headed to the kitchen sink. He dumped the coffee and then pulled the carafe out and filled his mug with fresh, non spiked coffee. “I’ll have to live without the good stuff for a while.”

  Returning to his chair with the straight coffee, he grabbed the tip of the cover slowly lifted. As he was lifting, writing on the first page emerged as if it were magic ink. Stunned, he jumped back in his chair. “What the hell was that!” he said in disbelief.

  He immediately grabbed the comic and carried it over to the trash. He opened the canister and tossed the comic book in. “I don’t need anything like this.”

  The lid quickly shut. He turned then and grabbed his mug from the table and headed back to the recliner. “I don’t need a devil book,” he commented.

  Getting to his recliner, she sat down and settled into the black leather. Almost as soon as he felt the soft leather touch his skin he felt some sort of eerie sensation. The phone then rang again. He thought about getting up but instead decided to let the person leave a message. That was the last time someone was going to call him and make him get up out of his chair to come see who it was.

  The phone rang three times and then the message machine kicked in. He listened as a woman’s voice only screamed. It was a strange day for him. A knock at the door, a random call, and that comic book. And now this. Huffing under his breath he slid back. The phone rang once more. Three rings passed and again another scream. This one had garbled words at the end. Nothing he could understand. It was ridiculous. The phone rang again, and this time when the answering machine kicked in there was nothing but heavy breathing. It was as if someone was toying with him.

  Sitting back, he suddenly felt a gnawing urge to go back and pull the comic back out of the trash. It was a sensation unlike any other, but if he had to describe what it was, it would be like an itch you wanted to scratch but could never get to. Something deep down was telling him to go back and pull the comic out of the trash.

  Finally giving in he got up out of the chair and headed back into the kitchen. He opened the trash container and pulled the comic out. He then set it on the table again and opened it. The first page hadn’t changed. It was there in front of him. He read through the title, and the story listing. This comic had two stories. The first was called Passion with Deadly Desire. It was a strange name. The comic didn’t seem to be a horror story, but the title didn’t lend itself to many other genres. The second story was titled Coffee, Good to the Last Drop.

  “Strange names,” he said as he turned to the next page. As he began reading, he immediately stopped when he noticed his sister’s name. “Tiffany?” He continued reading. At points he stopped. His face twisted, and the final look on his face was one of disbelief. “What kind of sick shit is this!”

  He paused and then flipped to the next story. He wondered if he should call his sister. But then he knew it was only a story, even if it was sick and twisted. As he began reading it strangely enough started with the events of this morning. “What the fuck…” he uttered. As he read on there were details as even he couldn’t describe them. “Okay, whoever it is, stop this sick twisted shit right now!” he screamed. Nothing happened and there was no response. As he read on he reached the point he was at in the story as if it were happening play by play. He was sitting at the table reading the comic.

  Reading on, the comic detailed the coffee carafe shattering. And his mug sizzling from the contents. He chuckled until he began to feel his unsettled stomach. He then gazed down at the mug. The ceramics were beginning to sizzle. He then turned to watch the coffee pot shatter.

  Gripping pain seized his stomach. He reached for the phone as blood began dribbling from the corners of his mouth. He quickly dialed his sister’s number. The phone rang once, rang twice, nothing. Then the answering machine kicked on. He tried to speak but nothing came out. He quickly toppled over. Blood began filling his shirt as the contents from his body began burning though his skin. It was acid… Suddenly there was a man standing over him. It was Tiffany’s boyfriend. Unable to move, Tom just stared up at him. “Did you enjoy my little comic book for you Tom? Or how about my random calls? You know how hard it is to find something like the comic book? But of course it was all part of the game Tom. To see if you could really see the story.”

  Tom struggled to speak but nothing came out, only blood.

  “Hard isn’t it. To read how everything will end? Well, just wait until I spend my day with Tiffany. She’s about to meet her fate, just like you…”

  Tiffany awoke to a morning of sun as she slipped out of bed to fetch the paper. As she opened the front door, she found a bag. She opened the bag and laughed as she realized it was a comic book.

  “Comic… go figure,” she jokingly uttered.

  She opened the comic landing at a story called Final Justice. She began reading. She suddenly stopped as there was a door knock. Turning, she opened the door to find her boyfriend, Zach. She grinned and jumped into his arms. She then kissed him. “I wasn’t expecting you,” she said.

  Zach smiled. “I know. I was going to go into work today but something said I should come over instead.”

  Tiffany smiled widely as her cheeks reddened. “I’m so glad you did.”

  She g
rabbed his hand and pulled him into the house. The comic book was sitting on the floor. Zach caught a glimpse and choked slightly. “What…what is that?”

  Tiffany gazed down at the book and shrugged. “I don’t know. Someone left it on the porch for me this morning.”

  He gasped as he felt his spine twitch. That was the same comic book he had given her brother Tom, right before he killed him with acid. It had all the details, ones he couldn’t let Tiffany see. If she did, it would end all of it.

  Thinking fast, Zach grabbed Tiffany and kissed her. “Coffee Babe?” he asked.

  She nodded and smiled. “Of course. Let me get you a cup.”

  Zach smirked quietly as she left to get a cup for him. He reached down and grabbed the comic and flipped through the pages. He couldn’t let her see what he had done to her brother. He killed him so that he could take his pleasures out on her.

  Flipping through the pages he was at a loss. The pages were erased, except for this one story called Final Justice. Nothing of what he had done was present. It should have all been there, if it was the same book. But then the book shouldn’t be there. He had burned it after making sure Tom suffered the worst possible death.

  Tiffany returned with a cup of steaming coffee. It was black, just as he liked. Zach looked at the coffee. Moments of his recent kill flashed before him. He took the cup and began drinking the coffee. He wondered how Tom felt as he perished. He wondered if the pain he felt was what he had hoped it to be.

  She kissed him again. Zach smiled. He slid his hand into his pocket. He didn’t have to stall any longer. Sliding his hand out, he was holding a pair of hand cuffs. She smiled.

  “Kinky,” Tiffany joked as she grabbed the handcuffs out of his hands. She walked over to the chair. “You’re going to have a seat right here stud.”

  An evil grin crept over Zach’s face as he pictured what he was about to do to her. He then shook his head. “No,” he returned. “I’m not sitting.”

  Tiffany smirked kiddingly. “Me in the chair?”

  Zach nodded.

  “Naughty, Naughty,” Tiffany returned as she sat down in the chair.

  It was a fatal mistake as Zach secretly laughed under his breath. He then handcuffed her to the chair and put a blind fold over her eyes. “Um Zach?” she uttered. “Zach I’m getting scared.”

  Zach didn’t answer. He reached down and opened his bag. Inside was a long, heavy meat blade. “Quiet.”

  “Zach!”

  The blade came quickly across her face. She screamed as the tip of her nose and lips fell to the ground. Blood spurted from where her lips and tip of her nose once were. Her screams only intensified his pulsing heart as he brought the blade up again. This time he brought it down along her left ear. The ear fell to the ground.

  He grabbed a pan and laid it under her face as the cloth covering her eyes dripped tears and blood poured down. He then picked up the lips and ear and tip of her nose and dropped them into the pan. “Soup will be ready in an hour Babe,” he said.

  Tiffany screamed louder as her blood continued to flow from her wounds. He could bandage her, but he wanted to wait until the soup was ready. He was starving.

  As the soup boiled, Zach pulled a bowl out and poured himself a helping. He then turned and walked over to the kitchen table. Sliding his spoon into the bowl, he chased the chunks of flesh around. He glanced over at Tiffany and then over at the comic sitting by the front door. He got up and walked over to the door and grabbed the comic. Tiffany was slouched over, bleeding and unconscious. He grinned and headed to the bathroom for a moment. Coming back he sat down with the comic and began to eat his blood and flesh soup. As he flipped through the pages he began to realize that the events of today were there. He took a bite and suddenly stopped on the last page. He swallowed hard as he read the page. The comic said that Tiffany was alive and with a knife in hand, waiting for the right moment.

  Turning, Zach was unsure of what to find. He felt his heart race and he gazed on her, fearing that the comic might be right. She was still slouched over, almost dead. He rose up and started walking to her. “Tiff, Baby?”

  Tiffany leaped up screaming, jumped out of the chair to her feet and impaled a knife deep into his chest. Zach fell to the ground shocked and startled as Tiffany stared into his eyes with cold anger. “Die bastard…Die…”

  As Zach gagged and choked on his blood, he watched as Tiffany passed away. He wanted to get up and finish eating her, but he was unable to move. His chest was pinned and he couldn’t find a breath. It was her Final Justice, and his Fate…

  As Zach let go of life the comic book closed, and the pages erased forever, until the next fate to tell.

 

 

  Bradley Poage, Bedtime Tales of Horror: Comic Book of Fate

  Thanks for reading the books on GrayCity.Net