Stories in the Dark

In this dark and twisted fairy tale, a young man follows his dream to rescue the girl in the forest - to find his happily ever after. But this fairy tale doesn't have the happy ending he's looking for...   Music credits: - Spectre of Pain (https://freesound.org/people/Spectre_of_Pain/sounds/338134/) - Setunimam (https://freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/141185/) - 4barrelcarb (https://freesound.org/people/4barrelcarb/sounds/415768/)

Ever since they took my mother away for doing what the women in my family have always done I’ve known to keep my mouth shut about the things I see, the lurkers and the wraiths and the crows in my window, waiting to talk to me after the sun goes down. Music credits: - Spectre of Pain (https://freesound.org/people/Spectre_of_Pain/sounds/338134/) - Setunimam (https://freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/141185/) - 4barrelcarb (https://freesound.org/people/4barrelcarb/sounds/415768/)

A retired demon with a taste for blood is lured out of hiding in this week’s tale of darkness Haunted by her past, Daniela doesn’t want to kill anymore; she just wants to hide in an unknown corner, sharpen her claws, and chat with the delivery boy once a month. But when the delivery boy goes missing she has to decide if the mystery of his disappearance is worth exposing herself to the world again.   Music credits: * Spectre of Pain (https://freesound.org/people/Spectre_of_Pain/sounds/338134/) * Setunimam (https://freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/141185/) * 4barrelcarb (https://freesound.org/people/4barrelcarb/sounds/415768/)

Not all fairy tales have happy endings, and my sisters and I are the ones who make sure that is true. You’ll find us when the queen gives birth to a monster; when the princess drowns in the lake. We are the ones who make sure the prince never rescues the sleeping girl or the king marries the wrong sister, and everyone lives unhappily ever after. This is our work, and I’ve always been proud of it.

When the dead girls first appeared to her she realized she knew them, back when they were alive. When they went away she didn't know why; when they came back again...

This is a story for anyone who has ever gone through something that was really and truly difficult. The kind of hard times that you aren’t sure you’ll make it out of. The dark stuff where you aren’t sure you’ll come out the other side. This is for you.   Want access to exclusive photos from the original story with illustrations? Become a patron (https://www.patreon.com/storiesinthedark)! Music credits: * Spectre of Pain (https://freesound.org/people/Spectre_of_Pain/sounds/338134/) * Setunimam (https://freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/141185/) * 4barrelcarb (https://freesound.org/people/4barrelcarb/sounds/415768/) * Bobby Cole (PRS)

This story was inspired by a picture I saw that immediately started my creative juices flowing. It was a picture of two trees in a dark, abandoned-looking forest. The trees were connected by a shining, sparking string of light that looked like the filament in an old-fashioned lightbulb right before it pops. As soon as I saw it I knew I needed to write a story about those trees, a story with a touch of horror, a story about a girl who goes into that forest and comes out…different.   Music credits: - Spectre of Pain (https://freesound.org/people/Spectre_of_Pain/sounds/338134/) - Setunimam (https://freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/141185/) - 4barrelcarb (https://freesound.org/people/4barrelcarb/sounds/415768/)

He steps out of a shadow and finds his prey. Mr. Veil is the darkest thing out there, and in this story we learn how he meets Alice – a meeting that we will find, in later stories, has repercussions throughout the universe. This is where it starts. “He held out his hand, elegant and chalk white, palm up to show he means no harm. He was an accomplished liar.”   Music credits: - Spectre of Pain (https://freesound.org/people/Spectre_of_Pain/sounds/338134/) - Setunimam (https://freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/141185/) - 4barrelcarb (https://freesound.org/people/4barrelcarb/sounds/415768/)

What tales do spacers tell when they are sitting around a campfire? What horrors exist out in the vastness of space? In this story we hear, we hear about a monster that crawls through the stars, the monster that we met out in space and hope to never see again.   Music credits: - Spectre of Pain (https://freesound.org/people/Spectre_of_Pain/sounds/338134/) - Setunimam (https://freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/141185/) - 4barrelcarb (https://freesound.org/people/4barrelcarb/sounds/415768/)

The corpse-taker serves in the realm of the dead; she finds and takes the corpses of those who died in unusual ways; she keeps their secrets and she cares for them as they weren’t cared for in life. When she hears the call of a new corpse she must go; except this time, when she goes to pick up the fresh dead, she leaves with something else as well. “You cannot hide the dead from the corpse-taker.”   Music credits: - Spectre of Pain (https://freesound.org/people/Spectre_of_Pain/sounds/338134/) - Setunimam (https://freesound.org/people/Setuniman/sounds/141185/) - 4barrelcarb (https://freesound.org/people/4barrelcarb/sounds/415768/)