Journey Into Nightmares
A collection of short stories for everyone but if you're going on the road, especially in any type of RV, or if you have a fear of big semi trucks you might want to read this one in the comfort of your bedroom with the lights on. If the last is really on your 'Things That Scare the Crap Out of Me' list, you might want a companion to keep you company and keep the Boogeyman at bay. If you love to travel the roads in a converted bus or a brand new RV these stories are sure to give you a shutter in the dark of night. For those brave souls who still want to open the cover, enjoy. May I recommend you read this book around a fire while you're camping out. Come on in and let me introduce you to some of my friends. There are those who will welcome you with open arms and some may make you run screaming into the night. A collection of short stories for the very brave especially if you love to travel, camp, own an RV, have a fear of semi trucks, or even just sleeping alone at night. These stories will scare you in ways that you have never been scared before. Don't look for the old tried but true here. That went out the door with this one.
Nightmare Express
What is apparent at first glance doesn't always show the truth. What can appear beautiful on the surface, can hide pain and horror underneath. A beautiful sunny day on your honeymoon can hide untold sorrow and death. We all chase our dreams but watch that last step. Do you want a house in the country? Remember every house holds a few secrets. Parks can be a lovely way to spend the evening but demons can hide even there.
Have you every walked into a restaurant or a bar and felt the need to leave as quickly as you got there. Did you ever stop at a rest stop and for some reason you decided not to stop. Have you ever seen something on the highway and it left goose bumps on your flesh. You get these feeling but you can’t explain why. In Nightmare Express you may get your answer to these question. There are things in this world that we don’t see. Not because we can’t see them but as humans we choose not to.
There are demons and monsters you never suspected. The things in your nightmares are real you just don’t want to see it. John is an individual that will lead you through each story and tell you why certain things happen. He will show you the stuff of your nightmares.
There are no real happy ending in this book, well maybe one. Every character you are introduced to in each of these stories has something in common with the one before them. They all share a link. They each go about their lives making choices that effect not only their lives but the lives of everyone they come into contact with. We are told from the time we are very young that we have those choices in life and it’s true we do. We choose the path we take and ultimately it comes down to whether or not we make good decisions. Yes we all have our choices, until we die.
So come and take a ride with John and me as we take you to places so dark your mind will scream in terror. Oh don’t bother with the seat belt where we’re going you won’t need it.
An excerpt from
Nightmare Express
The man sat against the trunk of the dried up disfigured tree. The gnarled interwoven branches seemed to be drawing in on themselves while also trying to reach out and ensnare you in its life sucking embrace. The dead tree stood at the peak of a sandy ridge. From where the man sat he could look out over the wasted barren land. What vegetation, or what passed as vegetation here, was like the tree he now leaned against. Everything was dark and foreboding showing no sign of life.
Overhead the sky was filled with angry deep purple and grey clouds that appeared to be at war with one another. Each one shot out steaks of lightening that seemed to be deliberately aimed at the clouds around them as if each was trying to take control of the shadowy expanse overhead. The heavy hot air generated by this constant battle created a skin scorching heat that blew dust devils around everywhere you looked. The dull black sand that was swept up in the heat and wind driven swirls only added to the uninhabitable appearance of this place. No rain fell here, there was no water, no moisture at all. This place was dryer than any desert on any map in another place.
There was existence here but you couldn’t call it life, at least not the type of life that would every make someone feel warm and fuzzy toward it. The things that lived here were as dark and ugly as this land itself. The creatures here were the things of nightmares for living breathing humans. They were as malformed and dark as the vegetation. He watched as a black slithering form reared back and struck at his prey and succeeded in catching the small creeping creature that had tried to escape its unending demise. He thought about how he almost felt sorry for the little monster that had just been devoured by the larger predator because he knew the damn thing would be back tomorrow. In a bit the larger creature would also be taken by an even larger predator and this would continue throughout the day. It was an endless succession of one creature after the other inflicting pain on something smaller. In this dark land the only things roaming here were the shadows of what once was and only existed in this land of shadows born of nightmares. No, there was no life here. These abominable beings would be tormented day after day and there would be no end to this torment that would be repeated over and over.
The man sat there watching the workings in the expanse before him and contemplated what his next move would be. If he decided to go rogue he knew what the ultimate consequences of his actions would lead to. The trick for them was for them to find him and he had learned and learned well how to stay hidden.
His mind began to wonder to other things. He could be walking in places that were green and lush. Places where there was water and live trees, where thing were beautiful and alive. Hell if he wanted he could be walking on the top of a mountain that was clothed in a shimmering gown of pristine white that sparkled and glittered in the reflective rays of the sun that beat down on it. He could be looking out over someplace where the temperature would burn the flesh of a skin and bone being with a mind numbing blast of cold polar air.
The man’s attention was drawn back to the place where he now rested against that hideous excuse of a tree as a dust devil came close enough that the little bits of lava hot sand pelted his skin. He didn’t have to look down to survey the damage because he knew there wouldn’t be any. Oh he felt the pain from the little beads of incendiary grains, he felt them to the bone, but no damage would be done. No he couldn’t be damaged but he could feel pain and oh had he felt pain ever since his transition.
He stood up and winced as he did. The pain was still there but not as bad as it had been and soon it would only be a distant murky memory. The man looked back over his shoulder to more of the same as what was in front of him. The clouds continued their battles overhead while the dust devils spun along their routes twisting and turning and sometimes intertwining with one another, swelling up then breaking apart to resume their random staggering paths.
Turning back in the direction he had been focused on before he again leaned back against the tree. He hadn’t yet stepped so far over the edge that he might not get out of it but he needed to make up his mind. Deep down inside he knew that he couldn’t continue this existence. The constant moving from one place to the other and never connecting to anyone except in that one moment of anothers life. That moment when everything that had gone before only mattered in determining where you went next.
There was an exceptionally loud roar of thunder and he jerked to attention thinking he might have been found but remembered they were blind to him right now. It would have been hard for them to detect him in this place even if he wasn’t off the grid but right now unless he allowed it they couldn’t see him anywhere he went. When they had come to him and told him he would no longer be a collector and would from that point on be a tracker he had tried to refuse. Of course in this, like in all things for longer than he cared to think about, he hadn’t had in say in what he did or what happened. It finally was more than his mind could process. More than he could handle. More than his damaged, twisted, blackened soul could endure.
Now he was thinking about becoming that which he had been tapped to track. Others like him who had found they could no longer follow meekly and continue to be tied to those who controlled their existence. He would, like them, no longer be bound by the tethers of his sins and a contract he had never wanted to enter into.
He like the others would take what he wanted and bring about as much chaos as he possibly could. He would leave a path of destruction that the powers that be will never recover from. He would no longer collect from their list, any list, but his own. Only he would have no list.
The man again looked out at this plane that existed between two others. They had made him a reaper of reapers and he would show them what a reaper was capable of.
He was death and now he was rogue.
Have you every walked into a restaurant or a bar and felt the need to leave as quickly as you got there. Did you ever stop at a rest stop and for some reason you decided not to stop. Have you ever seen something on the highway and it left goose bumps on your flesh. You get these feeling but you can’t explain why. In Nightmare Express you may get your answer to these question. There are things in this world that we don’t see. Not because we can’t see them but as humans we choose not to.
There are demons and monsters you never suspected. The things in your nightmares are real you just don’t want to see it. John is an individual that will lead you through each story and tell you why certain things happen. He will show you the stuff of your nightmares.
There are no real happy ending in this book, well maybe one. Every character you are introduced to in each of these stories has something in common with the one before them. They all share a link. They each go about their lives making choices that effect not only their lives but the lives of everyone they come into contact with. We are told from the time we are very young that we have those choices in life and it’s true we do. We choose the path we take and ultimately it comes down to whether or not we make good decisions. Yes we all have our choices, until we die.
So come and take a ride with John and me as we take you to places so dark your mind will scream in terror. Oh don’t bother with the seat belt where we’re going you won’t need it.
An excerpt from
Nightmare Express
The man sat against the trunk of the dried up disfigured tree. The gnarled interwoven branches seemed to be drawing in on themselves while also trying to reach out and ensnare you in its life sucking embrace. The dead tree stood at the peak of a sandy ridge. From where the man sat he could look out over the wasted barren land. What vegetation, or what passed as vegetation here, was like the tree he now leaned against. Everything was dark and foreboding showing no sign of life.
Overhead the sky was filled with angry deep purple and grey clouds that appeared to be at war with one another. Each one shot out steaks of lightening that seemed to be deliberately aimed at the clouds around them as if each was trying to take control of the shadowy expanse overhead. The heavy hot air generated by this constant battle created a skin scorching heat that blew dust devils around everywhere you looked. The dull black sand that was swept up in the heat and wind driven swirls only added to the uninhabitable appearance of this place. No rain fell here, there was no water, no moisture at all. This place was dryer than any desert on any map in another place.
There was existence here but you couldn’t call it life, at least not the type of life that would every make someone feel warm and fuzzy toward it. The things that lived here were as dark and ugly as this land itself. The creatures here were the things of nightmares for living breathing humans. They were as malformed and dark as the vegetation. He watched as a black slithering form reared back and struck at his prey and succeeded in catching the small creeping creature that had tried to escape its unending demise. He thought about how he almost felt sorry for the little monster that had just been devoured by the larger predator because he knew the damn thing would be back tomorrow. In a bit the larger creature would also be taken by an even larger predator and this would continue throughout the day. It was an endless succession of one creature after the other inflicting pain on something smaller. In this dark land the only things roaming here were the shadows of what once was and only existed in this land of shadows born of nightmares. No, there was no life here. These abominable beings would be tormented day after day and there would be no end to this torment that would be repeated over and over.
The man sat there watching the workings in the expanse before him and contemplated what his next move would be. If he decided to go rogue he knew what the ultimate consequences of his actions would lead to. The trick for them was for them to find him and he had learned and learned well how to stay hidden.
His mind began to wonder to other things. He could be walking in places that were green and lush. Places where there was water and live trees, where thing were beautiful and alive. Hell if he wanted he could be walking on the top of a mountain that was clothed in a shimmering gown of pristine white that sparkled and glittered in the reflective rays of the sun that beat down on it. He could be looking out over someplace where the temperature would burn the flesh of a skin and bone being with a mind numbing blast of cold polar air.
The man’s attention was drawn back to the place where he now rested against that hideous excuse of a tree as a dust devil came close enough that the little bits of lava hot sand pelted his skin. He didn’t have to look down to survey the damage because he knew there wouldn’t be any. Oh he felt the pain from the little beads of incendiary grains, he felt them to the bone, but no damage would be done. No he couldn’t be damaged but he could feel pain and oh had he felt pain ever since his transition.
He stood up and winced as he did. The pain was still there but not as bad as it had been and soon it would only be a distant murky memory. The man looked back over his shoulder to more of the same as what was in front of him. The clouds continued their battles overhead while the dust devils spun along their routes twisting and turning and sometimes intertwining with one another, swelling up then breaking apart to resume their random staggering paths.
Turning back in the direction he had been focused on before he again leaned back against the tree. He hadn’t yet stepped so far over the edge that he might not get out of it but he needed to make up his mind. Deep down inside he knew that he couldn’t continue this existence. The constant moving from one place to the other and never connecting to anyone except in that one moment of anothers life. That moment when everything that had gone before only mattered in determining where you went next.
There was an exceptionally loud roar of thunder and he jerked to attention thinking he might have been found but remembered they were blind to him right now. It would have been hard for them to detect him in this place even if he wasn’t off the grid but right now unless he allowed it they couldn’t see him anywhere he went. When they had come to him and told him he would no longer be a collector and would from that point on be a tracker he had tried to refuse. Of course in this, like in all things for longer than he cared to think about, he hadn’t had in say in what he did or what happened. It finally was more than his mind could process. More than he could handle. More than his damaged, twisted, blackened soul could endure.
Now he was thinking about becoming that which he had been tapped to track. Others like him who had found they could no longer follow meekly and continue to be tied to those who controlled their existence. He would, like them, no longer be bound by the tethers of his sins and a contract he had never wanted to enter into.
He like the others would take what he wanted and bring about as much chaos as he possibly could. He would leave a path of destruction that the powers that be will never recover from. He would no longer collect from their list, any list, but his own. Only he would have no list.
The man again looked out at this plane that existed between two others. They had made him a reaper of reapers and he would show them what a reaper was capable of.
He was death and now he was rogue.
You can find Nightmare Express at these links.
Smashwords/ebook https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/614919
Amazon/paperback and ebook http://www.amazon.com/Nightmare-Express-Collection-Short-Stories/dp/1530027241/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457096883&sr=8-1&keywords=cathy+pace+matthews
Smashwords/ebook https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/614919
Amazon/paperback and ebook http://www.amazon.com/Nightmare-Express-Collection-Short-Stories/dp/1530027241/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457096883&sr=8-1&keywords=cathy+pace+matthews
Laugh, Cry, Die
ere is a collection of stories that will make you do just what the title says. From the spirit of a man leaving this life and turning to another to a child in the woods scarier than any monster you might encounter in the darkest room. A woman who's husband may or may not be trying to scare her to death to a young woman heartbroken over her family turning it's back on her. These are short stories to make you think, give you chills, laugh your socks off, and or scare you into a mind numbing fear.
Some you will find right here under stories but there are a lot of new ones in the book as well along with a couple from two young writers I'm spotting. So if you would like to read some of the stories you'll find them here on my website or go get the book.
You can also get it at other distributors in paperback.
Matt La Verda and Patricia Knight deliver a couple of hair raising stories that are sure to give you nightmares.
Thank you.
Excerpt from Laugh, Cry, Die
When he had watched the video the first time he had imagined he saw something that he knew wasn’t possible. Billy had to watch it again to see if his mind would pick up the same whimsical images and somehow knowing that he would. After he had viewed it the second time he had slammed the top shut on his laptop not believing what he had just see. If possible it had taken on an even more surreal appearance as the mother disappeared even quicker the second time he watched it and the petals from the flowers appeared to pair up and tiny little bodies had formed and joined the two. The golden glow looked as if it now showered the child in golden fairy dust that clung to the child’s skin, hair, and her shimmering golden garments. The third time the mother disappeared almost from the beginning and everything else that he knew couldn’t be there became more pronounced.
Some you will find right here under stories but there are a lot of new ones in the book as well along with a couple from two young writers I'm spotting. So if you would like to read some of the stories you'll find them here on my website or go get the book.
You can also get it at other distributors in paperback.
Matt La Verda and Patricia Knight deliver a couple of hair raising stories that are sure to give you nightmares.
Thank you.
Excerpt from Laugh, Cry, Die
When he had watched the video the first time he had imagined he saw something that he knew wasn’t possible. Billy had to watch it again to see if his mind would pick up the same whimsical images and somehow knowing that he would. After he had viewed it the second time he had slammed the top shut on his laptop not believing what he had just see. If possible it had taken on an even more surreal appearance as the mother disappeared even quicker the second time he watched it and the petals from the flowers appeared to pair up and tiny little bodies had formed and joined the two. The golden glow looked as if it now showered the child in golden fairy dust that clung to the child’s skin, hair, and her shimmering golden garments. The third time the mother disappeared almost from the beginning and everything else that he knew couldn’t be there became more pronounced.
The Short and Scary Series and Box Set
A collection os short stories that you can purchase separately or in a box set.
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.The twelve stories you can buy separately at Smashwords.
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Two stories you will only find in the box set.
