The House on Lantern Lane (free short story) Read online

dry out and walked in wet socks toward my desk. My boss scowled at my disheveled shirt and hair and said, "What on earth happened to you?"

  "I was attacked by a dog," I said.

  "Did you get bit?"

  "Nearly. Do you want me to go home and get changed?"

  "No, that's all right," he said, patting me on the shoulder. He looked up at the clock and said, "Has anyone seen Betty?"

  I spun around in my seat, looking for her. "You mean she didn't come in yet?"

  "Not even a phone call," he said. "And I needed her in early today."

  I turned quickly in my chair and immediately began paying careful attention to the things on my desk, moving them around shiftlessly as my mind clicked and whirred to try and make sense of it all. I was convinced Betty had run off when the wind began whispering. If not, that she'd turned tail at the sight of the servant woman. It hadn't even occurred to me that she wouldn't be sitting at her desk when I arrived.

  "Let me know when she shows up," he said.

  I told him I would without raising my head, only to hear his office door close and the front office door open at the same time. I felt a cool breeze blow across the back of my neck, chilling my damp hair, and heard something whisper, Cath Ran Too Ach Spet Whallllllll…

  Flat, cheaply-made shoes shuffled across the office floor toward my desk. I turned in my seat to say Thank God, only to feel the words die before they reached my mouth. Betty's hand was extended toward me and she was walking with her head tilted sideways, her lips stretched across her face in a silent, flat grin.

  Schaffer here…

  I rarely have nightmares, and when I do, they're normally about getting in trouble for some horrific thing that I'm greatly relieved not to have done upon waking. As for a straight up scary dream, they don't happen. At least, not often.

  Last night I had a good old fashioned ghost dream. I can only attribute it to residual thoughts floating around my head from subjecting myself to nothing but Evil Dead movies lately. Some of the symbolism was there. The haunted structure in the woods. The hand being controlled by something supernatural. As for everything else, I couldn't say. The Loch Ness monster comment was a direct quote from the woman in my dream and I could make no more sense of it during the dream than I can now. Maybe it was left over material from the Carnival of Cryptids? It was sitting in some dusty drawer of my subconscious, just waiting for the right time and place for my brain to say, "Ah ha! You can go there!"

  I don't truck with the theory of dream symbolism or pay attention to them. I mock people who fear the supernatural. Much like the Bernard in the story, I refuse to believe in things that cannot be proven. It strikes me as somewhat ironic that at night, when I am not paying attention, my mind reminds me that perhaps I am not quite as smart or assured as I think.

  About the Author

  Bernard Schaffer is the father of two children. Born and raised in the Philadelphia area, his work ranges from best-selling gritty police procedurals to fantasy westerns.

  A real life police officer, in 2012 he released a series of books titled SUPERBIA about a dysfunctional police department that reached the Kindle Top 100. As a result, he was stripped of his detective rank.

  Schaffer is the founder of the Kindle All-Stars. All profits from their collections are donated to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

  The Bernard Schaffer Dropbox is Live

  You can now access the Bernard Schaffer Dropbox for FREE stories and info, including the brand new STAR TREK RETURN FIRE series for your eReader.

  Official Website

  Email: [email protected]

  Twitter: @ApiarySociety

  Info on Free Book Days + More: Bernard Schaffer Facebook Fan Page

  More Works by Bernard Schaffer

  The Guns of Seneca 6 Series

  Get Your Guns Ready to travel to Bernard Schaffer's dusty world of the Old West set on a distant planet. Outlaws, gunslingers, native tribes, the occasional spaceship crash landing, and men willing to risk it all. A perfect combination of science fiction and westerns.

  Guns of Seneca 6

  Old-Time Lawmen

  Magnificent Guns of Seneca 6

  Recommended for fans of Firefly, Star Trek, Old West legends, Tombstone, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

  See the Guns of Seneca 6 Pinterest Page for some of the author's influences.

  The Superbia Series

  The world of police work is a dangerous, terrifying place...and that's just dealing with other cops.  Not-Even-Promoted Detective Frank O'Ryan spends more time with drug dealers and child molesters than his own family, but it's better than having to circumvent the unspeakable bureaucracy of his own agency. Called the literary equivalent of The Wire and one of the most subversive books on law enforcement ever written.

  Superbia

  Recommended for fans of Joseph Wambaugh, Ed McBain, The Wire, NYPD Blue, and Homicide: Life on the Streets.

  See the Superbia Pinterest page for some of the author's influences.

  Grendel Unit

  Several hundred years in the future, humanity has spread to multiple planets and made contact with a wide variety of alien life forms. Under the banner of Unification, they've sought to extend their reach and philosophies, sometimes by legitimate means and sometimes by military or economic force.

  As with any government, there are dirty jobs that need to be done. Enemies that need to silenced. Terrorist cells that need to be eliminated. That's when they call the Grendel Unit.

  The Fight for the Future Just Got Dirty.

  Grendel Unit: Bad Day at Khor-wa

  Grendel Unit: The Big Payback (Coming Soon)

  Star Trek: Return Fire

  They say that all civilizations fall

  But just as The Federation has reached its final days,

  The fire returns.

  Bernard Schaffer's epic all-new Star Trek adventure, available completely free via Dropbox for Kindle, Nook, iPad, and more!

  Presented as "fan fiction" this ongoing series will be regularly updated by the author and made available via multiple channels at no cost to readers.

  You do not need to sign up or be a member to access the Bernard Schaffer Dropbox. Simply select the correct file for your e-reader and enjoy.

  Short Fiction Collections

  WOMEN AND OTHER MONSTERS

  OVERDOGS

  ***

  A Reluctant Death

  Nazareth

  The House on Lantern Lane

  ***

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. No reference to any real person, living or dead, should be inferred.