Widow’s Watch by James H Duncan

The walk through the coastal forest had taken longer than any of them expected, but there it was, just as Jason had said it would be. The ancient mansion stood in an overgrown clearing surrounded by the dense, dark woods.

The House Opposite by Hilary Hares

The house opposite
is allowed to sleep
through winter,

its cupboards hollow,
its corners scoured
of their spiders.

House of Chains by Kathy Gardiner

Lady Lassitude is listless;
sits like a thistle
in that same chair,
legs bare.

Two poems by Vanessa Maki

the autopsy

my cold body was in the morgue
under a blank white sheet
until the forensic pathologist took it off
the fatal wounds were obvious

Not your type of alone by Elisabeth Horan

The lonely girls eats a cookie alone. Crumbs matter not at all for no one shall punish her. There is no priest here and certainly no sanctuary for playing in. He left to be an engineer of hierarchies.

Visiting the Charnel House by Hilary Hares

Dark came to the Charnel House
by way of bats and roaches

Who Lied About the Mermaid’s Ghost? by Chris Hemingway

The slack-jawed captain,
who thought he could quell
an ancient mutiny
by a simple crew majority.

Waiting for You to Come Back by Zoë Sîobhan Howarth-Lowe

I am sat cross-legged.

I have turned out all the lights and am sitting quietly,
just as you like me –

taste the darkness by Linda M. Crate

you slit my throat,
drank my blood
from my own goblet

Lonesome October Lit: Halloween 2018

Welcome to our Halloween 2018 special at Lonesome October Lit.

The Owls Gather to Watch by Rachel Burns

Pegged sheets flap
under a yellow moon

Deep Marks by Ali Jones

The first time it had happened, and he’d really seen her, he’d been trawling the pools, tracing his knuckles over crusted rocks, trailing his fingers in the water.