What the Storm Brings
“What the Storm Brings”
BY KC GRIFANT
Art by Dave Felton on Lovecraft eZine.
Rosie had a venerable collection of talismans for emergency readiness, the most impressive of which was her waterproof to-go knapsack. In the straining nylon, objects of survival interlocked like a box puzzle: a water bottle, batteries, socks, bar soap, toothpaste, two cans of navy beans with the easy lift-off top, candles, and a lighter.
On her coffee table, a flashlight rose singular and stark, a miniature testament to her readiness, a silo of technological fortitude. She had been lucky to get it. Yesterday, under a sky bloated with the weight of the impending storm, she had fled from store to store ravished by panicked consumers, finally spotting a corner of a flashlight’s plastic casing that had slipped behind a rack of sympathy cards at the pharmacy.
…read the rest for free at the Lovecraft eZine.
This story and illustration first appeared in the Lovecraft eZine issue #34 and was subsequently reprinted in the Stoker-nominated anthology FRIGHT MARE – Women Write Horror; Stitched Smile Publication’s Hydrophobia; and the inaugural issue of Horror Bites Magazine.
Reviews:
[This] is an intelligent horror story that reads like a parable for mental illness and homelessness…This story will leave you with a cloying sense of fragility that is hard to shake. Truly a great short story.
—Signal Horizons review (excerpt)
A haunting tale of a woman losing herself, filled with beautiful imagery this is juxtaposed with the terror of what is happening. A real blast back into the book for me.
K.C.’s tale could have been the basis for an episode of Rod Serling’s classic, “Twilight Zone.”
This story has a real bite to it…As Stephen King said, the artistic value of the work of horror lies in “its ability to form a liaison between our fantasy fears and our real fears,” and by that measure, you have succeeded very well.
KC Grifant 