Share a Scare, Halloween bloghop, The Shepherd and Trick or Treat bloghop

This blog hop  is the child of Wittengen Press in England. Their stated objective is; For bloggers, authors and artists who like a good spine-tingling supernatural something and is in honor of all things Halloween. Inspired by All Hallows Read, where the idea is to give away a scary book to encourage reading. To see other post in this blog hop go here. 


Now for my story plus give-a-ways at the end.







The Shepherd

Stewart took his sack lunch and walked outside along the paved pathway before The Museum of Natural History’s building. Midway toward the parking lot, he sat on a bench to eat and admire the view. A breeze rustled the yellow and red leaves of autumn. Golden, red and white mums decorated the path and gave off a heady scent. In his bag, Stewart had packed a tuna sandwich and had ruffled chips and a red delicious apple along with a thermos of coffee. The flavors of salt and sweet combined in his mouth enhanced by crunch, and the smooth texture of his sandwich. He sighed, happy.

            For two years, he’d applied to the museum and now he had a job labeling artifacts. For some mysterious reason, this particular job became available every couple of months. Stewart wasn’t concerned. He was an expert at letting confrontation slip off his back, no doubt the others he’d replaced were too sensitive and had left.

            Opposite him along the path was a massive statue of a shepherd carved from obsidian stone in a sitting position. Its head was bent and the hood concealed its features. He held a shepherd’s staff in one hand. Beneath the black robe were his sandaled feet and beside him in obsidian was a lamb. For some reason, the flowers around the statue were dug up and scattered. A prankster.

            A crowd of people approached headed for the museum. Every one of them paused just before they got to the portion of the pathway that would lead them between Stewart and the shepherd and without exception, they turned into the park, walked around Stewart’s bench and rejoined the path further on. Now, that was weird, Stewart watched them bemused.

He finished eating and returned to work. On his way to the artifact room an old lady with a cozy white sweater over her blue dress came near. “Never leave the building after ten and walk that path,” she said.

Stewart stopped. “Excuse me?”

“I saw you eating in front of that thing. Watch yourself, it comes alive after ten.” She continued on.

Stewart turned and waited until she’d rounded the corner and then muttered, “Batty.”

In the weeks that followed, he became enthralled by a new set of dinosaur bones. As night encroached Stewart barely noticed. When he finally looked up from his work he realized it was after midnight. Time to leave. Snow was forecast so Stewart grabbed his winter coat and buttoned it as he walked. By the time he reached the door, he’d wrapped a red scarf around his neck and had his black leather gloves on. He lift his briefcase from under his arm and held the handle.

A blast of frigid air took his breath when he opened the door. He bent his head against the wind. Snow crunched beneath his feet as he walked the path. He could only hope his car would start. He’d brought the old Ford with him from Florida and didn’t know the first thing about winterizing it. He’d almost reached the place where the shepherd statue was when he noticed enormous footprints crossing the path toward the park. Odd, Stewart kept going and then…he was at the park bench. Snow cover it and clumps had piled at its feet. The statue was gone. Gone!

Someone must have stolen it. But if so, why did the snow only show giant footsteps? Stewart knew the statue was too heavy for a man to lift, they’d need machinery, but no evidence of machinery was visible. No tire marks, no chains, nothing.

Then he heard a deep rumble. “You!”

Startled, Stewart felt his heart thump against his ribs. When he turned to look toward the park he saw a massive shadow nearly as tall as the tree. It moved into the street light. The shepherd. It was alive!

“Ohhhh---” Stewart dropped his briefcase and ran. Snow crunched beneath heavy footfalls behind him. His breath rasped from his exertion. He looked behind and saw the shepherd gaining on him. Would he reach his car? Ice met his steps and he slipped, landing hard on his back. The shadow of the shepherd covered him. A massive hand reached down, grabbed Stewart’s coat and yanked him up into the air. He screamed, and the wind howled, taking his breath.

***

The museum curator, Frank Morris shook his head. Officer Lindy folded his arms. “We found Stewart Grimm hanging from the limb of the tree across from that statue. His heart, kidneys and liver on the ground.”

            “What a shame,” Morris said.

            “How many does this make?” Lindy asked.

            “Twelve, thirteen, I’ve lost count.” Morris formed a steeple with his fingers.

             “You said you’d warn them.”

            “I have. Trust me. They don’t believe.”

            “Perhaps you should hire a local fool.” Officer Lindy put his pocket notebook away.

            “No one will take the job.” Morris pushed away from his desk and stood. “We must move the statue.”

            “How? That will only bring death to the trucker who is hauling it away.”

            Morris tapped his finger against his pant leg. The solution eluded him.

            “I’ll notify the mayor,” Office Lindy said and turned to leave. “He won’t be happy.”

            The mayor had warned Morris the last time. The city intended to close the museum. Sitting again, Morris pulled out his laptop and began searching for a new job.

Word Count 902

Have you ever seen a creepy statue?

Nancy

As part of the Trick or Treat blog hop, I'm giving away a copy of each one of my e-books books on Amazon. The link and a brief description can be found beneath each one. 

Halloween Collection 1. Faerie mischief starts the fun with ghosts, vampires, and zombies bringing in the scare. If you love Halloween, being scared or delighted, there’s a story for you in this flash fiction collection.

Unfortunately, Amazon won't let me offer this for free. It is part of KDP select however if you're a member or in the lending library. Other wise it's 99 cents. All the other books are free today only. To order go here. 

The Treasure of Carmelidrium is an epic new adult fantasy. Here's the blurb: Missie, an American flutist, is thrust through a portal into a medieval world where her music is the key to empowering The Treasures of Carmelidrium to defeat the evil tyrant, Renwyk, Lord of the Symberveen. Immediately, her life is in danger. The Symberveen hunt her, an assassin attempts to kill her, Renwyk's men plot to kidnap her. Will she survive to fulfill the prophecy regarding her arrival or will Renwyk take over Gil-Lael and then America too?  I'm in the process of final edits on the sequel, The Rise of Lord Sinon. 

To order go here. 

The Magic of Windlier Woods is a children's bed time story I invented when my own children were small. Although I never intended to continue writing about this character I've had numerous request to do so which means, I'd better get busy. 

Here's the blurb: Newert, an erbit of Windlier Woods, is concerned. The magic of his world is seeping away. He struggles to open a portal to another world, believing that this will restore the magic of Windlier Woods. Assuming the big red truck is magical he returns to his world with the truck and its driver. Thus begins Newert's misadventure. What will happen next?

To order go here. 

This is a very short flash fiction story. Here's the blurb: At the end of our life, sometimes all we have is our memories. A flash fiction story, traditionally around 1,000 words give or take.

To order go here. 

Another short flash fiction story. Again, the blurb:

To order go here. 

I hope you all enjoy my stories, now to visit you.

Nancy

P.S. Please leave a review. Thank you.