short story

12 Days before Christmas

/ Karina Pinella / 11 Comments

(A Christmas Tale Countdown series, Part 2; see Part 1)
pear tree
Silas chose the winning head side of the coin. He bade his friends farewell and went home to think. He was glad no one was in the drawing-room, where he sat upon his favorite chair. He mused about Elizabeth — her dainty hands, her bow-shaped lips . He knew then what to give her.

He would go look for a succulent partridge that would more than sufficiently feed her parents and three sisters. They could then finish off the lovely repast with sweet pears. Such a gift would immediately endear him to the whole family. Horace didn’t say one couldn’t write a poem with the gift. He’ll sign it anonymous, but he will make sure his prose provides a clue that might make her think of him.

<><><><> Continue reading →

A Christmas Tale Countdown

/ Karina Pinella / 6 Comments
Image: Pixabay

Image: Pixabay

Long ago before earth was awashed with acid rain and layered with greenhouse gases, there lived three young people whose lives intersected and formed a love triangle. Unbeknownst to Elizabeth, she of the warm chestnut hair and sparkling hazel eyes, the two lads vying for her heart would have topped the most wanted criminal list had the two rivals’ good friend, Horace, not stepped in to arbitrate. The three friends stood outside a few feet away from The Bedfordshire Inn. Continue reading →

A Visitor

/ Karina Pinella / 9 Comments

Her eyes open, slowly focusing at the rail on the side of her bed. She struggles to breathe, a flash of anger courses through her as she tries to inhale what little air she can get into her terminally ill lung. A tear slides by the side of her eye, as she prays silently for mercy. She rolls onto her back and stares unseeingly up the ceiling. Her thoughts jumble. Instantly, she has a lucid thought, “I had a good, long life.” Continue reading →

Stuck

/ Karina Pinella / 1 Comment

Stubborn Sally persists in pouting her smiling lips and continues taking selfies. She parties hard although she doesn’t work as hard. She likes it soft and simple. Nothing wrong with that, but she lets her student debt get in the way of other people, namely Mr. and Mrs. Sally’s parents. Continue reading →

Thief

/ Karina Pinella / 8 Comments

He padded into her life as if he belonged there. They immediately hit it off and were dancing, singing, drinking, and eating together. Day in and day out, they were in constant contact. They became as one. They tangoed with each other’s friends, but always together. Cymbals clashed along the way. A bit discordant, but they were able to smooth it out. As they continued along, little things popped up here and there like pimples. Unpleasant but manageable until . . . Continue reading →

Monster Masquerade: A Head

/ Karina Pinella / Leave a comment

[A prequel to A Head on a Stick]

Jared is always scheming. But, tables are turned. He’s the receiver of a grift gone wrong. This trek to an obscure country for legendary ruins turns out to be a fool’s errand. Dizzy from trudging, he comes across a rectangular stone block with a hole in the middle. Fatigue overwhelms him as he lays flat on the length of it. His eyelids flutter shut at the same time his body is pulled into the hole. The quick forcible tug, which came from below the opening wide enough only for his lean body, popped his head off. Pop goes the weasel. Once always ahead, now he’s just a head.

block head
[Monster Masquerade entry hosted by Fly TrapMan and Poet Rummager]

©2015 Karina Pinella

Monster Masquerade: A Head on a Stick

/ Karina Pinella / 6 Comments

Head
Fat from feasting on corpuscles and pus, the maggots exit from various orifices of the decaying head. A group crawls out from the ear canal, gummy from their travel through the waxy tunnel. They worm themselves through the tangled strands atop of what formerly held the gray mass that spills out of a gash. Drying blood completes the colorful little world of the legless larvae. Continue reading →

Eaten Alive

/ Karina Pinella / 14 Comments

allley

They say the alley buzzes with flesh-eating flies. What nonsense, Hugo thinks, as he jogs by the narrow passage that stinks like someone used it as a public privy. He looks around to see if there are homeless people or a passed out drunk lurking about, but the area seems deserted. Although the sky was clear when he started out his early morning jog, a cloud appears to hover above. He shrugs and sprints. A few blocks down, his curiosity gets the better of him, so he retraces his steps. Still jogging in place, he peers through the alley and sees nothing unusual. Just an alley, for heavens’ sake. What the hell . . . Continue reading →

Baad Shoes

/ Karina Pinella / Leave a comment

Slung around Blambi’s fleecey neck is a strap that supports a blue basket with a pink flower etched on the front. Little Tweetsie, Blambi’s main chick, is perched in the basket. She is his first and only love. They are runaways. Neither of their families approve of their pairing. They are too different, from two different barnyards. It is just not right, they claim. Continue reading →