Fall/Winter 2015 ~ Featured Flash
Fox-Curse by Steven Mace
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I am sipping the drink. A bitter taste… one last cup of sorrow. I sit before the woman of flame. I see an oval
face floating in front of me, surrounded by a halo of hair. Hair that is as red as dry autumn leaves. Her green
eyes stare accusingly at me, those terrible eyes that burn with witch-fire. Vengeance will be hers.
My sight is blurred and I descend into darkness before I know what is happening.
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I awake. I open my eyes, and yet I see nothing. I open my mouth, and I gasp for air. I take a long
sharp, drawn-out breath. Instinctively, I push out my hands, and hit something solid. A barrier,
that is above me and around me. I am constrained. I try to move my feet, but I cannot.
I am pressed into a tight, unyielding space of darkness. I am trapped. With the comprehension
of my state comes demonic panic. I scream for help, but I am running out of oxygen. It does not help.
Already I am breathing in sharp, shallow gulps. Idesperately thump the solid matter above and
scratch until my fingers are raw. I am lost.
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Steven Mace is an author of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Thriller/Suspense fiction from London, England. He has had numerous short stories previously published in print and online, and he has self-published four books with Lulu and Amazon (two short story collections, Beyond Twilight and The Splendour of Shadows, a SF/Fantasy novel Copper Moon Rising and a Fantasy novella The Pirate Princess.)