In the Bump Off Your Enemies Literary Event, I am pleased to announce winner number one of two. Please join with me in congratulating Avery for her submission; HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
By: Avery DeBow
The desktop fan ruffled the ribbon. The loops swelled like the waves of a tiny blue ocean. A surprise, indeed. He hadn’t received a present from an employee… Ever. He picked at the wrapping, first tentatively, but with more zeal as the shreds of paper fell away. He lifted off the lid, his mind ticking through ideas of what lay inside, the hope of at last being respected filling his tight little chest. The tissue paper rustled. A creature—might have been a rat before whatever dreaded disease consuming it had ravaged its body and turned it into a pustulous, skeletal horror—leapt from the folds. He shrieked as it came. And again as it latched on.
Rows of eyes studied him through the slats in the blinds, each hungrily fixed on the foul beast injecting demise into his veins. Their work done, his staff drifted away, bled into the shadows they occupied, the shadows cast by his oversized office and always closed door.
He meant to shake off the creature, but that seemed wrong, somehow. After all, they had finally given him a gift, and had even taken the time to staple a birthday hat to its head.
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Avery DeBow is the author of the dark fantasy novel, Resonance. Her website is www.averydebow.com.
Congrats, Avery! Great story.