- Recommended Age Range: 12 and up
- Formats: E-Book
- Approx. Length: 8,469 Words
A young woman’s dream for independence is challenged when her parents depart and she must anxiously face both days and nights of solitude. Yet she is never completely alone, for always the rickety windmill’s presence looms. And what is in the house with her, playing games, chewing the furniture? Will she ever be able to outrun the fears of childhood?
Gillian is left to conquer Night Frights that have terrified her since she was little. She faces her biggest challenge as she is poised to leave once and for all. Not your typical protagonist, she is whiny and self-centered from living in the shadow of a creepy old structure. All she wants at this point is to escape. Will the creatures haunting the windmill release her, or is she doomed to remain in their thrall? A suspenseful chiller, Macabre reminds us of those things that once caused us to hide beneath covers and shiver at the thought of them going bump in the night. This horror tale is also available in The Macabre Mind Of Lori R. Lopez collection.
Samples
“IN THE REALM of the macabre lurk many spirits, creatures known to us as Night Frights — preying upon insomniacs, restless dreamers, villains, pettier criminals, and all who dare stay up too late.”
Not that she believed the stories! Being shy of ghosts, rickety houses, and relic windmills was for wusses. To quote her best friend Jeremy, courage is the strongest armor.
~ from Macabre
IN THE REALM of the macabre lurk many spirits, creatures known to us as Night Frights — preying upon insomniacs, restless dreamers, villains, pettier criminals, and all who dare stay up too late.
Gillian Goode was a Night Owl. It wasn’t that she couldn’t sleep or needed to keep awake. She simply hated to waste time. Detested turning in, turning off the lights. Loathed sleeping when there were so many fascinating things to be done.
That, and she was afraid of the dark.
Had been since she was a tyke. But who could blame her, living within sight and sound of the burg’s scariest element? The windmill dominated the edge of an adjacent property, a condemned farmhouse populated by web-weaving generations of arachnids and not a few spooks.
The windpump certainly seemed haunted. Its iron and wood tower rasped and rattled at the slightest wisp of breeze. Townfolk had wagered for years that the next swift wind would knock the eyesore down.
Gillian’s yard had been divided from the farm’s acreage when her family moved to Sneed’s Crossing. The Goodes didn’t want the entire rambling tract, merely a rural lot with space for a modern two-story. The ruined house and its weathered sentry, nicknamed The Murther Mill, were scheduled for demolition.
As soon as anyone purchased the scrap of dirt the structures stood upon, that is.
Praise
“What amazing pacing! I think I was panting a little the entire time that I was reading this long short story.”
“This is the story of Gilly. She lives next door to a haunted windmill. All she wants to do is get away from town. All her life she has suffered nightmares and she wonders if the windmill is the key.
This is more of a simple (if a story of Lori’s could be described as simple!) haunted house type story. It had a nice pace and good imagery. Gilly was fantastic as the needy, whiny teenager trying to work out what is going [on] whilst trying desperately to get away. I love haunted house stories because of the imagery they conjure up and this was no exception.”
Kim Tomsett-Fowler
WISTFULSKIMMIES BOOK REVIEWS; Amazon and Goodreads Reviews
♥
“Gillian has long sensed something nefarious in the windmill [she] can see through her bedroom window. When her parents go out of town, her fears begin to get the best of her. The result is a mental and physical crumbling of her reality.
This story was well written and engaging. I thought the parallel between Gillian’s mental breakdown and the breakdown of all that surrounds her was a beautifully unique twist. “Macabre” is a short, quick read, one I highly recommend.”
Lisa Lane/Leigh M. Lane
THE CEREBRAL WRITER; Amazon Review
♥
“MACABRE — My best [advice] after reading this story is don’t go tilting at windmills; you never know when they might tilt back.”
(From a review for CHOCOLATE-COVERED EYES)
Geri Graham
Smashwords Review
♥
“What amazing pacing! I think I was panting a little the entire time that I was reading this long short story.
The story is ostensibly about the Night Terrors, those nasty things that well up as the shadows rise, but it’s really a coming of age story. If I liked the little girl better, I would find it so sweet that I would have to add that extra star to the rating, but I really, really don’t like her at all. The story, though, it’s great.”
Robin Edman
Goodreads Review
♥
“In MACABRE, ghosts and the living reside together. The Murther Mill and the neighboring house are specters of a bygone time, “they endured as shabby blights on the sterile landscape, a flat expanse of scantily inhabited terrain — unremarkable; unmemorable; contradicted solely by fenceposts and telephone poles, an occasional tree.” These were grim reminders of the “curse”; even the shadows meant bad luck if they touched you. The supernatural clings to the ordinary old fixtures by way of rumors and gossip by those who fear these ancient presences. In the dust of the modern buildings that sit atop the land that held these antique structures are the spirits of the past, spirits that someday will return to dust.”
(From a review for CHOCOLATE-COVERED EYES)
Anthony Servante
THE BLACK GLOVE; SERVANTE OF DARKNESS
♥
“The old Haunted House/Ghost story slammed into your face and rubbed around in the maggottygoo!!
[G]ently, gently, SLAM is how I felt… and unusually left wanting to know more.
I adore Lori R. Lopez and her words!”
