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    Skullworm
    Skullworm
    Skullworm
    Ebook53 pages43 minutes

    Skullworm

    By Joseph D'Agnese

    ()

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    About this ebook

    (Note: Skullworm is a short story.)

    Love hurts. Breakups hurt more.

    When Hank Headley gets dumped, he’ll do anything to forget his girlfriend. His high-pressure career depends on making clear, rational decisions.

    Some lovesick people turn to booze or drugs. Hank does them one better: He rents a hideous creature specially bred to nibble his cares away.

    It works like a charm.

    But some things are hard to shake loose, once they get in your head.

    * * *

    Skullworm is a 7,500-word short story, just one of six short stories in the Arm of Darkness collection.

    The full collection, available separately, contains six short stories of horror: Skullworm, Roadhouse, Glow, Kin, Sunshine Lady, and the origin story, Arm of Darkness.

    Author Joseph D'Agnese is a frequent contributor to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJoseph D'Agnese
    Release dateDec 20, 2013
    ISBN9781310162183
    Skullworm
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    Author

    Joseph D'Agnese

    Joseph D’Agnese is a journalist and author who has written for children and adults alike. He’s been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Discover, and other national publications. In a career spanning more than twenty years, his work has been honored with awards in three vastly different areas—science journalism, children’s literature, and mystery fiction. His science articles have twice appeared in the anthology Best American Science Writing. His children’s book, Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci, was an honoree for the Mathical Book Prize—the first-ever prize for math-themed children’s books. One of his crime stories won the 2015 Derringer Award for short mystery fiction. Another of his stories was selected by mega-bestselling author James Patterson for inclusion in the prestigious annual anthology, Best American Mystery Stories 2015. D’Agnese’s crime fiction has appeared in Shotgun Honey, Plots with Guns, Beat to a Pulp, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. D’Agnese lives in North Carolina with his wife, the New York Times bestselling author Denise Kiernan (The Girls of Atomic City).

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      Book preview

      Skullworm - Joseph D'Agnese

      Skullworm

      Skullworm

      A Short Story

      Joseph D’Agnese

      Nutgraf Productions LLC

      Skullworm

      Published by Joseph D’Agnese at Smashwords

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright © 2012 Joseph D’Agnese

      First e-book publication by Nutgraf Productions LLC, December 2013.

      Cover art copyright © 2013 Jason Gurley jasongurley.com

      This e-book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this e-book may be reproduced in whole or in part, scanned, photocopied, recorded, distributed in any printed or electronic form, or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without express written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      josephdagnese.com

      In this e-book

      Skullworm by Joseph D’Agnese

      Love hurts. Breakups hurt more.

      When Hank Headley gets dumped, he’ll do anything to forget his girlfriend. His high-pressure career depends on making clear, rational decisions.

      Some lovesick people turn to booze or drugs. Hank does them one better: He rents a hideous creature specially bred to nibble his cares away.

      It works like a charm.

      But some things are hard to shake loose, once they get in your head.

      Skullworm is just one of six short stories in the ARM OF DARKNESS collection. The full collection contains six short stories of horror: Skullworm, Roadhouse, Glow, Kin, Sunshine Lady, and the origin story, Arm of Darkness.

      To learn about special offers and events, and to claim your free e-book, sign up for the author’s newsletter

      .

      Skullworm

      He woke because of the noise.

      Tick tick tick, inside his head.

      And another irritating din, as if someone were scraping the last of the white from a soft-boiled egg.

      His eyelids were stuck to the pillowcase. Busy night, huh? Breaking the crust around his eyes, he managed to peel his lids away from the bed linens, get himself out of bed, and take a long, viscous piss in the bowl.

      Tick, tick, tick, scrape, scrape, scrape.

      In the shower he sprinkled Ajax on a washcloth, scrubbed the crust off his body, then pulled on some clothes. He whipped aside the Plexiglas window, hoping to get some of that early summer air wafting into the place, hoping to scare out some of the willies.

      Thankfully he was smelling more like his own self. He’d slept deeply. His head felt clear. But Jesus, the room smelled of bait gone off.

      You were busy last night, weren’t you? he said aloud.

      Silence.

      His eyes glared upward, as if to the ceiling. I SAID, darling, you were busy last night, weren’t you?

      Sound beat against the bones of his skull: Tick, tick, tick, scrape, scrape, scrape.

      "There’s my girl," he muttered.

      He grabbed his pack of cigs and his Zippo and headed out. The sky was pink streaked with black. The parking lot was packed. The Cocks had played last night, and the city was filled with USC fans sleeping it off. While those sluggards dozed, the go-getters were getting a jump on the day. Already he could hear trucks rumbling down the highway. The huge Asian grocery across the road looked green and garish. Up and down the highway, the lights of Mickey D’s and Sheetz and Fat Bubbies and Shoney’s and Huddle House punched the gloom. The air smelled of maple syrup, grease, and diesel fuel.

      Good morning, bitches! he thought.

      Behind the motel, he

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