ANOTHER DAY BEFORE I DIE

 

How old does a man get before he begins to question life?

60 years old seems to be a good place to start thinking about...

ANOTHER DAY BEFORE I DIE!

RLJ

ANOTHER DAY BEFORE I DIE

(Sterling, Virginia)

I had another birthday just the other day and boy did it not feel good to my soul!

It is said that Father Time waits for no man... and my god, is that the truth!

I only have to look at the back of my hands to see the evidence of age and decay!

The paradox of life gets younger every day... and I'm just living another day before I die!

RLJ

MY AMERICAN SOMNUM EXTERRERI

Prologue: 

A little political horror writing never hurt anyone!

Well, that was before this present day reality!

Oh, the horror of reality gone mad.

Oh my god... My Somnum Exterreri!

RLJ

MY AMERICAN SOMNUM EXTERRERI

The nightmare I live, from day to day, is alive and well in reality and inside my mind!

I must believe that I will wake up one fitful night and the nightmare will be over!

In my dystopian horror, the planet is on fire and the racists now control the government!

Come on, mind... wake me up so that I can open my eyes and see that... 2016 never happened!

RLJ

THE SAME OLD AMERICAN HORROR

Prologue to: THE SAME OLD AMERICAN HORROR

The American horror comes fast and faster these days!
Want to see it first hand?
All you have to do is spend some time on The "Vulpes" Network!
You will come to the conclusion that it is...
The Same Old American Horror!

RLJ

THE SAME OLD AMERICAN HORROR

(Washington, D.C.)

Some American people of darkness and ugliness hold on tight to the old ways of doing things.

They hold tight to the old ways of medicine... of cooking... of family... of religion... of horror!

But, a new ranging world order has recently been born out of chaos and fear in the ol' USA!

Make America great again, says the horror agents of chaos, as they spit on every American norm that makes America already great!

RLJ

THE GAME OF HORROR

The prologue to: THE GAME OF HORROR

A serial killer is loose on the streets!
A police inspector is on his trail!
They just met eyeball to eyeball!
And now... The Game Of Horror begins!

RLJ

THE GAME OF HORROR

(Galveston, Texas)

Police Inspector Hal Jones determined that the dead body with the skull crushed in was the latest Red Street Serial Killer murder!

And, according to his expert sleuthing, it was obvious that the murder weapon was the same hardwood baseball bat!

This time the murder weapon was obviously in the area, and he already had his suspect in plain view!

That man standing over there, behind the crowd of onlookers, had pieces of brain and bone and blood on his lower pants legs... and he and the inspector locked eyes... and the game of horror began!

RLJ

CANDY APPLES ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Prologue to: CANDY APPLES ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON

When white and black Americans get together, it is a great thing!

Most of us get along just fine, thank you very much!

But when men and women,

 Of pure horror white nationalism and hatred,

Add themselves to the mix...

Hell can open up and horror can emerge!

Can't we all just have some... Candy Apples On A Saturday Afternoon?

RLJ

CANDY APPLES ON A SATURDAY AFTERNOON

(Washington, D.C.)

Way out here in the hinterlands of logic and good taste, humans long for the days of old!

Oh, so old is two years ago... when the leader of the free world was a black man not being a corrupt fool!

And on the eve of a horror Saturday when white supremacists will set camp in Washington, DC...

Let good taste and logic bend reality toward cotton candy and candy apples, instead of blood riots spurred on by Nazi symbols!

RLJ

MOUNTAIN WOLVES

Mary left the stifling overpopulation of the city 3 years ago.
For what she is, she needed freedom from from prying eyes.
Practicing her arts is sometimes very noisy and sometimes deadly.
So now, she lives out here in the woods among the... Mountain Wolves!

RLJ

MOUNTAIN WOLVES

(Lander, Wyoming)

Mary Arnold is sitting on her bed, listening to the sounds of the wild outside her bedroom window!

The Witching Hour will be here soon... her time to practice her witchcraft... and, the wolves are out again!

If it were day time, Mary would dare to go outside on the deck and search the hills for a glimpse of them!

But in the dark, those howls and barks are accompanied by guttural sounds that anger her... she did move to isolation of the The Rockies to be vexed by werewolves!

RLJ

THE VAMPIRE IN YOUR BED

Prologue to: THE VAMPIRE IN YOUR BED

You've got to go to work!

And you don't know what to do!

There is a strange woman dead asleep in your bed in your dark bedroom!

You've got to go... and so, you'll just leave...

The Vampire in your bed!

RLJ

THE VAMPIRE IN YOUR BED

(Camden, New Jersey)

Max Schneider, standing before his medicine cabinet mirror, is intensely staring at his neck.

He whispered to his sleepy eyed reflection, "You really never know a woman until...

You allow her to sink her inches long fangs unto your jugular and drink her fill of your blood!

Max dabbed a little peroxide on the bite wounds, finished preparing for his work day... and gave a longing glance at the vampire sleeping in his bed in his very dark room!

RLJ

THE PLACE IN THE WOODS

(Presenting: Fourth Line Of Horror story number 1,000!)

Prologue to: THAT PLACE IN THE WOODS

It is night time, right now!

And it is very dark back there behind Jane Smith's house.

Should she go out there near... The Place In The Woods?

RLJ

THE PLACE IN THE WOODS

(Deatsville, Kentucky)

There is a place out there on the edge of the woods... right outside behind your house!

And in that place, in the darkness of night, things await people like you to enter within arm's length!

They are those sounds you hear as you take out the kitchen trash... that rustling sound just over there!

In the darkness, in that place in the woods, right behind your house... those are glowing yellow eyes staring back at you!

RLJ

THE PLIGHT OF A LATCHKEY CHILD

Young Paul Buckler is home alone... and very afraid!
His mother will not be back home until Sunday night!
Something bad might have just happened in the house next door!
Fear is often... The Plight Of The Latchkey Child!

RLJ

THE PLIGHT OF A LATCHKEY CHILD

(Oak Park, Illinois)

Last night, I heard a bone chilling scream come from inside the vacant house next door!
If mom were here, instead of NYC on another business trip, I would get her to call the cops!
But, I'm only a 14 year old kid still cowering in my bedroom corner writing my fear down in my diary!
I would call the cops myself, but I'm more afraid of a possible murder next door than ornery cops showing up at my door on a Saturday night!

AML

THE HOMICIDAL DEAD (25)

The dead walk the earth as homicidal cannibals who eat the living!

The living have mostly been murdered and consumed.

I, Jason Allen Cranston, am alive.

My mission in life,

Before I am eventually cornered and bitten,

Is to find somebody else alive... anybody!

JAC

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE HOMICIDAL DEAD (25)

(Richmond, Virginia)

Today, I actually rescued a fairly young puppy from from under a burnt out car!
Its mother and littermates had been recently attacked and eaten by the homicidal dead!
As only dogs will do, it actually befriended me as soon as I rubbed it under its chin!
I now have a companion to take this lonely journey with... and the responsibility of keeping another living creature from being a meal for... The Homicidal Dead!

JAC

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER

Prologue to: THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER

Maria and her daughter have crossed the river!

And they are now considered illegals by many Americans!

They are now getting a harsh taste of what life might be like on...

The Other Side Of The River!

RLJ

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER

(Hidalgo, Texas)

Maria Santos has cried enough tears to salt this part of the Rio Grande river!

She sits on the Texas side with mixed feelings over the horror she endured 4 long hours ago!

Her 5 year old daughter, Angel, is comforting her, but her condition is deteriorating quickly!

The Alligator Gar took Maria's left foot clean off... and she is dying because she cannot stop the blood flow... and the 8 border patrol agents are refusing to help her!

RLJ

JUST BECAUSE YOU LIVE IN UTAH (AN EXCERPT)

Prologue to: JUST BECAUSE YOU LIVE IN UTAH  (AN EXCERPT)

(Remember to click on the story title after reading this prologue for the... HORROR!)


Sam Nance is always going to be a man afraid of his shadow.
Blame it all on his dad's brother... a man with a dark past!
Sam's uncle obviously trades in the dark recesses of horror!
And Sam, well... he just has to deal with his scary uncle being in his life.
Things like this happen... Just Because You Live In Utah!

RLJ

JUST BECAUSE YOU LIVE IN UTAH  (AN EXCERPT)

(Delta, Utah)


...As a young kid, I always wondered if uncle Jeb was fucking with me when he was being horrible!
He caused me much fright and confusion when he would show me the shrunken head on the wall in his den!
He enjoyed great pleasure in my discomfort with all of the ancient Native American artifacts he possessed!
He thought it was even funnier when, on my 21st birthday, he brought the shrunken head to my birthday party and told it to speak to me... and it did!...

SAN

INTO THE PSYCH WARD

Prologue to: INTO THE PSYCH WARD

What is a thing that can drive a woman insane?

In one horrible word... SPIDERS!

And when homicide becomes involved,

It is enough to drive a person... Into The Psych Ward!

SWL

INTO THE PSYCH WARD

(Napa, California)

Alison Smith is having the same conversation with herself she has had for most of her life!

Her pathological obsession with spiders -- the black ones --  is the reason she is confined!

She knows there are black spiders in her hair and black ones on her skin and black ones in her... mind!

OK, the doctors medicated her for those delusions... but, when she began to kill the spiders on other people with a meat cleaver, well... into the psych ward she she now resides!

SWL

BLOODSICLES

Prologue to: BLOODSICLES

Everybody has to eat, right?

One person might love a good steak!

Another person might love Pistachio ice cream!

 And still another person might love... fresh blood!

That last one is about me!

This missive is about... Bloodsicles!

JES

BLOODSICLES

((Mahwah, New Jersey)

My name is Jefferson Smith... and I remember the good old days, long ago, when I LOVED regular food!

You know how it is... one day you're a hard working man, the next week you're a blood hungry vampire!

I craved the taste of blood from a fresh kill... but, I eventually realized murder brings too much attention!

I found a solution, after 6 decades, BLOODSICLES... I get to suck cold sweet blood, murder less people and relive some perverted moments from my childhood humanity, long lost!

JES

THE WOLVES ARE OUT TONIGHT

Sam Nussbaum is an old timer mountain cowboy.

He has seen things during his 78 years that normal men cannot imagine.

Winter has broken... and now, again, some of those things are awakening.

It is time for for the annual target practice of horror to begin!

RLJ 

THE WOLVES ARE OUT TONIGHT

(Neihart, Montana)

The wolves are out in force tonight!

There are the real wolves, their calls are obvious and social!

And there are the calls from the werewolves... their calls are other worldly and dangerous!

They don't call for mates or food... they call for horror and death... and I have a bucket full of silver bullets!

SAN

DEAR READERS, A FEW WORD OF EXPLANATION

DEAR READERS, 

A FEW WORD OF EXPLANATION:

ABOUT "THE FOURTH LINE OF HORROR" BLOG

I, 

Ronald L. Jones, 

Am an avid consumer of horror fiction. 

I like my horror in comic book form,

In regular traditional written formats and on the movie/TV screen. 

Also, 

I am driven to write horror fiction... in many formats!

This particular long running horror format is called... The Fourth Line Of Horror!

Keep in mind that I have MANY horror blogs!

But concerning this blog...

I have recently received several bits of feedback expressing confusion with this horror format.

In a few more words,

This is the way to read... The Fourth Line Of Horror!

What you see when you first read my work is a prologue to the main horror story!

At the end of that prologue is a note asking you to click on the story title.

You will then be transported to the actual Fourth Line Of Horror blog site.

There you will find the actual four line horror tale.

It is as simple as that.

In this format,

I sometimes take credit for a tale... with the initials RLJ.

Often times,

You will find different initials at the end of various stories.

Those are the initials of a fictional person writing this particular tale.

Many of these tales are written by the fictional subject of the horror tale.

Simple stuff... right?

Always keep in mind that I am my own editor.

I am not a perfect word processor with a built in copy editor!

I do my best to give you proper syntax, grammar and spelling.

Usually,

I post one story a day.

I am currently working on about 20 projects at the same time.

Therefore, 

I am a little sporadic in my posting right now.

But I will soon be back on track to post every day again.

So,

I hope I am giving some type of horror thrill to anyone taking the time to read my work.

I have many more stories to tell...

And tell them,

I will!

Take care and... don't be confused by what I write.

What you see is what you get.

Horror writing is a stretching of your imagination.

Go ahead and stretch it...

RLJ

FEAR OF THE WITCHING HOUR (AN EXCERPT)

It is now the middle of the night!

Do you have a healthy... 

Fear Of The Witching Hour?

ASD

FEAR OF THE WITCHING HOUR  (AN EXCERPT)

(Potomac, Maryland)

Mary Olson is lying on her back in her bed with the covers pulled way up just below her eyes!

She know that when the full moon is high, and midnight is near, dark frights appear in her bedroom!

This lunacy has plagued her ever since she was a little girl... obviously, because her mother is a witch!

Mary is actually quite aware of the fact that darkness is calling her to it by these Witching Hour visitations... but she has seen the light... and she likes it... and therefore she has a healthy Fear Of the Witching Hour!

ASD

THE HUNGRY ONES DOWN IN THE DARK BASEMENT

Right there in the heart of The Bronx, NYC is horror rarely known!

Who in their right mind treks across the river Styx to an island so scary?

Not many a person goes there, but that doesn't make Brother Island vanish!

And the dark residents from dark times past who still reside in the dark places?

There is so much food on the other sides of the river... when will it come back?

Because the are... The Hungry Ones Down In the Dark Basement!

RLJ

THE HUNGRY ONES DOWN IN THE DARK BASEMENT

(North Brother Island, New York)

21 Arsenic Lane is another long since abandoned house on this long since forgotten street in this dead place!

This place is old, cold and full of dark secrets... the kinds that chased away many of its frightened residents!

And down in the pitch black basement of 21, monstrous things lay in wait for the resident's eventual return.

They have been hungry for human flesh for decades... and even the police know not to enter this house... but, one day someone will come... and then...!

RLJ

HEAVEN BOUND

Allen Jones just met pure evil and resisted its most seductive temptation.

Life and death was at stake with his decision.

He resisted because of one fact:

His wife is... Heaven Bound!

RLJ

HEAVEN BOUND

(Seattle, Washington)

Satan appeared before me last night, as I lay in my bed weeping and praying for the life of my dying wife!

Of course, God didn't answer my prayers... but, Satan did, all smiles and sneers, and wanting my soul!

Satan declared that it would trade her soul for mine... and, according to it, what is her life worth to me?

I declined that tempting offer, because... Satan was intimating that Mary's soul was already its to possess... obviously a fat lie from the "King Of Lies"... I'm convinced my beautiful wife is heaven bound!

ALJ

A HOARD OF THEM (AN EXCERPT)

Scott Scandrick can't kill them all!
You kill one of them... and three takes its place.
Even when he finds ammo... it's never enough!
There's... A Hoard Of Them!

RLJ

A HOARD OF THEM  (AN EXCERPT)

(Winchester, Virginia)

...With rifle in right hand, Scott Scandrick stood tall, and exposed, on top of the roof of the abandoned house.

With left hand holding the corner of the chimney for balance, he surveyed the scene before him.

He was now high enough to look over the trees... and there they come, over there, through the rifle scope, a hoard of them.

He could see their blood smeared teeth and faces... with fresh blood... soon to be his blood if he and his 6 bullets didn't get the hell out of there!...

SAS