Aphelion Issue 300, Volume 28
November 2024--
 
Editorial    
Long Fiction and Serials
Short Stories
Flash Fiction
Poetry
Features
Series
Archives
Submission Guidelines
Contact Us
Forum
Flash Writing Challenge
Forum
Dan's Promo Page
   


Naughty Nelda



by Mark Antony Rossi


Nelda was an only child of divorced Ouija addicts whom formerly owned the town’s Occult book store. One day playing with a volume of devilish spells she stumbled on an invisibility formula and began tormenting the local kids at school. It gave her a power that sank her dark spirit to new depths.

She tore out the page, tucked it under her orange dress, and hopped on her bicycle humming an ominous tune. She arrived at breakneck speed at her house and raced up the stairs to the next flight of stairs to the drop ladder that brought her to the attic.

Her father turned the attic into a quiet study room. Nelda lit three candles and pronounced the arcane Latin lyrics of a disappearing spell. Her insides began burning liked a dragon had pissed fire in her mouth. Massive migraines migrated out of her skull making a demonic music devoid of melody but banefully rhythmic and painfully pitch perfect.

She pressed her sweaty palms against the sides of her head and screamed but her voice was vacant as her body---absent in the ceiling mirror. She lay on a cold wooden floor voiceless but invisible with a grin wider than a football field. No one ever saw Nelda again but for the occasional playground encounter. Seconds before dusk her shadow appears joyfully swinging in midair. Some even see their breath. Maybe she’s getting the last laugh. Maybe she’ll come home with you ----and stay!

THE END


© 2015 Mark Antony Rossi

Mark Antony Rossi's poetry, criticism, fiction and photography have appeared in The Antigonish Review, Another Chicago Review, Bareback Magazine, Black Heart Review, Collages & Bricolages, Death Throes,  Ethical Spectacle, Gravel, Flash Fiction, Japanophile, On The Rusk, Purple Patch, Scrivener Creative Review, Sentiment Literary Journal, The Sacrificial ,Wild Quarterly and Yellow Chair Review.
http://markantonyrossi.jigsy.com

E-mail: Mark Antony Rossi

 

Comment on this story in the Aphelion Forum

Return to Aphelion's Index page.

Comment on this story in the Aphelion Forum

Return to Aphelion's Index page.