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    Godheads and Other Stories
    Godheads and Other Stories
    Godheads and Other Stories
    Ebook58 pages47 minutes

    Godheads and Other Stories

    By Patrick O'Duffy

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    About this ebook

    This anthology contains six short stories about weirdness and horror, and how life changes when weird things become normal in your eyes.

    'On the Redeye Express': It’s about an hour or two into the ride when Nick realises that people are vanishing from the bus. He's too tired to question it, and too worried that his girlfriend might dump him at the end of this trip - but when it keeps happening, what's he going to do about it?

    'Metatext Otis': One morning, Otis Blincher woke up to find he had turned into a Franz Kafka novel. What's a man supposed to do when his day starts like that?

    'Objects Seen in Hindsight May be Deader than They Appear': Armed only with a plastic homebirthing kit and some paperclips, Simon confronts the ghost of a ghost as part of his initiation into an order of paranormal investigators. But when a creature exists only in your memories, how are you supposed to fight it - and how can you trust what you learn about it?

    'The Salbine Incident': Doctor Edward Sabine set out to prove the existence of the ghosts of fictional characters like Sherlock Holmes by creating his own. The results were... regrettable.

    'Meanwhile, at the End of Days': Two pensioners wait for the bus. Meanwhile, Jesus Christ returns to Earth for the Second Coming. Is there time to make it to the Rapture and still get to the RSL in time for the bingo specials?

    'Godheads': In an age where gods and spirits have been captured and rendered down into consumer drugs, Diane and Angela head out to their favourite club to get high and dance. But Diane's too angry to have fun tonight - and convinced that something strange and dangerous threatens not just her relationship but reality itself.

    Very strange worlds. Fairly ordinary people. Stories for all of them.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPatrick O'Duffy
    Release dateMay 27, 2011
    ISBN9781458113641
    Godheads and Other Stories
    Author

    Patrick O'Duffy

    Patrick O'Duffy is tall, Australian and a professional editor, although not always in that order. He has written role-playing games, short fiction, a little journalism and freelance non-fiction, and is currently working on a novel, although frankly not working hard enough. He loves off-kilter fiction, Batman comics and his wife, and finds this whole writing-about-yourself-in-the-third-person thing difficult to take seriously.

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      Book preview

      Godheads and Other Stories - Patrick O'Duffy

      Godheads and Other Stories

      Patrick O'Duffy

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2011 Patrick O'Duffy

      Discover other titles by Patrick O'Duffy at Smashwords.com

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      On the Redeye Express

      Metatext Otis

      Objects Seen in Hindsight May be Deader than They Appear

      The Salbine Incident

      Meanwhile, at the End of Days

      Godheads

      On the Redeye Express

      It’s about an hour or two into the ride when Nick realises that people are vanishing from the bus.

      Not, you know, visibly or anything. Not in front of him. But every time he drifts off for a couple of minutes, his head plopping onto Anna’s shoulder (or occasionally her right boob) for a quick snatch of NREM sleep only to slop back to grubby wakefulness a little later, there’s another empty seat, another gap missing a passenger and overnight bag.

      There’s like five or six people gone now. And no-one else seems to be noticing anything.

      ‘Did someone get off when I was asleep?’ he asks, and Anna looks at him like he’s a retard, still pissy from their fight. ‘There was a guy sitting near the door who’s not there now.’

      ‘It’s an express bus, idiot. It doesn’t stop until we get to Georgetown. And I don’t remember any guy near the door.’ Nor does she remember the fat woman near the toilet, the pair of hicks making out, or the old man with the dirty hat.

      But Nick does, and they’re all gone, and every time he nods out for a bit someone else is gone too.

      Maybe he is an idiot. Maybe it’s the comedown from the gear they scored in the bar last night that kept them dancing and screwing all night and running around all day today, up and peaking and distracted until it ran out and wore off. But fuck her, she’s the one who got distracted and ran late so they missed the flight, she’s the one being a princess like it’s his fault, so no, fuck it, Nick chooses to believe that something... something...

      Damnit, he greyed out for a minute there. And now the guy with the Bible in his lap is gone. He was just in the seat ahead of them. Surely Anna saw that?

      ‘You’re dreaming. Okay? And damnit, Nick, I wouldn’t mind getting some sleep myself, but you keep waking me up with this bullshit before I can rest. Get a grip.’ And she turns away to face the window and turns her iPod up louder and drowns him out with Eurobeat.

      Whatever. Nick gets up, shuffles around his backpack and the bag of cold burger bits they grabbed as a last-minute dinner at the bus depot while still arguing about what the fuck are we gonna do now we’re supposed to be there tomorrow, heads down the aisle to ask the driver what’s happening.

      ‘Hey, man, listen –’ and then the driver cuts him off with a gesture, points a finger at the grimy sign under the clock that’s been stuck on 11:23 since they got on the bus. DO NOT SPEAK TO DRIVER. Not at all, apparently.

      ‘Yeah, sorry, but I gotta –’ DO NOT SPEAK TO DRIVER. ‘Fine.’ Bullshit offbrand bus service. Even a Greyhound would be better than this rust-heap with the broken clock and vomit-coloured plastic seats and light the colour and odour of piss. Driver isn’t even wearing a uniform.

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