Sometimes our biggest fears can be waiting for us up that lonesome highway, and if we’ve got to get where we’re going, there’s nothing else to do but face them head on, no matter what we learn about the dark places this world has to offer ... and maybe even the dark places that hide inside of ourselves.
Presenting The Mannaro Motel, by author Domenic Marinelli … 3 Dark Tales of Horror that’ll have you questioning what true madness and fear really are. What dwells in the forgotten places of the earth? And just what can reach out at us from our forgotten past; what monsters lurk there hidden between the memories both good and evil?
Outside Her Bedroom Door
“ … “Never settle for a man, honey,” her greatest friend Annie had once told her back in high school. “And always make sure that you’re in love and not only in lust.”
“How do you know you’re in love?” Helena asked, being the more naïve of the two girls; Annie already having had a few relationships—all of which had gone south pretty quickly. But still, the girl was a sage in her own right.
“Well … if you’re truly in love, Hon, you’ll do anything for him, anything at all, no matter how difficult or scary it may turn out to be.”
… “
Lucifer’s Vigil
“ … For the longest time nothing happened. Simon watched motionless form the ditch. Moments passed slowly. Then the driver’s side door opened and a man got out and walked quickly around to the back of the truck. He wore a black beret, a black wind breaker and black slacks, it seemed. He was large, but not in bad shape. Simon really couldn’t make out any more features, because the truck had stopped quite far down the road.
The guy in the beret opened the back doors and reached in. For a few seconds, Simon could only see his legs, as his front had disappeared into the back of the truck. Then suddenly, the man stood fully erect, with a bundle strewn across his right shoulder. He took a few steps away from the truck and looked both ways on the road before squatting slightly then hurtling the bundle into the very ditch Simon was in, just quite a few yards away. Regardless, seeing this, Simon still flinched and got as low to the ground as possible.
The guy in the beret however, didn’t waste any time. He turned on his heels, was back in the truck and the truck was already moving on before Simon knew it. ... “
The Mannaro Motel
“ … “Come on, buddy! Get out of the way!” He said this as he waved the flare and finally, the Coyote moved out of the way and to the other side of the road. From there, it looked at Dirk one final time before going through the bushes and off to wherever Coyotes went.
Feeling terribly unsettled by the whole thing and weary from the long trip, Dirk let the flare drop to the road where it would extinguish in a little while, and settled himself back into the seat and got into gear. It was time to see what the town of Mannaro was all about.
But if the Freightliner truck he was steering towards the lost town was a wee bit younger, and a tad less noisy, he surely would have heard the wailing Coyote that was calling out to him from the wilderness as he passed, and the sound of that howl would have been enough to get him to turn around for good, you can rest easy, even though the threat of getting stranded on the road back was a factor or not.
Yet, oblivious to the warning of the gentle beast he’d just encountered, the weary traveler moved forth into the mysterious town of Mannaro, not knowing what the future held. ...“
Buckle up and get ready for the ride of your lives.
All Rights Reserved © Domenic Marinelli
See the BIO section on this site for the full Domenic Marinelli biography.
Comments