A little treat for your afternoon...

Here's a sample of just one of the short stories you will find in Vol. Two. of the series "TALES from the MIND FIELD" coming in 2016.

If you haven't already done so, pick up Vol. One. in the series today either at my website 
(www.rmvcard.com) or on Amazon at: http://ow.ly/OxXc1

Copyright  R.M.Villoria April 2015

This story is the property of R.M.VILLORIA. No portions of this story may be performed, reproduced or added to by any means or disclosed to, quoted or published in any medium without the express written consent of R.M.VILLORIA

I don’t know exactly what woke me that night, but as I lay there in the darkness, I glanced over at the clock. The illuminated numbers on the face read 3:24. I felt my wife stir on the bed next to me. Her hand touched my arm “You okay?” she mumbled half asleep. “Yeah” I whispered “It’s okay, go back to sleep sweetie”

 As I got up and shuffled across the bedroom carpet, I felt as though there was presence of something unknown, unseen lurking in the house. I suddenly caught something out of the corner of my eye, a dark shadowy mass moving swiftly towards me from the corner of the room. Was it an intruder in my home bent on burglarizing? We really had nothing of any significant value that would be a reward for this action. Or was it something else, something more sinister. Before I could even react, it moved silently and quickly and seemed to suddenly envelope me. I felt my movement stifled as if a carpet had been thrown around me. In an instant I felt an incredible pain at the base of my skull and everything went black.

As I slowly came to, I opened my eyes. My world was upside down; I mean literally upside down. I felt the tightness of the constraints around my ankles as I hung there high above the backyard of my own home, the blood rushing to my head, everything turned about. My vision was blurred from the pain of the blow I had sustained earlier. I was hanging some forty feet above the ground by my ankles in the middle of the night. But how I thought did this intruder string me up in these trees at the end of my property. I looked from side to side and could make out no ropes or pulleys that would have been used to lift my body weight up to this height. As I strained to see my surroundings in the darkness I heard a low moaning nearby. I squinted as I peered to my left. There, about ten feet away hung yet another figure; a person also hanging by their ankles from a nearby tree. As my vision cleared, I could make out that it was my neighbor, Charlie. I heard him moan in pain as he hung there motionless. What in God’s name was going on? I tried calling out for help, but no sound came. I yelled again and again but there was nothing. It was as though a mute button had been set to extinguish any sound I could make.

Now as my eyes continued to acclimate to the darkness, I began to see that there were others also hanging here in the trees. All hanging upside down like possums caught in a trap. Helpless and confused as to what was happening to us, I again called out in the darkness. Once again there was silence. Not a sound came out of me.

Suddenly it began, not a reply to my call, but something more unnerving. I low guttural growl if you will, that permeated the darkness, like that of a large beast warning of it’s presence as it sized up its prey. It seemed to be coming closer and I heard the branches of one of the nearby trees crack and break as though plowed through. Then a sudden very short human scream cut off abruptly as an even more terrifying sound began. It was that of something eating, chewing, and devouring something up here in the trees. The gnawing and grinding of teeth like that of a pack of coyotes fighting over their catch. I strained to see what it might be but I could only make out a dark shadowy movement some fifty or so feet away. Although large in size, it glided effortlessly from one hanging figure to the next. The screams of pain and horror cut through the moonless night like a knife would cut through bone as this monster ate each helpless hanging being that had this horror befall them. I knew it was only a matter of time before it would reach me. I frantically rubbed my ankles together to see if there was any give in the rope that bound them. There was none and the movement only served to increase the pain that was now shooting through my legs.

Then there was silence as this black shadowy mass moved about the yard. In the distance I heard yet another scream and then nothing. The distant barking of a dog was suddenly replaced with a painful yelp and then quiet once again. Were there more of these monsters elsewhere in the neighborhood I wondered. Moments turned into long numbing minutes as I hung there trying to understand what was going on. I thought of my wife and daughter still in the house unaware of the terror outside. In the darkness, my mind raced as I tried to imagine what manner of being this bodiless creature was and where it had come from. Then without warning it appeared again and passed right through me. The stench was vile; like rotting death itself. It moved into the trees on the other side of the yard and as I watched it disappear, I saw there were more figures hanging in the darkness. Like myself, and those around me, they too hung upside down. Some wriggled and squirmed as though trying to break free. Some simply hung there motionless. Some cried, while some simply moaned in pain. I heard a woman’s voice near me cry out asking for help from a higher being. We hung there for what seemed an eternity until a sound arose in the trees. It was coming back now, it’s thirst for our blood still not quenched. Its hunger not abated.

I watched as the shadow moved silently through the trees stopping at each hanging “station” as if at a buffet line picking and choosing each entree and then slowly devouring it with such deliberation; ripping apart the meat of its victim and chewing on each one. I watched as the uneaten remains fell to the ground below leaving a dark stain on the ground. It was only a matter of time now that my own fate would be sealed in the grasp of this unknown horror. I watched as it slowly moved towards my neighbor. He turned his head and looked over at me. His fear causing his eyes to bulge as the monster dissolved his skull in its dark shapeless mass. I watched the bloody remains pour from him to the ground below. Then it turned and slowly moved towards my house. My wife and my seven-year old daughter were sleeping in there unaware of the terror taking place just outside. I yelled out to warn them, but still there was no sound coming from my body. As the dark shadowy mass moved into the back of the house I heard it knock over several things. That’s when I heard Cindy’s voice scream out, “Daddy, where are you Daddy?”

“I’m here sweetheart. I’m coming.” I cried but she couldn’t hear me. No sound came from me. I continued to hear her screams as she ran from room to room searching for me. I wrestled and squirmed to try and loosen the ropes around my ankles but again to no avail. Then I heard her final scream. It was horrible. It only lasted for moments though it seemed an eternity. It was punctuated with the same horrifying sounds I had heard earlier as the others hanging with me were systematically being devoured. Suddenly my wife’s screams pierced the night air. I could see her at the bedroom window crying. Then I saw the darkness take over the room behind her. I watched as she was encircled by the mass and her crying stopped. The window exploded outward and her bloody remains spewed out the window as though she had been jettisoned from a cannon. What was left of her landed on the lawn below. I felt my tears burning my eyes as I had just witnessed my family destroyed by this ungodly creature that had no real form. It glided out of the house and moved silently towards me. It was time; I knew it. There was nothing left for me to live for now anyway and so I simply resigned myself to the fate I knew was about to happen. It moved up close to me. The smell was disgusting as it stayed right in front of me without moving. I could almost feel it touching my face. I closed my eyes and turned my head away. It was then that I felt the horrible pain of its teeth as it tore deep into my skin and clean through to the bone. I screamed in agonizing pain and then everything went black.

.....I don’t know exactly what woke me that night, but as I laid there in a pool of sweat in the darkness, I felt my wife stir on the bed next to me. Her hand touched my arm “You okay?” she mumbled half asleep. “Yeah” I whispered “It’s okay, go back to sleep sweetie” I glanced over at the clock on the nightstand. The iridescent numbers on the face read 3:24. As I got up and shuffled across the bedroom carpet, I felt as though there was presence of something unknown, unseen lurking in the house….

THE END

Go to the website... RMVilloria

About the Author...
Born and raised in the state of New York, R.M. Villoria began his writing career as a prolific songwriter. After two back-to-back tours as a Marine in Vietnam, Villoria spent the next few years owning and operating a myriad of businesses and in 1992 returned to writing, this time appeasing his appetite for suspense and horror fiction.

Years in the making, his ghostly tales touching on the underpinnings of quantum physics and the paranormal are now ready for the public. As his first published work, Villoria presents readers with Volume One of his series “Tales From the Mind Field.”

Villoria has a son and daughter and lives in Las Vegas with his Wife.