Joke

By DJ Tyrer

Dream

Enters a strange, desolate place. An echoing, empty land. Tumbledown ruins of towers half-buried by sluggish grey sands, dunes of which muffle footsteps in that twilit world.

From somewhere a voice, repetitive like a hollow echo, calls: “Death awaits those who fall into the clutches of the Laughing God!”

Fearfully draws near, then –

Wakes from dream in cold sweat, panicked. Warm dampness on chin. Blood

Runs to the bathroom. Nosebleed garish smile like that of a clown grins back from mirror.

Wipes hand across chin, splashing gore away. Droplets land on mouldy splashback, dribble strange patterns of red across black.

Reality

The housing estate is a remorseless domain of brutalist architecture, designed to break the spirit. At least, that’s how he feels about it. No jobs, no joy, just a lonely flat. Not even neighbours.

It’s as if the place is dead and he’s the only one living there.

He isn’t though. He can hear the beat of harsh music echoing from somewhere, muffled words of a bitter rap.

There are other signs...

Beside the entrance to the block, someone’s tagged an elaborate symbol, swirling lines of black and red paint dribbling down the wall, and words:

‘The joke’s on you!’

Punchline

Days pass without differentiation, one blurring into the next, weeks merging. He sees nobody. Sometimes, he hears the distant pounding of a beat. Sometimes, only silence.

Then, a hammering on his door.

They want to come in.

They? Who are they?

He doesn’t know. He just knows what they want, some primal part of his brain acknowledging a threat.

Each bang seems to be in time to the distant beat.

He imagines a repeated refrain to the song: Death awaits those who fall into the clutches of the Laughing God!

In his dream, he drew closer. Here, he cowers, waits.

Ends

BIO

DJ Tyrer is the person behind Atlantean Publishing and has been published in such places as Chilling Horror Short Stories (Flame Tree), Steampunk Cthulhu (Chaosium), and issues of Sirens Call, Hypnos, Occult Detective Magazine, parABnormal, and Weirdbook, and in addition, has a novella available in paperback and on the Kindle, The Yellow House (Dunhams Manor). Two PDFs featuring stories related to Joke can be downloaded from the Atlantean Publishing website.

DJ Tyrer's website is at https://djtyrer.blogspot.co.uk/

DJ Tyrer's Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/DJTyrerwriter/