Excerpts from my Supernatural Suspense anthology "Warp Spasms of the Mind"

Excerpt from supernatural suspense anthology - Warp Spasms of the Mind (story 4)

The Intrigue of Murder

He thrusted his right hand toward Roy, holding on to both the wheel and flask with his left.

"Nice to know you Paul, I'm Roy."

"Roy huh, good name. Roy the war hero no less. I couldn't go myself, was too old and banged up by then. Was it as bad as they say?"

This question cast a bit of the shadow on Roy's mood, but only a little. The old man seemed like a pretty good guy, and hell, if Roy made a good enough impression he surmised he might even be provided some paid work to do. The price of admission he reminded himself again was often telling his war stories. Instead of leading with a lament about the 'hell of war' he started with some general information, void of traumatic detail.

"I was with the 3rd Infantry Division at the second Battle or Marne, could I get another swig of that fire water?"

He drank greedily ignoring the burn, anticipating the comfort that he knew alcohol had too often brought him. He cleared his throat and continued.

"Our expeditionary force was under the command of the French, but our numbers were huge. Probably a good thing too because the Germans threw everything they had at us. I've been told they thought this would be the decisive battle of the war, and it was. Just not in the way they hoped."

There was a pronounced silence which made Roy wonder how deep he should delve into the details. It was not his intent to tell the story of his personal horror so well that it seeped into the consciousness of another. The man turned to him but the image Roy saw was not that of fear or discomfort. Roy could not tell for sure in the dark but it seemed to be a look of...fascination.

"Kill anyone Roy"

"Pardon sir?"

"Did you kill anyone? You came out of that battle alive, so you must have killed some Germans."

Now Roy was uncomfortable. He reminded himself once more that he was expected to engage in such dialog.

"I Suppose I did Paul. Not proud of it, but that's what we were there to do."

"Damn right! And you should be proud. America stepped in to help the World put an end to tyranny. Nothing to be ashamed of son."

Roy looked down and nodded his head concurringly, more as a courtesy than an earnest gesture.

"Thank you Paul. I appreciate your patriotism. It's just a hell of a thing when you're there among all that pain and suffering. Kind of eats away at your humanity and you hope you come back with more than just your body still working right."

"I can only imagine what that must have been like son", the old man said before taking another swig and passing the flask back to Roy.

But something about it did not sound entirely sincere. Roy looked out the window and saw the fog of the cooling night begin to creep out of the woods and onto the road. He wondered how much more he would have to talk about the war. He welcomed the next several seconds of silence that followed.

The sanctuary of peaceful quiet did not last long.