Sugar

by Gordon Grice

It starts with little things: a chess game the kids shouldn’t know how to play, a game of hide-and-seek that goes on way too long, a strange voice just below the household noise... and the missing pounds of sugar.

Everybody in town has heard the story of the killer clown and the babysitter, but Terrence and Stacy know the truth is worse than any urban legend. They’re young, smart, and proud of their three boys—and their lives are about to shatter.

What’s wrong with the boys? Who are they talking to when they think no one’s around? Gordon Grice spins a tale of creeping terror and psychological horror in a short story following the traditions of J. Sheridan LeFanu and Robert Aickman.

22 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 14, 2012

About the author

Gordon Grice has written about the dark corners of biology for The New Yorker (where he tackled the history of post-mortem dissections), Harper’s (black widow spiders), and Discover (leprosy). His books include The Red Hourglass: Lives of the Predators and Deadly Kingdom (paperback: The Book of Deadly Animals). His other projects include National Geographic’s eBook short Shark Attacks: Inside the Mind of the Ocean’s Most Terrifying Predator and more than a dozen horror stories in magazines, including the Best of the ‘Net winner “The White Cat” and the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror runner-up “Hide.”