Mystery Of The Cellar Door
Needle In The Hay is pleased to announce the following entries selected for the MYSTERY OF THE CELLAR DOOR Short List. Congratulations to: Alayna Cole – Guilty Daniel Mac – Cellar Door Dakoda Barker – Unlocked Rebecca McDowell – Birdcage […]
So here it is everyone, the long list for our first ever major award. Seventeen stories have been selected, each one vying for a $1000 first prize. We see some familiar faces, and some new ones as well, as well […]
Jenny Bowers never thought she would be the type of person to freak out over a sock. But sure enough, she was paralysed with fear when it appeared during the tidy up of her messy bedroom. A man’s black sock […]
It was time to get rid of the wallpaper. Gordon wasn’t sure why he had put up with it for as long as he had. He’d lived in the house for 10 years, and the wallpaper had come with it. […]
Blood dripped slowly onto the floor. Sy watched, mesmerised, as another crimson droplet formed, swelled and detached, becoming elongated in its path through the air. It hit the growing pool with a little splash spraying myriad smaller droplets around it. […]
You wake to an itch on the back of your left thigh. You try to move your hand, desperate to scratch the irritation. Your arm feels heavy. It’s stuck to the dirt. Dirt. Why are you lying on dirt? You […]
Maya walked into the old, abandoned house. Debris was cracking underneath her boots as she advanced carefully. Maybe this was a mistake? The house was only a few miles from hers, and stood a bit apart from all the other […]
The door closed with a bang and the blanket of darkness encased them, wrapping them tightly in her grasp. The air was cold and heavy like an underground cellar, the lights and noises from the carnival were gone. No turning […]
“This famous linguist once said that of all the phrases in the English language, of all the endless combinations of words in all of history, that Cellar Door is the most beautiful.” Donnie Darko. 1. Mr. Leiano sat looking […]
We had been standing around the yawning hole in a shared reverie. My eyes were tracing the way the dirt splattered carelessly around the edges and the walls fell away sharply towards the centre. I shuffled closer to the rim, […]
The red wood tables sit with angular indifference in the fifth floor restaurant. The setting’s spines and surfaces mark out the avenues of movement between the opposite bar and entrance to the kitchen as the staff glide gracefully between them. […]
She rapped urgently at the door. There was no rush, other than to escape the howling southwesterly. He opened the battered wooden door so slowly it groaned under the duress and came face to face with the desperate looking […]
By James F. Troschke 1 Senior Warden Vincent Robinson liked his job. He understood dealing with deluded and sometimes violent schizophrenics wasn’t for everyone, and that’s why he liked it even more. It made him feel special, because he could […]
It isn’t relaxing, it’s boring. My brother has taken away my perfectly good PC and left me with this monstrosity, which has no internet connection, no art software and a broken spacebar key. The mouse has a ball in it […]
Its eyes bore into him. Francis backed away, terrified. He swung the spiked metal pole franticly at it. It shrieked gutturally at him. He thrust and the thing’s eyes widened horribly. He had pierced the thing’s neck. It screamed wetly, […]
This story is set in the late Roman Republic but all characters and events are fictional, any resemblance to actual historical events or persons is coincidence. The wails of women soared and echoed above the deep beating of the drums. […]
The door jolts open and clatters against the wall. A brief gasp punctuates the air and then two distinct thuds echo down the hallway. He winces, face contorting; part of him hopes the pain will go away, if only he […]
by Cory O’Neile It was past midnight when we finally tumbled back through Finton’s door, stumbling and giggling over the threshold and onto the soft cream-white carpet. I had my arm around his neck for support, hanging from him […]