Suffer Hard: An Extreme Horror Novella Read Online Free

bar and knocked back the pint his wife had poured for him in one fell swoop.
    When Jessie looked over at Beth she looked white with terror, despite the tan. Jessie had no idea what was going on here, but she did know that if Beth freaked out, then it would make things one hundred times worse.
    She kicked her shin under the table to draw her attention, and ever so faintly and sharply shook her head.
    Don’t you fucking dare freak out on me, she tried to say with her eyes.
    “So,” Jessie said breezily as if she wasn’t scared enough to shit her pants, “ is it really just you and your family that live here? We only saw the three houses on our way in. And your pub of course. It seems awfully small to be called a village.”
    “Size isn’t everything dear,” Margaret replied, a hard glint in her eyes that made Jessie desperately uncomfortable.
    “I didn’t mean to cause offense, I just thought a village had to consist of more than just one family to be called a village…”
    Her words trailed off, her mouth suddenly dry. The strange man in the blood splattered apron just stood there, staring at them.
    “Used to be more people that lived here, many, many years ago. But houses fall and people leave. It’s still a village though. It’s my home, and I love living here.”
    “I’m sure you do, it’s very beautiful. I would love one day to live somewhere like this, I couldn’t possibly imagine spending the rest of my life in London, it’s so overcrowded and polluted and noisy and expensive and…” I’m rambling, I have to keep calm… “ It’s so beautiful here,” she finished lamely.
    “I’m glad you like it here dear, we’re very proud of our little village, aren’t we Michael?”
    Michael grunted.
    “In fact,” she continued, “we’re so proud of it, we will do anything to preserve it.”
    Jessie’s heart picked up its beat at twice normal speed. She didn’t like this inexplicably terr ifying turn in the conversation.
    No, she didn’t like it one bit.
    “Would you mind pointing us in the direction of the toilets?” Jessie asked in a remarkably steady voice, getting to her feet.
    Beth stood up too. Jessie noticed her hands were shaking.
    The two girls stepped over their respective benches, meeting up at the end of the table to stand together.
    “Yes,” Margaret said simply.
    Michael watched them the entire time from the bar. Jessie noticed that his tiny little eyes mainly homed in on Beth.
    Ever so gently Jessie placed a hand on the shorter girl’s stiff shoulder.
    “So where are the toilets?” Jessie asked again.
    “I answered your question dear. I said yes, I do mind pointing you in the direction of the toilets.”
    “What is this shit?” Beth said , speaking up for the first time since the boys had left them. “You’re a bunch of fucking weirdos!”
    “Beth!” Jessie hissed, digging her fingers into her upper arm, “that’s really not helping.” Then, turning her attention back to Margaret: “We just want to use the bathroom.”
    “Piss on the floor, dear.”
    “Fuck you,” Beth said, shaking off Jessie’s hand and heading for the door.
    Jessie watched what happened next in wide eyed horror. Michael pounced from the bar with a speed that completely belied his bulky frame and overtook the frightened girl.
    He stood blocking the exit, his arms folded across his massive chest like a demented, blood splattered, nightclub bouncer.
    Oh Jesus, Jessie thought. This is bad. This is really, really bad…
    She opted for a last ditch attempt at pretending everything was normal and went over to join Beth. Beth jumped when Jessie came up behind her, then she kind of leaned against her.
    “Could you let us pass, please? We’ll wait for the boys outside. ”
    “Oh, you won’t be seeing those boys of yours again, dear.”
    “Let us go,” Beth wailed.
    Beth was so bbing quietly, the tears falling freely.
    It took all of Je ssie’s willpower not to join in. She couldn’t go breaking