Dancing in Valhalla – 2nd story preview

Real car crashes don’t look anything like the movies.

Fireballs are rare. Explosions only happen by design. Airbags prevent most drivers from kissing their hood ornaments.

Real people die alone in the dark.

Like the girl in the crumpled blue Ford. All the car’s safety features had done what they were designed to do. But flipping through the air and slamming against a tree was beyond their capabilities.

She was young and blonde. Couldn’t have been a day past 21. Now she never would be. Happy clothes, bright yellow shorts and a Mickey Mouse vest, soaking up the blood that fell like burgundy tears from a head hung in sorrow and regret.

I couldn’t smell the blood. Gasoline pooled under the car from a ruptured fuel tank. A bottle of champagne had exploded against the dashboard, cork still tightly wrapped. She was on her way to a celebration. This was supposed to have been a good day.

The photo tucked into the sun visor showed her smiling, waving, wrapped in the arms of an older man. He wasn’t smiling. He didn’t look happy at all.

There was no pulse. I nodded in acknowledgment of small mercies. The side of her face was shattered, from her cheekbone to behind the ear. I could almost see inside. Nobody should be found that way. Death is a private affair, one on one. Let her family remember her the way she was in the photo.

The night stopped holding its breath as I used the broken door to push myself upright. Crickets resumed their mating calls, defiant after the respectful moment of silence. The rest of the world moved on.

All except him. The suit in the red Porsche.

Dancing in Valhalla – 13 twisted tales of music, magick & mayhem – will be released at all your normal online retailers on 21 April – and in paperback – but only a few retailers currently list the pre-order edition. They can be found at Books2Read.

Read the full first story in the collection at Barnes & Noble.

If you enjoy these stories, feel free to check out my other published work on Amazon or other retailers.

Follow work in progress and upcoming releases on FaceBook or on my blog.

Thanks for your support. If anyone actually reads these things, you can buy Hard Money – how to build wealth without winning the lottery – at a discounted price of $2.99 until the end of February, at any of the online retailers listed above. If you haven’t read this, well, then you can’t.

Cheers.