Good Night, Sleep Tight by Brian Evenson, 2024
The magic trick:
A very unsettling story rooted in a double mystery
Happy Halloween!
This is one of the scarier stories I can recall reading for the SSMT site. It’s kind of sinister in the way that it just gets under your skin.
A man is not looking forward to visiting his mom. Why? Well, he’s worried that his young son might experience the same thing he remembers about his childhood. His mom would tell him bedtime stories, leave the room after awhile, and then come back and tell horrible tales of horrible things. Gravestones. Death. Terror.
Why in the world would she tell such stories to her little boy?
Very unclear.
It’s also unclear if it really happened.
Double mystery!
And that’s quite a trick on Evenson’s part.
The selection:
“Tell me,” he forced himself to say, though he dreaded what he might hear. But wouldn’t hearing it be better than imagining it?
She shook her head slowly. “I’ve already said too much,” she claimed. And then she turned off the light and left the room, leaving him alone in the darkness.
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