The House Guest
Asta Idonea
28
October 2016
MLR
Press
Short
Story/MM/PNR
Heat
Level: 4
Zach is thrilled with his new flat, until strange
noises disturb him. Who wanders his home at night, laughing and singing, and
why is the place always spotless when he never cleans? There was no mention of
a house guest in the contract, but it seems Zach has a nocturnal visitor.
Bogdan never expected to end up in Zach’s tiny flat,
but now that he’s here, he intends to make the best of it. Zach seems
preferable to his last master, and he waits for the right moment to announce
his presence. He doesn’t count on Zach’s determination to seek out the truth
himself in the meantime.
Audio
Excerpt: https://soundcloud.com/nickijmarkus/the-house-guest-by-asta-idonea-mm-short-story-excerpt
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MCZ5J4D
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MCZ5J4D
Excerpt
“Ha, ha, ha!”
Zach shot upright and
blinked into the darkness. He strained his ears, listening for the smallest of
sounds, but the flat was silent, save for the gentle creak of the window when
the wind buffeted against it and the refrigerator’s soft hum. For a moment, he
could have sworn he heard laughter, but it must have been his imagination, or
else the remnants of a dream he had not realized had begun. Chastising himself
for his jumpiness, he settled back down.
“Ha, ha, ha!”
This time he was certain it
was no dream. There was laughter coming from within the flat. Someone was in
the next room. For all he’d joked earlier in the day about how ridiculous the
idea was, it turned out there was an
intruder in his home.
Zach gripped the covers and
wondered what to do. He’d left his mobile in the lounge when he went to bed, so
he couldn’t call for help without going out there. What was the best way to
deal with an intruder? Should he stay still and quiet and hope the man—the
voice had sounded male—left without attacking him, or should he get up and
attempt to scare him away by catching him in the act? Either seemed risky, but
he needed to decide one way or the other. For a moment, he wished his older
brother were there. Steven was a black belt in karate and a weightlifter. His
strong build was better suited to putting robbers to flight than Zach’s skinny
frame. However, Steven wasn’t present. He had no choice but to handle this
alone.
Review
This was the perfect semi-creepy story to read for Halloween.
Right away I had my suspicions on who/what was in the drawer/freed by Zachery,
but I loved that I had to keep on reading to be absolutely sure. That alone
kept me engaged and glued to the screen waiting to discover what happened next.
I loved the moment of tension caused by the laughter in the night, waiting to
see what Zachery would see when he went out there, and learning a bit more
about him, in that moment, with his thoughts as he moved to approach the
situation.
At the awesome moment of the reveal of the man’s
description, I found that I was soo, so wrong and that was awesome, because
that had me wanting more again. I loved the pacing, and the point of view, for
a short story, there were some great moments touched upon that allowed me to
come to know Zachery.
Hearing Bogdan’s story, I couldn’t help but feel bad for
him. I loved the way the author was able to elicit sympathy for the character
with just a few words. I don’t want to give anything away of the latter half of
the story, so I’ll just say this. WOW. This was a positively delightful read,
fun, light-hearted, with a smooth, wonderful flow, kind of like dark rum, ‘cause
it had a beautiful hint of spice to. Loved this read.
Author Bio & Links
Asta
Idonea (aka Nicki J Markus) was born in England, but now lives in Adelaide,
South Australia. She has loved both reading and writing from a young age and is
also a keen linguist, having studied several foreign languages.
Asta
launched her writing career in 2011 and divides her efforts not only between MM
and mainstream works but also between traditional and indie publishing. Her
works span the genres, from paranormal to historical and from contemporary to
fantasy. It just depends what story and which characters spring into her mind!
As
a day job, Asta works as a freelance editor and proofreader, and in her spare
time she enjoys music, theatre, cinema, photography, and sketching. She also loves
history, folklore and mythology, pen-palling, and travel; all of which have
provided plenty of inspiration for her writing.
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/NickiJMarkus
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/NickiJMarkus
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nickijmarkus/
LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolamarkus
Amazon Author
US:
http://www.amazon.com/Asta-Idonea/e/B00RMGGVYO
Amazon Author
UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asta-Idonea/e/B00RMGGVYO
