Matt Shaw
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UPDATES From Matt Shaw

UPDATES From Matt Shaw

Feb 17, 2020

ETSY PAGE UPDATES and a Short Story for you.

* The Pack (paperback)
* How Much 2 (paperback)
These have been added to the store for shipping in March. Keep in mind How Much 2 isn't due to Kindle until May so... Read it really early and have it signed!

Not worried about having my books signed but want to know what paperbacks and hardbacks you can freely get away from ETSY?

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/shawthing

Short stories of 1,000-2,000 words added to ETSY based on YOUR fears and starring YOU. Example story is listed below. There are only 10 of these available for the next week as I plan to write them whilst out in the States and travelling around. When I am back from America, the listing will be removed.

Get your own short story here:
https://www.etsy.com/…/short-story-personalised-horror-stor…

A DARK PLACE - as published in "These Whispered Stories"
Lauren Downard rested her head on the soft pillow and let out a long sigh. It had been a long, long day in which the people she’d had to deal with were seemingly put on the planet for the sole purpose of annoying her. Whilst she didn’t condone violence towards her fellow humans, after the day she’d had, she could certainly understand why it could (and does) happen.
She promised herself, ‘Tomorrow will be a better day.’ She knew saying it out loud didn’t necessarily make it so but, it was just a quirk she had and it was nice to hear her own voice in the darkness of her bedroom as she waited for sleep to come and take a hold. Her own voice a welcome distraction from the black shadows from which her mind liked to twist up and conjure out all kinds of monstrous shapes. ‘Tomorrow will definitely be a better day.’
She rolled onto her “comfortable” side and closed her eyes before letting out another long sigh. As she snuggled herself down into the dip she’d formed through years upon the same soft mattress, she couldn’t help but to laugh. ‘Well it can’t be any worse,’ she thought to herself as her mind started playing back random encounters she’d tolerated throughout the day.

*

First there had been the meeting she’d had with her boss. He had warned her that jobs were on the line as a company merger was taking place. Apparently the company they were merging with (the bigger of the two companies) was closing down departments and one of the ones being lined up for closure was Lauren’s.
Lauren had gone through years of study at the University of Hull to get her degree and almost as long searching for her ideal job and, now she had it, there was a chance it was being snatched away from her through no fault of her own but, rather, budget restraints instead.
Her boss hadn’t called her in to get her to do anything, or to explain what she could do to keep her job. He did it as favour to her, having grown fond of her over the years working together. A little head’s up so that - as a worst case scenario - she could at least start looking around to see if there was somewhere else she could get employment. She’d joked McDonalds but, inside, she was dying.
It certainly wasn’t the best way to start the day.
It certainly wasn’t, a little voice in her head whispered.
Upon hearing the news about the possible closure of her department, and being told to keep it to herself, she found her mind drifting to thoughts of being unemployed. The landlord wouldn’t give a shit about her job; it wasn’t his problem. What he’d care about was whether he’d get his rent or not and therein lay the problem. No job, no income, no income and no money for rent. She tried to push the thoughts of being homeless from her mind but that was easier said than done too. Especially seeing as her work colleague was currently experiencing his own money stresses and, as a result, spent the best part of an hour bitching to her about them.
‘Probably have to move out of the house and find somewhere cheaper but it’s not exactly that easy, is it? You need money to move. You have to pay a couple of months rent up front, you have to pay a security deposit and then, naturally, you have to figure a way of moving all your shit out there… It’s fucking bullshit. Like, if I had all that spare money lying around, I’d just pay my rent.’
And then came the question.
‘I don’t suppose you’ve got a couple of hundred you could lend me, have you?’
When Lauren said that she didn’t, she of course was the bad person. The only positive to that being that he ignored her for the rest of the day.

*

‘Dick,’ she muttered to herself.
Don’t worry, one day he will be dead. The voice in her head laughed. It wasn’t the first time Lauren had a dark thought pop into her mind. Some people tortured themselves over such bad thoughts but not Lauren. It was fine to have them - from time to time - so long as the thoughts weren’t acted upon.
You should kill them.
One thing to think about killing your work colleagues, or other people who cause you stress. Quite another to burst into the office with a gun.
‘If only,’ Lauren joked with her dark thought.
With sleep seemingly not coming any time soon, Lauren rolled onto her back. She opened her eyes and stared up to the ceiling. Another sigh.
This was typical; not being able to sleep despite being tired. It also worried her that, by not sleeping, she was setting herself up for a miserable day in the morning too. A day of being tired, trying to forget the shit day she’d just had and wishing for nothing more than a few more hours in bed.
I wouldn’t worry about tomorrow.
Easier said than done. Now tomorrow was all she was thinking about. Silly little things that weren’t even yet a problem and weren’t necessarily going to be. The worry of a “tired” headache, the worry of more stress through another sit in meeting with her boss which hadn’t even been hinted at, so why was that even on her mind? Then she started worrying about the damned traffic. It had been bad on the way to work due to a broken down car and she had been late as a result. Now she was thinking she would be better off leaving home earlier just in case a similar incident caused lateness. Especially if there was a chance her department was closing. They’d for sure be firing off those they thought to be slacking first.
‘For God sake,’ Lauren sat up and fumbled in the darkness for her phone. It was resting on the bedside cabinet, plugged into the wall via the charger. She navigated her way through to the alarm screen and changed it to a half hour earlier so that it read half five.
‘Ergh, half five?’
I wouldn’t worry about it.
‘I have to because, if I don’t I’ll be late again and if I am late again then… Well it doesn’t just look good.’ She set her phone back on the bedside cabinet and once again tried to get comfortable in the bed. With her head back on the pillow, she closed her eyes once more.
The little voice in her head started to laugh.
‘What? What’s so funny?’
You honestly don’t know?
‘If I knew, I wouldn’t ask now, would I?
Think about it.
She paused a moment and did as her brain instructed.
‘I have no idea. I definitely have work in the morning. It’s not the weekend. My alarm is definitely set for half five in the morning and not in the afternoon so, nope, I don’t have a single clue.
You’re just not giving it enough thought.
‘What the fuck…’
Come on, really think about it.
Lauren opened her eyes again in the hope that, by having her eyes open, the voice in her head would stop. Besides, now she didn’t feel tired in the slightest so all she was doing by having her eyes closed was making it even more obvious that she wasn’t going to be sleeping any time soon.
Figured it out yet?
‘Figured what out?’
Why it’s funny that you set the alarm earlier.
‘No. Not a clue. Just shut up.’
More laughter. Lauren sat bolt in her bed and stared to the darkest corner of the room. Her eyes immediately fixed on the darkest part of the wall as her heart pumped hard and fast. The voice she’d thought had been in her head hadn’t been her internal thoughts at all…
As the shadow stretched its way across the dark room, Lauren screamed.

Get your story here:
https://www.etsy.com/…/short-story-personalised-horror-stor…

Rather have a 100 word drabble? Head here:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/NYJCF6q

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