Ben Cerasi

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2021

Stories (22)

22 Stories

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“"Where the Marigolds Wilt"” by Ben Cerasi

The endless rows of hollowed-out orange and wicked gourds grinned their jagged grins at me as I left behind the city’s polished façade. Out where the sidewalks surrendered to gravel and asphalt gave up to sunbaked dirt, it was different—grittier, lonelier. The county lines weren’t drawn with rulers here; they were sketched by time and neglect. This wasn’t the part of town you saw on postcards, no tree-lined boulevards or corner cafes. Just long stretches of empty fields and the occasional truck kicking up a cloud of dust. Out here, people wa...

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“Autumns Ashes: A Chapel Black Casefile” by Ben Cerasi

C: Files Uploaded: Freedom of Information Act—California Bureau of Investigation. Violent Crime Task Force. Authorized by the CA Attorney General.Subject: Applied Criminology—Special Agent Rachel Tempt. Audio files are attached. Every bullet leaves a trail of paperwork behind it, a lawsuit etched in brass casings. There’s no honor in it anymore. Just silence after the gunshot, then the endless colonoscopy of post-shooting committees. They’ll pick apart the moment, frame by frame as if that could explain why we stare down the abyss and still ...

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“The Stain of Samhain” by Ben Cerasi

The smog that greeted Liz as she left her Jeep was thick and putrid, curling up into the sky as the last light of day faded behind the mountains. The sun’s retreat only seemed to feed the fire; the flames licked hungrily at the darkening sky, growing brighter with each passing second. Liz’s fingers tapped nervously on her holster, her heart racing as she drew closer to the smoke. As she moved toward the rising flames, the smell hit her like a punch—burning meat, charred flesh, and something sickly sweet, twisted with the acrid tang of melti...

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“Veils of the Valley (A Chapel Black Story) pt 2” by Ben Cerasi

The shadow of  October cast its dark presence upon the town, flames of the sun snuffed out. Our unit was no closer to shutting down the manufacturing and distribution of bathtub gin, in the way a sand castle was to stopping the high tide.  Devout preachers successfully persuaded the local men to yield their hunting weapons. We all clung on to our firearms as talisman and such, much like our forefathers hugged on to their spears and muskets when every shadow spooked them outside of their huts. my pleas for a curfew fell on deaf ear...

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“The Wraith of Grapes” by Ben Cerasi

Intercepted Transmission from The Penal-Agricultural-Station. (PAST) [Unauthorized viewing will be subject to mind wipes] We stared into the abyss and in the blackness between the stars, it glared back and found us wanting. The silence that looms over this once-tranquil retreat is suffocating,  like a weight pressing down on my chest, constricting the air in my lungs. There's a chill in the mechanized air that has nothing to do with the temperature – the kind of cold that settles deep into your bones, the very atmosphere is tainted wit...

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“Thicker than Water” by Ben Cerasi

Oakland- The wraiths we become when the open late signs burn out become the cracks in mirrors, and the shadows that bleed into the streets.  Life is a fleeting measure. in the heat of combat, it can be marked by the passing seconds The  Kanashii had savored the pleasures of life, found none as intoxicating as the taste of blood escaping from his lips. In the center of their training grounds, there stood a meticulously crafted mini bonsai garden, adorned with a stone and a delicate rake. Beside it, a changing of the guard took p...

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“Dark Room and Ruins: (A Chapel Black Case File)” by Ben Cerasi

Its often said that each picture is a vessel for a thousand truths; I've come to believe they harbor a thousand secrets instead. In the cloistered confines of the darkroom, I meticulously arranged the virgin sheets upon the surface of the ominous chemical bath. The blood-hued bulb above sputtered faintly, casting an eerie glow as the once colorless photographs began their descent into the murky depths.. Once a resident of the city that now seemed to slip through my fingers, I was inexorably driven out, beyond the somber hills of Livermo...

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“Black Blood on the Red Hunt” by Ben Cerasi

 The War Letters of Doctor Amos Range: Recovered From the San Joaquin County State Hospital “There's a sea of black blood seeped inside foreign soil. Countless young boys, eager for adventure and a chance to prove their worth, found themselves on the frontlines. I wasn't just a mere dishwasher or shoe shiner; I was unseen. My purpose was further cemented by Uncle Sam as we were turned into gravediggers and cooks.  Destruction resided within the mind of a skilled specialist. When armies couldn't acquire enough bullets for their ...

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“The Kanashii” by Ben Cerasi

The blades bore an ancient style. James obtained the forensic reports from external experts. Security forces throughout the East Bay and the Shipping lanes of Marin had been meticulously dismantled, with each cut performed with surgical precision. The Spectre studied the forensics displayed on his screen, cross-referencing the findings with emergency rooms and whispers of a specter. The morgue held dozens of bodies, but gunshot wounds and blunt force trauma had more obvious connections to potential culprits. These victims had seeming...

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“A Wake Beneath the Wakes” by Ben Cerasi

October 30th, 1943. Allied Intelligence reports. Middle East Command.   The magnetic audio reels will play the discussions of the prisoners and patients.  “Please, put me in the stockade, but don’t bring the ship to shore. Let the valleys of the abyss claim it again. I’ve witnessed the screaming in the camps, and the blood inside the bunkers. Imagine that but on a global scale. That's what these beings want, for all of us. The U-boats pale in comparison to the leviathan made known to us. The beast that swallowed Jonah.” ...

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“The Monolith” by Ben Cerasi

Our dreams are haunted by demons, sometimes they hold us down in our sleep. Other times they rip us out of bed and into the night.  My notoriety casts a long shadow, and the detectives withdrew from my presence. Each officer feared I carried the dark mark of a scarlet letter, and the specters that tormented me sought refuge within them too. They wore polished shoes and creased suits, wedding bands snug on their fingers. In the investigative unit, we dubbed such unions "starter marriages." Time passed and absence didn't let fondness...

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“Chapel Black: The Marrow Among The Meadow” by Ben Cerasi

He made a pit, and dug it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. Authority: California Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General. Acting Unit: The Violent Crime Investigative Support Section (VCISS) Inmate Earl Greene, alias the Emerald Hills Killer, has submitted a plea, facilitated by his state-appointed public defenders. The state is willing to revoke the execution order by lethal injection in exchange for un...

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“Chapel Black: The Roots Run Red.” by Ben Cerasi

The summer days grew colder as my time in the killing field continued. In this small town, life seemed to remain stagnant, with familiar faces from school days still residing in the same neighborhood. I delved into the bottomless well of the life of the victim, realizing that she might have been caught in a cycle of addiction and abuse. The tale of the central valley was lined with addicts and artists.  The case left a haunting impression of a town grappling with its past and present, where the echoes of forgotten beliefs and so...

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“The Red Nights of Summer” by Ben Cerasi

Speak now or forever hold your peace, I aimed the bolt downwards towards his heart's left curve. He begged to witness the sunrise one last time before the monstrous affliction took over his humanity completely. To make it in this line of work, you have to whittle away at your soul bit by bit. Those who can’t handle it end up taking the easy way out. “I apologize, sir. I never meant to disappoint you,” he said, as I noticed the white gauze soaked with red droplets on his arms. I knew he didn't deserve this fate. He was just a young man with...

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“Sins in the Shade” by Ben Cerasi

It was so terribly cold. Snow was falling, and it was almost dark. The sins in the shadows get lost in the light. there's nothing mold loves more than dark voids. The corners of your home or a city block you pass everyday and wouldn’t give a seconds notice until the smell overwhelms you. It has to be cut out. An inoperable medical condition is one that cannot be cured by a surgical operation. It’s a term that could be applied to the medical report under my desk or the condition of the urban sprawl outside my apartment. ...

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Author bio

Failed cosmic horror writer and director. I ran out of funds for the red corn syrup.