Psychotic Interlude (Horror)

by Toneye Eyenot

Published: Independent (February 28, 2018). 

 Softcover, 120 pages

“But to protect themselves from being exposed, these secretive demons who pull our strings divert our attention from their nefarious doings and cast it onto others like yourself. Your hatred, your anger, your fucking furious rage, if combined with the rage of seven billion others, would bring those ivory towers crashing to the ground faster than the World Trade Centre. Divide and conquer; that’s the age-old game they play.

“While you get shuffled around on the game board of life, obeying your invisible masters - teachers, the judicial system, law enforcement… fuckin’ God- you have been taught to hate people you don’t even know, based on nothing more than a label. Religion, social status, political persuasion, you name it; they are nothing more than systems of control designed to keep you docile while you stuff your face on toxic garbage packaged as food, and cheer for your favorite, grossly overpaid football team on the idiot box.”

This is a collection of horror short stories by Toneye Eyenot. Except for the final installation, the stories are of the incredibly disturbing in the fact that they are based in reality. Each of them could actually happen, which (in my opinion) makes it all the creepier. A lack of supernatural elements brings the fear closer to home. Like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, I had to keep asking myself what would I do in such a situation. Unlike Henry though, the protagonists of these tales are not the villains- which does not make the action any less painful to read.

Author Toneye Eyenot

The first story, “An Experiment in Fear”, is different in that it uses the rare 2nd person point of view (which utilizes the pronoun “you”) and describes a brutal torture of yourself in intricate detail. I honestly have never read a story like it and is almost worth the price of the book in itself. The second story, of which there is an excerpt above, is also done in the 2nd person, but in this case you take the form of the aggressor rather than the victim. “Don’t Be a Cunt” is an indictment to the world at large and, in my opinion is the high point of the collection. Third is “Petty Pleasantries”, now being told in 1st person perspective, we have a handyman with a hair-trigger being harassed by a bitch housewife. Hilarity ensues. Next, we are presented with “What’s in a Name” the most disturbing story of the lot. Without giving too much away, it deals with a man seeking revenge for his wife and child. This story could’ve been more, even expanded into a novel length, but it is satisfying enough for now. The last story is the one which breaks the pattern of realistic horror. “Sanity Korpse” is a tongue-in-cheek story about Santa Claus eating some acid laced cookies and ensuing on a planet wide killing spree.

For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.