Attention: Important Public Safety Announcement!

Chance of surviving encounters with community-dwelling witches increases from “doubtful” to
“a slither” with application of four rules:

1. Be vigilant. Witches are shifty, often swapping forms. Spot them by their lopsided bodies, facial disgustingness, and rotting odours.
2. Understand your enemy. Witches despise children. Always carry one for distraction.
3. Run. Escaping before they change genitals into maggots is easier than reversing it.
4. Never cry. Witches like eyeballs. A lot. Crying provides helpful lubrication for
   removal. If you’re going to die, at least you see it coming.

No liability accepted for loss of life, limb, or infliction of incurable curses.

Need more good reads? Check out these from the MockingOwl Roost staff and contributors.

• Mrs. Morris and the Vampire – Halloween Fiction Review
• Wolfskin – Fiction
• Murderer’s Creek – Fiction
• The Gun From the Unicorn – Fiction
• Meatloaf for One – Fiction

Claire L Marsh

+ posts

Claire writes short stories and poems, mainly in the horror or dark fantasy genres. She lives in the Cotswolds, UK with her husband and Phoenix (don’t tell him he’s a kitten. He thinks he’s a mountain lion). She currently works for an organisation that assists police forces nationally, providing support for evidence-based practice. Her background is in forensic psychology, including over nine years lecturing it at postgraduate level. Psychology often creeps into her stories; it could be how someone reacts to trauma or why people don’t intervene if they see violence.

• Claire L Marsh

  #molongui-disabled-link

  Duped, Part 2
• Claire L Marsh

  #molongui-disabled-link

  Duped, Part 1
• Claire L Marsh

  #molongui-disabled-link

  A Spooky Sight
• Claire L Marsh

  #molongui-disabled-link

  The Witch’s Familiar