PseudoPod 117: Deep Red
Deep Red
by Floris M. Kleijne
Blood matting her blonde hair, blood on her face, blood covering so much of her it takes a moment to see she is naked. The dream gives me an eternity to see her. Eyes wide open and shining, shining. And she grins. That grin has never stopped haunting me. In the dream, I know what she’s done in the bedroom. And I’ve never seen her happier, more exulted.
Deep Red envelopes her, emanates from her every visible pore. It’s like she has taken a bath in perfume. The scent engulfs me, blurs my mind, until I smell only that and see only her grin. Her lips part, and in the dream, she speaks two words.
“Hey, baby…” she says, and in the calm and affectionate tone of her words, the horror of the dream reaches an unbearable level.
About the Author
Floris M. Kleijne
Floris M. Kleijne was born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where he began to write short stories as soon as he was able to hold a pen. After hundreds of Dutch stories he switched over to the English language in 2003, promptly sold his first story in that language, and went on to win the acclaimed Writers of the Future contest with his third, the SF novelette Meeting the Sculptor (published in Writers of the Future Vol.XXI). Since then he has sold ten more stories, judged the Paul Harland Prize (the Dutch equivalent of the Writers of the Future) twice, edited a Dutch anthology of speculative fiction (Millennium). He is also struggling with fitting writing a novel into his busy life. Kleijne still lives in Amsterdam, with a lovely wife, two cheerful sons, a grumpy cat, and thousands of books.
About the Narrator
Ben Phillips
Ben Phillips is a programmer and musician living in New Orleans. He was a chief editor of Pseudopod from 2006-2010.
