Dyse Raye's Horror Anthology

WARNING: this story contains disturbing and graphic scenes of horror, body mutilation, and psychological terror. not recommended for sensitive readers.

𓇢𓆸

After school, the five of them slipped through the side gate behind the school, laughing and kicking at the dirt.

Anabel skipped ahead, humming, while Nola hung back, eyes darting around like she expected something to jump out. Lexie wandered beside her, humming along, and Kale and Darnell were already arguing over who could climb the tallest tree first.

Then Kale stumbled over something soft in the dirt. “What’s this?” he said, crouching down. The others crowded around. Poking at it with a stick, they realized it wasn’t a rock. It was small, round and moving.

“Ew, it’s alive!” Lexie squealed, stepping back.

Anabel leaned closer, grinning. “It’s probably just some weird bug.”

Nola’s stomach sank. “It… It kind of looks like a mouth,” she whispered. The others laughed. “A mouth?” Darnell scoffed. “Yeah right.”

But then the tiny mouth opened, revealing a row of minuscule teeth, and a faint, desperate mumble slipped out. “Food…”

Kale’s eyes lit up. “Hey, maybe it’s a toy, like one of those prank things!” he said, scooping it up. “I’m taking it home.”

Nola stared at it, her heart thudding. The little mouth twitched, and the whisper came again, sharper this time. “Food… Food...”

The others just laughed, thinking it was part of some trick, but Nola couldn’t shake the weird feeling in her heart.

𓍯𓂃𓂃𓂃

Kale ran inside, the little mouth cupped in his hands like a prize. “Look what I found!” he shouted to no one in particular. His mom was busy in the kitchen, so he had the living room to himself.

The mouth wiggled in his palms, tiny teeth flashing. “Food…” it whispered, almost too quiet to hear.

Kale laughed, setting it on the table. “You’re weird. You don’t even look real.”

Kale glanced around the room. “Well… You must be hungry, huh?” he said, grabbing a small cookie from the table. He crumbled a piece and held it out. The tiny mouth twitched, its little lips stretching impossibly wide, and a soft, wet sound came from inside it.

“Food…” It whispered again, sharper this time.

Without thinking much, Kale dropped the crumbs into its opening. The mouth shivered and swallowed greedily, making a tiny, smacking noise. Kale laughed nervously. “Haha… Okay, that’s kind of gross, but you like it, huh?”

The whispers didn’t stop. More urgent now, almost as if it was begging for more. Kale froze. “Whoa… You’re… Really hungry, aren’t you?”

The tiny mouth quivered, wriggling slightly in his hands, and Kale couldn’t help but feel a shiver run down his spine.

Kale leaned back on his chair, watching the little mouth curl and twitch on the table. At first, it seemed… Satisfied. The soft whispers faded to quiet gurgles.

But then, he noticed something strange. The tiny mouth was… Bigger. Just a little at first, almost unnoticeable, but enough that his heart skipped a beat.

“Huh… You’re… Growing?” he muttered, poking it lightly. The mouth twitched violently, snapping at his finger like it wanted more.

“Food…” it whispered again, louder now, more urgent. Kale’s stomach twisted. “Oh… Okay… Okay, here.” he grabbed another cookie, breaking it into pieces and letting them fall into the mouth.

It shivered and quivered as it devoured the crumbs, and when it lifted its tiny head, Kale realized with a chill that it was already bigger than when they first found it.

A soft, wet gurgle escaped it, and Kale couldn’t tell if it was the sound of satisfaction or hunger.

Kale sat frozen, staring at the little mouth. At first, it was just one voice, soft and hungry, but now… It sounded like more.

“Food… Food…” a second, tinier voice joined, coming from somewhere beneath the first. Kale’s eyes widened. “What… How?”

He looked around the table. The mouth hadn’t moved… Had it? Then a faint rustling sound came from the crumbs on the table, and another whisper hissed, closer to his ear, though no one else was there.

“More… More…”

Panic prickled up his spine. Kale tried to back away, but the mouth wriggled violently, teeth flashing, and the whispers kept multiplying. Soft, desperate voices now echoed from every direction, all saying the same thing. “Food… More…”

The tiny mouth twitched and shivered, growing slightly bigger with every pleading whisper. Kale’s fingers hovered over another cookie, heart hammering. He didn’t know why, but he felt like if he didn’t feed it, something terrible might happen.

From the kitchen, Kale’s mom called out, “Kale? Is there someone with you? I can hear you talking!"

Kale froze, the little mouth wriggling in his hands. “Uh… Nothing, mom!” he called back, voice cracking a little.

The whispers from the mouth grew louder, desperate, almost frantic. Without thinking, Kale shoved it roughly into his school bag. The soft, wet gurgling protested, and tiny teeth scraped against the fabric.

He slung the bag over his shoulder and bolted to his bedroom, slamming the door shut. The whispers inside the bag continued, now mingling into a chaotic chorus. “Food… More… Food…”

Kale sat on the floor, heart pounding. He knew he shouldn’t have brought it home… But part of him couldn’t stop listening to the voices.

Kale dropped the bag onto the floor of his bedroom and unzipped it just a crack, peeking inside. The little mouth had grown bigger than before, shiny and wet, its tiny teeth chattering. The whispers were louder now, overlapping, almost screaming in that tiny, desperate chorus.

He grabbed a piece of bread from his desk and tossed it in. The mouth snapped it up instantly, the gurgling sound vibrating through the bag. Kale flinched, heart hammering.

The bag twitched on the floor, moving slightly as if it had a life of its own. Kale stumbled back, knocking over a stack of books. The whispers surged, frantic, almost angry now.

He stared at it, frozen. The mouth kept growing, wriggling, pressing against the sides of the bag. The floor beneath it seemed to quiver slightly, and he could have sworn he heard a soft, wet slapping sound, like something trying to crawl out.

Kale’s hands shook. “Ok… Ok… Enough,” he muttered, backing away. The voices rose, urgent and pleading, almost echoing off the walls. “Food… Give… More…”

He grabbed the bag roughly, feeling the squirming inside, and without thinking any longer, ran to his window. With one last terrified glance, he hurled it outside. The bag landed on the grass below. The whispers stopped instantly. Complete silence.

The bag hit the grass with a soft thud. Inside, the little mouth twitched once… Twice… And then stopped completely. No gurgle, no whisper, no movement at all. Just silence.

Kale stared at it for a long moment, chest tight, before turning back inside, too shaken to look any longer.

𓍯𓂃𓂃𓂃

Nola, Anabel, Lexie, and Darnell huddled near the school gate, whispering.

“Have you seen Kale today?” Anabel asked, frowning. “He didn’t show up this morning.”

“His mom said he was acting weird last night,” Nola said, voice tight. “She said he was… Talking to himself… And then this morning…” she trailed off.

“And this morning what?” Lexie asked.

“His bag,” Nola continued, pointing across the grass. “It’s… Just lying outside his window. Like he… left it there. But he’s not there. And the bag… It’s empty.”

Darnell frowned. “Empty? Nothing in it?”

“Nothing,” Nola said, shivering. “Not even his textbooks, pencil box.. Or whatever he had in it.”

The four of them exchanged uneasy glances. The quiet rustle of the morning wind made the empty bag look wrong. Like it had been holding something that didn’t belong there.

Anabel shivered. “Do you think… Something happened to him?”

Nola didn’t answer. She just stared at the bag, a cold feeling creeping up her spine, the image of Kale’s terrified face flashing in her mind.

𓍯𓂃𓂃𓂃

After school, Anabel walked home alone, her backpack feeling heavier with each step. The streets were mostly empty, and every little sound made her jump. A loose trash can rattling, a car door slamming in the distance.

Her mind kept drifting back to Kale. Where could he have gone? Why did he leave his bag like that? The memory of the empty bag on the grass made her stomach twist.

She kept telling herself he was fine, that he’d turn up at home or at school tomorrow. But the silence around her, the way the wind whispered through the trees… It didn’t feel right.

Anabel’s pace quickened. She didn’t want to be out here alone, not with that cold, creeping feeling that something had changed, something unseen waiting just out of sight.

Anabel froze mid-step. Something moved on the ground a few feet ahead. A tiny twitch, just enough to catch her eye.

She knelt down slowly, heart skipping. There, nestled in a patch of grass, was a small, round thing. At first, it looked like a pebble. Until it moved again.

“What the…?” she whispered, leaning closer. Then she remembered yesterday, they all saw it together behind the school. The tiny, toothy mouth that Kale wanted to bring it home.

She frowned. “Maybe… Kale just… Left it here while he was walking home yesterday?” she murmured to herself. It didn’t make much sense, but nothing about Kale’s disappearance made sense anyway.

Hesitating for only a moment, Anabel scooped it up carefully and tucked it into her backpack. She shrugged at herself, trying to make it feel casual. “It’s just a little thing… Won’t hurt anyone.”

The tiny mouth twitched once inside her backpack, the fabric shifting just a little. Anabel froze, staring at the bag.

She didn’t take it out again. She just zipped the bag tighter and forced a nervous laugh.

“Okay… Weird… But fine,” she muttered, trying to convince herself. “You’re coming home with me, I guess.”

And she kept walking, pretending she didn’t feel the faint tremble against the bottom of her bag.

𓍯𓂃𓂃𓂃

That night, the house was quiet until a soft knock echoed against Anabel’s bedroom door.

“Ana? You still awake?” her mom called. No answer.

She knocked again, a little harder. “Ana?”

Silence.

She pushed the door open slowly. The room was dim, her lamp still on… But the bed was empty and untouched. Her backpack lay on the floor, unzipped.

Anabel was gone.

And whatever she had brought home with her, gone too.

𓍯𓂃𓂃𓂃

A week passed, and the town felt different. quieter. Heavier.

Anabel didn’t come back. Then Lexie vanished two days later. Darnell disappeared the day after that. No trace of any of them. No bags. No footprints. Nothing.

Parents whispered behind closed doors. Teachers kept glancing at the gates. Neighbours locked their doors earlier than usual.

Everyone said the same thing. There had to be a kidnapper in town. Someone targeting children.

But there was one detail no one wanted to say out loud.

All the missing kids were friends.

The same group.

The same five who were together the day before Kale vanished.

And now it was just Nola left.

The last one.

And the only one who still remembered that tiny, mumbling mouth in the dirt behind the school.

Something inside her told her it wasn’t a kidnapper.

It was something else.

Something underground.

And she was about to find out.

𓍯𓂃𓂃𓂃

Nola walked home with her head down, clutching her books tight to her chest. It had been a week of fear, rumours, police cars, crying parents and empty desks.

She kept thinking of Kale’s bag on the grass

and Anabel’s bedroom with the lights on but no one answering. Lexie’s mom breaking down at the school office. Darnell’s dad yelling at the police like they weren’t doing enough.

Nola didn’t want to think about the little mouth at all. She kept convincing herself it had nothing to do with any of this.

It was just a weird thing they found.

Nothing more.

But that evening, as she walked past the empty lot near her house, she heard it.

A soft, wet sound.

Like something chewing.

She froze.

Turned her head slowly.

In the middle of the dirt, something small twitched.

Nola stepped closer, heart hammering so hard she felt sick.

And there it was.

The tiny mouth.

The exact same size it was on the first day.

Like it had never grown at all.

“No,” Nola whispered, backing up a step. “Kale… Took you home. You shouldn’t be here.”

The little mouth twitched, its lips pulling into that strange, toothy shape she remembered too well.

And then it whispered, soft and familiar, like a memory she didn’t want back.

“Food…”

She didn’t know that Kale had fed it.

Or Anabel.

Or Lexie.

Or Darnell.

She only knew one thing,

that tiny mouth should NOT be here.

And she was the last one left to see it.

Nola stood there trembling, staring at the tiny mouth like it was some kind of nightmare that crawled out of her memory.

She should’ve run.

She should’ve screamed.

She should’ve done anything except what she actually did.

She stepped closer.

“How… How are you here?” she whispered, her voice cracking. The mouth twitched again, almost like it recognised her.

“Food…” it breathed, barely audible.

Nola swallowed hard. “I'm not feeding you.” She whispered it like she was trying to convince herself, not the thing on the dirt.

She turned to walk away.

But then she heard something else.

Something soft.

Something… Multiple.

A faint whisper from the soil beneath her feet.

Not one voice.

But several

layered

distant

hungry.

“…Food…”

“...More…”

“…Give…”

Nola froze. “No. No no no…”

She spun back toward the small mouth,

but it was gone.

Vanished.

No rustle.

No movement.

Just empty dirt like nothing had been there at all.

Nola’s heart dropped into her stomach.

She backed away slowly, eyes scanning the ground. “This isn’t real…” she whispered, But the whispers below the soil were getting louder, closer, crawling under her shoes.

She ran.

She sprinted all the way home, ignoring questions from her family and slamming the door behind her, chest heaving.

But as she leaned against the door, trying to calm down, she heard something outside.

A soft thud.

Something hitting her doorstep.

Then that small, familiar whisper slipped under the crack of the door.

“Food…”

And Nola realised something horrible.

it didn’t matter that Kale took it home.

Or Anabel.

Or Lexie.

Or Darnell.

The mouth always came back.

It always returned to the last friend standing.

And now

that was her.

Nola’s hands were shaking so badly she could barely turn the doorknob. Tears blurred her vision. She wanted to see her family, wanted to tell someone she was scared.

She twisted the knob and pushed the door open.

But it wasn’t her hallway.

Her stomach lurched, and she stumbled back a step. The walls around her were wet, slick, and pink. A pulsing, breathing flesh. The floor squelched beneath her shoes. A sticky, acidic-smelling saliva hung in the air.

Her heart froze. She tried to scream, but her voice stuck in her throat. She looked up and around, and then she saw them. Hundreds, maybe thousands of faces pressed into the walls of the mouth, all screaming silently, mouths moving, eyes wide with terror.

And then… She saw her friends.

Kale. Anabel. Lexie. Darnell. They were stuck into the walls, half-swallowed, bodies twisted unnaturally, their faces pale and eyes wide in eternal horror.

Their mouths opened in silent screams, as if begging her to turn back.

Nola stumbled forward, and the sticky floor made her foot slip. The tongue beneath her wriggled and rose like a ramp, pushing her deeper inside. Every step was a wet, sickening squelch.

Something whispered behind her, then above, then below, surrounding her from every direction.

“Food… Give… More…”

She tried to run, but the walls shifted, closing in, forcing her further inside the enormous mouth. The faces on the walls twisted, moaning silently as she passed by them. She could see teeth jagged and wet, glistening, moving like they wanted to bite her even before she reached the fangs that were larger, sharper than anything human.

And then it struck.

The walls of the mouth contracted suddenly, trapping her arms, then her legs. She screamed, finally letting out the sound that had been stuck in her throat. The saliva was burning her skin, sticky and suffocating. The mouth crushed her chest, forcing her down toward the waiting jaws.

The teeth sank into her legs first, tearing through fabric and flesh, and she screamed again, deafening even in the suffocating cavity. She tried to kick and claw, but the walls held her like iron.

Then the tongue curled upward, pressing her against the upper roof of the mouth, forcing her head backward. The fangs above her ripped into her shoulders, slicing flesh and making her cry out in pure agony. The pressure from the walls and tongue made it impossible to move, impossible to escape.

Her friends’ faces in the walls were watching, eyes wide, mouths moving silently in horror as she was crushed and torn. The wet, pulsing walls of the mouth squeezed her torso, grinding her ribs with each heartbeat.

And finally. The teeth closed around her head. A wet, sickening crunch, snapping bones and silencing her screams. The walls swallowed the rest of her body in a final, gurgling motion. Something inside the enormous mouth whispered one last time,

“Food… Satisfied…”

And then silence.

The walls went still. The faces on the walls stared blankly, frozen in eternal terror. The huge mouth pulsed one last time and slowly… Retracted.

Outside, the street was quiet. Not a sound. Not a trace. Nothing.

And the town never saw Nola, or her friends again.

𓍯𓂃𓂃𓂃

Weeks passed. the town slowly returned to its quiet, uneasy rhythm. Parents whispered about the missing kids, police gave up on leads, and life seemed to go on.

But late at night, if someone walked past the empty lot behind the school or peeked under the overgrown grass near the edge of town, they might hear it.

A soft, wet sound.

A faint, desperate mumble.

“Food…”

And if you listened closely, you could almost feel the ground pulse beneath your feet, like something beneath the earth was alive. Waiting.

Something small, hungry, and patient.

Something that would always come back.

The End.