William's works include the psychological horror novel "The Man Behind the Door" and the supernatural horror novel "The Devil Within Us All," William takes inspiration from his own experiences to craft novels that tackle the horrors and demons of real life. 

His debut, The Man Behind the Door, tackles grief, trauma, and addiction through the lens of a ghost story and explores generational trauma.  It was acclaimed for its compassionate tone, handling of the difficult subject matter, and multiple storylines that come together in the end.

He currently works full-time as a pharmacy technician at an independent pharmacy while raising his first son with his future wife.  In his free time, he enjoys outings with his family, reading, and playing music.

You can read more from William right HERE.

GO OUT AND PLAY

by

William Gray 

Leslie had seen the van pull up to the sidewalk only out of chance.  The light hit the faded brown paint in just the right place to reflect off and hit her straight in the face as she washed her son’s paintbrushes in the sink.

Go outside and play…

Blinded, she’d raised her hand and tried to look at the source through splayed fingers.  The spots in her eyes made it hard to see many details, but what she could make out struck a sense of terror in her that she’d never experienced.

A man hung out of the window, his tattooed arm resting lazily against the side of the door.  The top half of his face was hidden underneath a baseball cap and big aviator sunglasses, and the bottom half wore a smile that was too wide.  It was supposed to be friendly, but it came off as entirely predatory.

Next to the van, her son looked up at the man.  Jonathan stood straddling his bike: a red Huffy he’d gotten for his sixth birthday.

Leslie threw the brushes into the sink and took off running toward the door.  It felt impossibly far away—she’d never felt like their fourteen thousand square foot home was large until now.  Her knee banged against the table by the couch, sending its contents scattering around the living room.  There wasn’t enough time to let it slow her down—she kept running, barely even registering the pain.

… it’s too nice outside to stay inside all day.

Leslie reached the door and threw it open hard enough to slam the handle through the plaster with a dull thud.  Her feet hit the walkway, the bare skin smacking against the carefully poured squares of concrete.

She was three steps out of the house when the side door of the van slid open.

“Jonathan!!!”

The rest happened too fast.

Another man, this one bigger, reached out and snatched her son from the sidewalk  Jonathan cried out in surprise, his jaw slack with shock.

She was six feet from the sidewalk when her seven-year-old son disappeared into the darkness of the van.  The beating of her heart drowned out the sound of her feet on the concrete as she watched the van peel out.  She barely heard the tires squeal as it lurched forward and out into the street.

“No!” Leslie called out, chasing after them.  The van quickly turned the corner, disappearing from view.  The tire of the bike behind her turned slowly in the thick summer air, the inanimate object blissfully unaware of the urgency of the situation.

Jonathan was not worried by the situation at hand.  In fact, he felt giddy as he thumbed the X-ACTO knife in his pocket.  The thought of using it on the big man who now sat across from him was too exciting—he was so used to being numb to it all that he found it hard to contain himself.

He watched as the man pulled a mass of tangled rope from the bag, cursing to himself as it fell at his feet.  Jonathan tried his best to look afraid as the man tried to untangle it quickly.

“Yo, what the fuck are you doing back there?”  It was the man with the sunglasses.  He’d sounded nicer when Jonathan had been on the street and not the back of his van, but the young boy supposed that was what it took.

“The ropes tangled,” hissed the bigger man, trying to free a length of it unsuccessfully.  He turned his back to the boy.  “Why didn’t you make sure it was good when you packed it?”

“Don’t blame your own stupidity on me, dude.”

The two continued to bicker back and forth, their attention away from Jonathan.  He slowly eased the X-ACTO knife out of the front pocket of his shorts.

He’d brought it with him to use it on… well, on whatever he came across.  He remembered what his father always said when he talked about his hunting trips with Jonathan: we hunt big game.

Until this moment, Jonathan had always been a small game hunter.  Insects, lizards, one time there was a nest of baby birds, but it was all small game.

This was something else.

Jonathan took his shoes off, knowing that the flashing lights in the soles and the sound of the rubber on the metal floor of the van would give him away.  He tasted something sweet as he eased himself up and pushed the switch of the knife up, bringing the razor blade into view.

He listened to his heart race as he moved slowly, closing in on his prey.  He had one shot at this—if he lost the element of surprise, he would lose.

“I don’t even know why we’re doing this,” the big man said, sweat glistening against the tattoos on his neck.  “I know what I said, but I don’t know if I can actually follow…”

The X-ACTO blade cut through the back the man’s ankle, causing him to scream and fall forward in pain.  Jonathan didn’t know what it was called, but he knew he’d cut something important.

The man turned.  He was still screaming in pain and completely unaware of what was about to happen.

Jonathan brought the blade down across the man’s neck, throwing himself forward to make sure the man didn’t get away.  The blade cut through his dark tattoos like butter as Jonathan landed on top of him.  There was a distant part of him that felt the blood hitting his face, but he was more focused on the man before him.

The van came to a screeching stop as Jonathan watched the fear in the big man’s eyes.  The light was already dimming there—and with it, his excitement.

“Yo, what the—”

Jonathan turned his attention to the driver, still holding the X-ACTO knife.  The excitement returned.

He was glad his mother had told him to go out and play.