Uncollected Stories 2003

UNCOLLECTED
STORIES
STEPHEN KING
CONTENTS

1. Jhonathan and the Witches
3
2. People, Places and Things
5
3. In a Half-World of Terror
13
4. The Glass Floor
28
5.Slade
36
6. The Blue Air Compressor
49
7. The Cat From Hell
57
8. The Crate
70
9.SquadD
97
10. The King Family & the Wicked Witch
104
11. The Night of the Tiger
111
12. Before the Play
123
13. Man With a Belly
136
14. Skybar
146
15. The Leprechaun
157
16. Keyholes
161
17. For the Birds
163
18. The Reploids
164
19. An Evening at God’s
176

JHONATHAN AND THE WITCHES

From
First Words: Earliest Writing from Favorite Contemporary Authors
(1993).
King wrote this in 1956 at the age of 9 for his Aunt Gert who used to pay him a
quarter per story.

O
nce upon a time there was a boy named Jhonathan. He was smart,
handsome, and very brave. But Jhonathan was a cobbler’s son. One day
his father said, "Jhonathan, you must go and seek your fortune. You are
old enough."

Jhonathan, being a smart boy, knew he better ask the king for work.
So he set out. On the way, he met a rabbit who was a fairy in disguise.
The scared thing was being pursued by hunters and jumped into
Jhonathan’s arms. When the hunters came up Jhonathan pointed
excitedly and shouts, "That way, that way!"

After the hunters had gone, the rabbit turned into a fairy and said,
"You have helped me. I will give you three wishes. What are they?"
But Jhonathan could not think of anything, so the fairy agreed to give
him when he needed them. So Jhonathan kept walking until he made the
kingdom without incident. So he went to the king and asked for work.
But, as luck would have it, the king was in a very bad mood that day. So
he vented his mood on Jhonathan.
"Yes there is something you can do. On yonder Mountain there are
three witches. If you can kill them, I will give you 5,000 crowns. If you
cannot do it I will have your head! You have 20 days." With this he
dismissed Jhonathan.
"Now what am I to do?" thought Jhonathan. “Well I shall try.”
Then he remembered the three wishes granted him and set out for the
mountain.

Now Jhonathan was at the mountain and was just going to wish for a
knife to kill the witch, when he heard a voice in his ear, "The first witch
cannot be pierced. The second witch cannot be pierced or smothered.
The third cannot be pierced, smothered and is invisible.”

With this knowledge Jhonathan looked about and saw no one. Then
he remembered the fairy, and smiled. He then went in search of the first
witch. At last he found her. She was in a cave near the foot of the
mountain, and was a mean looking hag. He remembered the fairy
words, and before the witch could do anything but give him an ugly
look, he wished she should be smothered. And Lo! It was done. Now he
went higher in search of the second witch. There was a second cave
higher up. There he found the second witch. He was about to wish her
smothered when he remembered she could not be smothered. And the
before the witch could do anything but give him an ugly look, he had
wished her crushed. And Lo! It was done Now he had only to kill the
third witch and he would have the 5,000 crowns. But on the way up, he
was plagued with thoughts of how?

Then he hit upon a wonderful plan. Then, he saw the last cave. He
waited outside the entrance until he heard the witch’s footsteps. He then
picked up a couple of big rocks and wishes. He then wished the witch a
normal woman and Lo! She became visible and then Jhonathan struck
her head with the rocks he had. Jhonathan collected his 5,000 crowns
and he and his father lived happily ever after.

PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS

Self-published book of one-page stories that King co-authored with school friend
Chris Chelsey at the age of 13 (Triad Publishing 1960). The complete contents
read:

Foreword –
Stephen King
‘The Hotel at the End of the Road’ –
Stephen King*
‘Genius’ –
Chris Kelsey
‘Top Forty News, Weather, and Sports’ –
Chris Chelsey
‘Bloody Child’ –
Chris Chelsey
“I’ve Got to Get Away!’ –
Stephen King*
*
‘The Dimension Warp’ –
Stephen King (listed in contents, now lost)
‘The Thing at the Bottom of the Well’ –
Stephen King
‘Reward’ –
Chris Chelsey
‘The Stranger’ –
Stephen King
‘A Most Unusual Thing’ –
Chris Chelsey
‘Gone’ –
Chris Chelsey
‘They’ve Come’ –
Chris Chelsey
‘I’m Falling’ –
Stephen King (listed in contents, now lost)
‘The Cursed Expedition’ –
Stephen King
‘The Other Side of the Fog’ –
Stephen King
‘Scared’ –
Chris Chelsey
‘Curiosity Kills the Cat’ –
Chris Chelsey
‘Never Look Behind You’ –
Stephen King and Chris Chelsey

*Published in the
Market Guide for Young Writers
(4th Edition), by Writer’s
Digest Books, this story was printed exactly as it originally appeared. In 1986,
the story was slated to be published in
Flip
magazine, but the student literary
magazine ceased publication before the story made it to press. It was finally
published in 1993.

**Published in
Famous Monsters of Filmland
magazine, No. 202, Spring ’94
under the title
The Killer
. The story was originally written from the main
character’s point of view. In 1963, when he was 14, King rewrote the story in
third person and submitted it to
Spacemen
magazine, a companion to
Famous
Monsters
, but it was rejected. It was finally published in
Famous Monsters
31
years later.

THE HOTEL AT THE END OF THE ROAD

“Faster!” Tommy Riviera said. “Faster!”
“I’m hitting 85 now,” Kelso Black said.
“The cops are right behind us,” Riviera said. “Put it up to 90.” He

leaned out the window. Behind the fleeing car was a police car, with
siren wailing and red light flashing.

“I’m hitting the side road ahead,” Black grunted. He turned the wheel
and the car turned into the winding road – spraying gravel.
The uniformed policeman scratched his head. “Where did they go?”.
His partner frowned. “I don’t know. They just – disappeared.”
“Look,” Black said. “Lights ahead.”
“It's a hotel,” Riviera said wonderingly. “Out on this wagon track, a
hotel! If that don’t beat all! The police’ll never look for us there.”
Black, unheeding of the car's tires, stamped on the brake. Riviera
reached into the back seat and got a black bag. They walked in.
The hotel looked just like a scene out of the early 1900s.
Riviera rang the bell impatiently. An old man shuffled out. “We want
a room,” Black said.
The man stared at them silently.
“A room,” Black repeated.
The man turned around to go back into his office.
“Look, old man,” Tommy Riviera said. “I don’t take that from
anybody.” He pulled out his thirty-eight. “Now you give us a room.”
The man looked ready to keep going, but at last he said: “Room five.
End of the hall.”
He gave them no register to sign, so they went up. The room was
barren except for an iron double bed, a cracked mirror, and soiled
wallpaper.
“Aah, what a crummy joint,” Black said in disgust. “I’ll bet there's
enough cockroaches here to fill a five-gallon can.”
The next morning when Riviera woke up, he couldn’t get out of bed.
He couldn’t move a muscle. He was paralyzed. Just then the old man
came into view. He had a needle which he put into Black’s arms.
“So you’re awake,” he said. “My, my, you two are the first additions
to my museum in twenty-five years. But you’ll be well preserved. And
you won’t die. “You’ll go with the rest of my collection of living
museum. Nice specimens.”
Tommy Riviera couldn’t even express his horror.

I’VE GOT TO GET AWAY

“What am I doing here?” Suddenly I wondered. I was terribly
frightened. I could remember nothing, but here I was, working in an
atomic factory assembly line. All I knew was that I was Denny Phillips.
It was as if I had just awakened from a slumber. The place was guarded
and the guards had guns. They looked like they meant business. There
were others working and they looked like zombies. They looked like
they were prisoners.

But it didn’t matter. I had to find out who I was what I was doing.
I had to get away!
I started across the floor. One of the guards yelled, “Get back there!”
I ran across the room, bowled over a guard and ran out the door. I

heard gun blasts and knew they were shooting at me. But the driving
thought persisted:
I’ve got to get away!
There was another set of guards blocking the other door. It looked like
I was trapped, until I saw a boom swing down. I grabbed it and was
pulled over three hundred feet to the next landing. But it was no good.
There was a guard there. He shot at me. I felt all weak and dizzy...I fell
into a great dark pit...
One of the guards took off his hat and scratched his head.
“I dunno Joe, I just dunno. Progress is a great thing – but that x-238A
Denny Phillips, name...they’re great robots...but they go haywire, now
and then, and it seems like they was looking for something...almost
human. Oh well.”
A truck drove away, and the sign on its side said: ACME ROBOT
REPAIR.
Two weeks later, Denny Phillips was back on the job – blank look in
his eyes. But suddenly...
His eyes become clear and, the overwhelming thought comes to him:
I’VE GOT TO GET AWAY!!

THE THING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WELL

Oglethorpe Crater was an ugly, mean little wretch. He dearly loved
plaguing the dog and cat, pulling the wings from flies and watching
worms squirm as he slowly pulled them apart. (This lost its fun when he
heard worms feel no pain).

But his mother, fool as she was, was blind to his faults and sadistic
traits. One day the cook threw open the door in near hysterics and
Oglethorpe and Mommy came home from a movie.

“That awful little boy tied a rope across the cellar stairs so when I
went down to get potatoes, I fell and almost killed myself!” she
screamed.

“Don’t believe her! Don’t believe her! She hates me!” cried
Oglethorpe, tears springing into his eyes. And poor little Oglethorpe
began sobbing as if his little heart would break.

Mommy fired the cook and Oglethorpe, dear little Oglethorpe, went
up to his room where he poked pins in his dog, Spotty. When mommy
asked why Spotty was crying, Oglethorpe said he got some glass in his
foot. He said he would pull it out. Mommy thought dear little
Oglethorpe a good Samaritan.

Then one day, while Oglethorpe was in the field looking for more
things to torture, he spied a deep, dark well. He called down, thinking
he’d hear an echo.

“Hello!”
But a soft voice called up, “Hello, Oglethorpe”
Oglethorpe looked down, but he could see nothing. “Who are you”

Oglethorpe asked.
“Come on down,” said the voice, “And we’ll have jolly fun.”
So Oglethorpe went down.
The day passed and Oglethorpe didn’t come back. Mommy called the

police and a manhunt was formed. For over a month they hunted for
dear little Oglethorpe. Just when they were about to give up, they found
Oglethorpe in a well, dead as a door-nail.

But how he must have died!

His arms were pulled out, like people pull flies’ wings. Pins had been
stuck in his eyes and there were other tortures too horrible to mention.
As they covered his body (what was left of it), and trouped away, it
actually seemed that they heard laughter coming from the bottom of the
well.

THE STRANGER

 

 

Kelso Black laughed.

He laughed until his sides were splitting and the bottle of cheap
whiskey he held clenched in his hands slopped on the floor.
Dumb cops! It had been so easy. And now he had fifty grand in his
pockets. The guard was dead - but it was his fault! He got in the way.
With a laugh, Kelso Black raised the bottle to his lips. That was when
he heard it. Footsteps on the stairs that led to the attic where he was
holed up.
He drew his pistol. The door swung open.
The stranger wore a black coat and a hat pulled over his eyes.
“Hello, hello.” he said. “Kelso, I've been watching you. You please
me immensely.” The stranger laughed and it sent a thrill of horror
through him.
“Who are you?”
The man laughed again. “You know me. I know you. We made a pact
about an hour ago, the moment you shot that guard.”
“Get out!” Black’s voice rose shrilly. “Get out! Get out!”
“It’s time for you to come, Kelso” the stranger said softly “After all –
we have a long way to go.”
The stranger took off his coat and hat. Kelso Black looked into that
Face.
He screamed.
Kelso Black screamed and screamed and screamed.
But the stranger just laughed and in a moment, the room was silent.
And empty.
But it smelled strongly of brimstone.