For I have a morbid fear of coins

For I have a morbid fear of Coins

Blaise Delagraisse

02/08/2026

Any names referring to a person, place, or thing are purely coincidental

No parts of this short story have been written or revised through the use of Artificial Intelligence

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Dear Tavish

I hope everything is well and that you still remember your friend Annabella.

I have been meaning to send you this letter for ages but didn’t know how to say what was on my mind.

I guess I’ll just say what my heart feels like saying.

So.. I heard that you have been suffering from a new kind of terminal illness. It’s called DNTT, well, that’s what I’ve heard. Deterioration of Neurons through trauma. It seems a little silly really but you seem to be in a worse shape nonetheless

Please reply to this letter if you can because I'm really getting worried about you.

Annabella Dela Sas

5/12/1987

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Dear Annabella

It is causing me great pain to write this because recently one of the snakes in my care bit me and I am semi-paralyzed. I asked them not to give me Coral snakes since they are really hard to handle and I only have 3 months of work experience. But my uncle owns almost 50 of these kinds of emporiums and they assumed I would know a ton from him. But you get used to just about everything after some time. I even have a snake bite counter. 7 so far.

I don’t remember whether it was the fact that I had swallowed a coin when I was a kid and almost choked to death or that time when my mother threw a jar of change at me when I accidentally broke her heirloom figurine that resulted in this fear of coins that I have. My mother was being really silly when she threw the jar at me, the figurine was only in her family for 3 generations after all. And I wonder if losing one of my eyes and the hearing in an ear was really worth the figurine.

But we are straying off topic right now. After all, I'm talking about coins not in the sense you talk about coins.

But you knew that already didn’t you?

Leprachaun gold is a feared substance after all.

Tavish Mcnor

5/21/1987

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Dear Tavish

I read your previous letter and it seems that your mom was quite the overreacted indeed! I never knew that was the reason you had a missing eye. I believed it when you said it was your cat.

And yes. I did know you were talking about leprachaun gold. I hate those nasty things. I remember my cousin Julie getting attacked by one. It’s those stringy locks of hair hanging about their faces as if they perpetually sweat and those tall bony legs that are the worst. I wonder if they even have torsos or arms. People try to find out but if they do, we both know it’s really too late for them.

I also thought to include some chocolates for you since I know it’s your favourite.

I can’t remember was your favourite walnut white chocolate or chocolate coins-

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The rest of the letter was spoiled since the chocolate had melted in the burning June heat on the mail. They haven’t grown their brains yet to install air conditioning in their vans. Oh how much food gets spoiled every year because of that. I still remember when I was sent a box of mangos that had gone bad during transport. But not all of them as the mail man was considerate enough to help himself to half of the mangos.

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Dear Annabella

I was unable to read the whole of your letter since it was spoiled by the melted chocolate.

So… you wanna know about my experience with the Leprachauns? I would tell you but it’s a bit too much work with my paralyzed body, every little movement hurts like a hundred needles pricking my skin.

Actually, I will tell you about it in chunks.

Part I:

It was June of 1982, I was only 8, the day is as clear in my memory as a photograph framed on the wall. It was a really hot day, enough to soften the tar in the well-used roads. I was walking home from school when I ran into you. I hope you remember that day. You had asked me what my name was and how old I was “eight!” you exclaimed “I’m 13. You’re so cute."Of course you thought I was a little baby boy, something like the doll you had hanging from your backpack, Hugging me and holding my hand as you walked me home. It was a sweet, innocent encounter.

Then I found you beaten black and blue and bloody in Glenda Creek the next week.

It was a bunch of 15 year olds, I learned, that had beat you up because you apparently laughed at one of their friends because he had asked you out. He was pretty revolting in my opinion, picking his nose and fighting and everything. He reeked too. I think I walked you home didn’t I? Holding your hand once again in an iron grip as if you would float away like a balloon, or fall to the ground and break like a clay doll. I hated you for the kiss on the cheek you had given me. I wasn’t that small of a child.

My hand is starting to hurt again. It has turned a bit purple. That’s my sign to stop writing.

Tavish Mcnor

6/13/1987

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Dear Tavish

That was an embarrassing memory, wasn’t it?

I wish you would forget it.

I still blush when I think about you taking me home like some sort of play-pretend bodyguard.

I think you earned that little kiss on the cheek didn’t you?

My mom had gone hysterical when she saw me in my dirty clothes; a loose hoodie that hung over my lean body and baggy cargo jeans. She called the police on the boys and to everyone's relief they suffered 3 months in Juvie. Though, I was jumped by them again after they were released. Hatred never dies does it. It’s an endless cycle. The only way to stop it is to just sit down and take it.

Annabella Dela Sas

6/20/1987

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My hand has healed fully now and I’m working at the store again. They haven’t seemed to learn from their mistakes and given me Coral Snakes to care for again. Though I have and am now wearing thick leather gloves that go up to my elbows. Great idea since I accidentally twisted one of them into a knot and he tried to bite me. His fangs are now heavily bruised and they have cut $100 from this month's pay from me. I will ask them for something like corn snakes the next time.

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Dear Tavish

It has been 3 months since you have sent me a letter and I’m getting worried.

Please reply before I come over to your house.

I know your mother won’t like that.

Also, I was searching in my cigar box for pictures and I found one from when I was beaten.

My mother took it as evidence.

I have included the picture in the letter

Annabella Dela Sas

9/7/1987

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Dear Annabella

I hope I find you in good health

Sorry for my late reply to your letter

Here’s Part II of my tale.

After the attack, we were inseparable and hung out a lot. One day, I decided to go into the forest and look for a specific flower called the Corpse Lily, not the other one that stinks. I still don’t understand why you love it so much. It looks like a flower gone rotten, but I suppose it does smell good. Like caramel-covered chocolate. So, I step into the murky water of the River Unceasing that ran along Langwood. I did hear some swift movement next to me from time to time as I had walked through the shallow trail that was lost every few minutes in a jungle of shrubs and thick vines the girth of my torso. Although I ignored the sound, it slowly made me uneasy because of the tales surrounding Leprachauns, Not to be mistaken with Leprechauns. See that it has no e but an a. Now you already know that Leprachauns are tall, lanky creatures that don’t appear to have arms or torsos. They are there though, as I have seen. Well, not the arms but the torso, and some torso it is! A shining gold coin spinning and shimmering within a cage of blue ribs. It still surprises me how much detail I remember. The coin had a man on a ship standing on the prow, pointing a long, thin sword forwards. And on the other side, a large 7 on the other side. Anyways, I reach for the Corpse Lily that is on the other side of the river.

And that’s when it happens.

Tavish Mcnor

9/26/1987

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It’s another day at the emporium and my manager has pulled me aside into the utility closet. It is a cramped space and she is pushed up against me, I can feel every point where we touch each other. She seems really mad. I think it’s because I was playing around with one of the Ball Pythons while showing it to a customer. The ball python fell to the floor and slithered under a desk. Everyone is really scared now and I will have to extract it. I can feel my manager's warm breath wash over my face as she furiously whispers. Her lips are only inches away from mine. Her breath reeks from this distance. I wonder how long it has been since she brushed her teeth. I should pull myself together before I get kicked out. But I know that can’t happen.

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Dear Tavish

I read your letter and was horrified that you had left to get the Corpse Lily. You never told me that was where you were going! I thought you just went out to play with the homing pigeons you and your mom were training. Anyways WHAT THE HELL! YOU MET ONE OF THE LEPRACHAUNS.!?

Annabella Dela Sas

10/4/1987

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There were great spots of ink on the letter.

It seems she was very furious.

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Dear Annabella

Here’s the final part of my tale.

I pick up the Corpse Lily from its lily pad near the edge of the stream. It felt hard as rock and warm as a cookie straight from the oven in my hand. I took a moment to take in the sickly sweet scent of the giant flower. I saw a black form moving out of the corner of my eye, and suddenly, it seemed the entire world had hit the mute button. The chatter of birds, the flowing stream, the rustle of leaves, all of it gone.

Then the Lily spoke to me

“Sonnn” it hissed.

“Puttt me back downnnnnn. I don’t belongggggg in your world of loud noises and criesssssss” it continued.

“Sheeee is watching from affarrrrrrr. My gaurdiannnnnnn. Puttt me back downnnnnn.”

I was seriously scared now and dropped the Lily in the water. It crumpled in on itself as if scared of an unseen attacker. The Lily then crumbled into a deep red powder and was washed away by the stream.

Then it came running out of the woods full pelt and rammed into me like a truck. It was a revolting sight. The Leprachaun had sunken cheeks, full, purple lips, a dark, purplish face like the rest of its body, and two shining blue eyes full of life. I looked down at its torso and saw a body similar to a human, but its chest was cut open, revealing a coin spinning between blue, crystal-like ribs. It did have arms too, they were just really small. Well, until they suddenly extended out to wrap around my shoulders anyways. The leprachaun wrapped its arms around me, grabbing at my back. I was rigid from terror as it carried me into the woods, hugging me close to its body like some cherished belonging. It threw me onto the ground and straddled my waist.

It leaned down and kissed my lips, thrusting its gross, slimy tongue into my mouth.

Everything went dark, and I was transported to a clearing in a forest in the night. It was a moonless, dark night with no stars visible. In some dim part of my mind I knew that I wasn’t really here and this was in my head but I was only a kid and not too bright, after all, if I was bright I wouldn’t have come here in the first place. I heard a loud screech and was hit by something large in the side of my head. The thing fell to the ground. I looked down at it and screamed. It was your head, with your neck cut off and only a stump dripping blood in its place. A loud clap rings out as I'm transported again in the middle of a road. A truck is traveling towards me at full speed, and its driver is my dad. The truck hits me and I fall some 6 feet away with a nasty compound fracture in my left arm, and at least 17 broken bones. Another clap, my injuries are healed and I'm in my house. I hear the sound of glass breaking and a big hairy something tumbles into the living room. It’s a bear. The break pounces on me and bites my neck, ripping my head clean off. Another clap and I'm back in the forest. The leprechaun is gone and I have a gold coin pressed into my hand

Tavish Mcnor

11/28/1987

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My hands were shaking as I wrote this final letter. I burned myself on the hot wax as I sealed it.

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Dear Tavish

You are a dumbass

Annabella Dela Sas

1/1/1988

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I certainly am a dumbass