Chilling

Captive

Locked in a basement for months, with a dirty one-by-three-foot window her only evidence that the outside world still existed, she sometimes wished she was dead. Not because she had lost hope, but rather if she was a ghost, she could walk through the closed door to freedom.

She wanted nothing more than to return to a life with a man who didn’t know she was alive. To die in such a hell hole alone was unthinkable. Somehow, through her dreams and his, she would let him know she was alive.

***
From a work-in-progress.

Nightmare Alley – 100 words

They say there are ghosts and goblins in Nightmare Alley, but I know different. Nightmare Alley is empty. Devoid of sound and light; even the walls are hard to find. But smell? Oh, there’s a lot of that going on. Dead things and garbage, feces and urine, all of it thinly masked by the sweet scent of mint.

Nightmare Alley is the place where men who have regrets go to die. It’s a dreamscape for the innocent who are eternally paying for their past lives. It’s the plague of the insomniac. It’s purgatory for the guilty who walk there forever.

Time Bomb – 100 word story

Everyone loves him. Everyone feels safe in his presence. He is essential to our well-being. We flock to him as though he is our savior. Since the Armageddon, there are only a few hundred of us left. So how do I break it to the others?

I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping. In the dark, beneath the ruins of a church I heard him pray to the deity in whom we cease to believe. He pleaded and begged for guidance. What’s worse, he asked for forgiveness. I thought he was our God now.

We are doomed. Our savior is a lie.

Haiku – revenge

writing fiction makes
it possible to kill you
more than just one time

window

The Dark Queen

She said she’d come when the butterflies flutter by, but spring came and went without a sighting. Then summer, then autumn. When winter rolled around I caught a glimpse of spotted wings and knew they were carried upon her breath.

I delved into my studies to find that indeed, the Dark Queen cannot reign from the shadows. She thrives on contrast; she commands symphonies of her minions on snow.

Now her spirit deepens my midwinter dreams. She lay upon my pillow, whispering sweet promises of death to my face. I awake to the bodiless wings of Monarchs in my window.

Saga – a 50 word story

As much as I fear looking back at my former life, I look forward with alarm. The direction in which I travel is  dark and inhumane. My course may lead to the end of the world as I know it. My only consolation is that I’m alone on the planet.

“Saga” is the word of the day at The Daily Post.

Evil – #AtoZ Challenge

when we met, i fell in love
with you immediately
your cherry red-painted lips
held me captive;
the way they slid
across your smile
and caressed your speech
though i couldn’t hear what you said
from across the room
i had to have those lips
pressed against mine

but you wouldn’t have me
would you?
your lips scorned me
and your body turned away
and i had no recourse
none at all
but to follow you home…

here in your room i hear you breathe
a staccato of sobs as i
squeeze your scarf around
your porcelain throat
and i think
(since you’d taken it off)
i’ll paint your lips once again
that glistening cherry red
so i’ll have no need to see them
the dusky blue
of your sunset moment

Author’s Notes:

1. My torture scenes go back to my Stephen King roots; reading horror was such a forbidden teenage pleasure. I have a classic love/hate relationship with my evilest characters.

2. I have no plans to write Adult Content fiction pieces for this challenge, but it happens, and it’s sometimes beyond my control if I’m to remain authentic to my muse. I will place a warning in the title of those posts which fall under the AC category.

Breaking Up – a 50-word … thing

Dear You,

I’m sorry we broke up. The sad fact is, you are who you must be and I am who I have to be, and it seems there is no compromise. A serial killer and a saint are just not suited for marriage. I should have known.

Love,

Me

vacant – #tuesdayuseitinasentence

no one home for months now
her circulation hums
like a storm in a hollow drum
her skin, fossilized and drawn into place
the shutters of her eyelids clip-clatter
as she stares out the window
to a vacant lawn
her thoughts rattle
around the icy lake of dreams never realized

Tuesday Use It In A Sentence is brought to you this week by MLW, with thanks. https://awordadventure.wordpress.com/2016/03/29/tuesdayuseitinasentence-vacant/ Click the link and add your post!

Monster Mash – an 100-word Story

I hate the way you eat your mashed potatoes. It sets my teeth on edge when I hear your teeth hit and then scrape the spoon as you pull it back out of your mouth. Who the hell eats mashed potatoes with a spoon? You have to put your fork down just to eat your fucking mashed potatoes. By God, one of these days I’m going to pick up your steak knife and end your life with it.

“Penny for your thoughts, Darling?”

“Oh, I was just thinking about… work.”

Yeah. How much work it would take to stab you.