October 2014 -- 75-word Writing Challenge -- VICTORY TO HEX!!

[Teresa Edgerton]

Rules:


Write a story inspired by the chosen theme and genre in no more than 75 words, not including the title.


ONE entry per person

NO links, commentary or extraneous material in the posts, please -- the stories must stand on their own


All stories Copyright 2014 by their respective authors,
who grant the Chronicles Network the non-exclusive right to publish them here


The complete rules can be found at Rules for the Writing Challenges



Contest ends at 11:59 pm GMT, October 23 2014

Voting Ends at 11:59 pm GMT, October 28 2014


You do not have to submit a story in order to vote --
in fact, we encourage all Chrons members to take part in choosing a winner


The Magnificent Prize:


The Dignified Congratulations/Grovelling Admiration of Your Peers
and the challenge of choosing the next month's theme and genre


Theme:


GHOULIES.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Ghosties
.
. . .LONG-leggedy Beasties
. .. . . . . . . .​

AND

Things That Go BUMP In The Night


(ANY OR ALL OF THE ABOVE)



Genre:

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Dark Fantasy, or Horror

​

 

[Juliana]

Knit One, Purl One


Gram sat at the kitchen table, knitting needles clicking softly.

“Morning, Gram.”

I poured myself a mug of tea and packed my school lunch as I sipped.

Gram’s voice was a soft quaver. “Don’t forget a cardigan, dear. Cold today.”

I smiled. Same old Gram. “I have a sweater.”

I planted a kiss on her silver hair and ran for the bus, sour taste of ectoplasm on my lips.

 

[Remedy]

The Conductor

Metal teeth chatter across calcium, lusting for the marrow.
My percussion sets the rhythm.

One finger plucks at exposed tendon. Saliva wells at the vibration.
Where would I be without my strings?

Almost golden, the long tool plunges into something soft and spherical.
Sweet brass!

A log howls, demonic. Swollen lips sewn artfully around a didgeridoo.
Woodwind brings me to my crescendo.

The dark theatre soaks it up into the rafters. The Conductor’s curdled symphony.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

The Werewolf Sighting at the Abandoned Mansion
(A Junior Ghost Brigade Story)

Sam and I waited in the darkness, flashlights ready. The trap was set--wires, bells, crate. (Sam loved Mousetrap.) Cookies were under the crate’s propped edge to entice the werewolf.

Footsteps! *Tinkle* The bell!!

*CRASH* We rushed to the crate--it was heaving crazily! Sam lifted an edge cautiously. *hsssss* “AAAGH!” A cat! Gone! Sam peed!! AWESOME!

Word spread the next day at school, and we’re heroes! Eight people joined the brigade...including two boys!

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

The True Legend of Sleepy Hollow​

I let out a sigh of relief as I take a leap. I stare back at the creature on the horse. The head under its arm grins at me terribly as the monster draws its spine whip. I wipe the blood from my face and laugh.

Not the first time such a legend turned out to be true. But I made it across the Bridge of Souls. I’m safe.

Or so I thought…

 

[Zoe Mackay]

Strange Attraction
“Welcome… to the Haunted Hotel,” the hunchbacked butler intoned in a stentorian voice with the enthusiasm eroded by repetition. He beckoned, welcoming visitors grotesquely.

Jules and I looked at each other and couldn’t help but giggle. We had always loved “spooky experiences”, and the hotel had a worldwide reputation.

“Time for work,” she said, drifting lazily through the wall. I waited, until I was sure our laughter was echoing nicely down the hall, before following.

 

[farntfar]

All Hallow's Eve

​

Before we celebrate Saints All
there walk abroad unholy things
And from their hidden places crawl
Or fly on batlike shriveled wings.​

​

Atrocities and spawn of hell
That through the year are doomed to wait
Until the toll of midnights bell
That starts the day of Quentin’s fête.​

​

But once released the bogle, sprite,
fell beast with claw or mangled stump
with liberty for just this night
will seek you out just to go bump!​

​

 

[Ashleyne]

Mother's Lake


I find tongues underneath my pillow, sometimes. I like stroking their rubbery wrinkles.

I also like collecting friends. I wait underneath their bed and when they’re sleeping, I carry them home to play dollies. Mother takes my friends to live with her at the bottom of the lake. She says “You don’t deserve friends, after what you done to me.”

The lake’s cold and rotten. I sneak in there to swim with my friends, sometimes.

 

[ratsy]

All Hallows' Eve

All Hallows' Eve, a day of fright
The kids dress up, oh what a sight
But when the young ones go to bed
The streets are mine, I paint them red

The fools all walk alone so late
I eat them up, from toes to pate
So when your porch lights go to black
Come outside, you’ll be my snack

You have no chance, it isn't fair
I am Death; your worst nightmare.​

 

[VALIS13]

Her little blonde head beats against the stone as the electricity pumps through her body.

Charring flesh. Excrement. The smell of life ending.

I can feel her heart flutter in her breast, her eyes wide.

It is not the death that creates the ghost, but the trauma.

Through a mucus filled mouth she sobs for her mummy.

This will be a good ghost.

 

[Kerrybuchanan]

Charred traces of lightning on my skin welcome the cold of the vault.

Who am I? Why so much pain?

It takes all my strength to raise my arm. Unfamiliar eyes regard a hand not my own.

Suture lines show where the alien member has been joined to my wrist.

Chains clank as the weight of iron fetters pull the arm back down.

Words come from far away.

“It is a good creation, Dr Frankenstein.”

 

[WinterLight]

Lucy, It Must Be Done

Reasons to be, ’til they see through me.
Then struggle and scream,
And chirrup, like sparrows.
Oh! I’m an happy little girl,
Not yet have I not choked ‘em, prolly ne’er will.
I aways see Daddy, his hair ashine and his handsome curl.
Searin' hatred! Puss and pain, I’ve had me fill!
I hold me breath. Until -
They stop.
A kiss goodnight,
It don’t always feel nice, nor right.
But, "Lucy, it must be done”.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Holowe'en

Raymond's weary bones complained as he activated the projector. The moon stared down at him like the bloody eye of a cyclops.

Rainbow flames leapt into the night. Ghosts and witches flew madly between the stars, ghouls chittered and moaned, mummies waved their dusty wrappings at the sleeping Earth. Raymond smiled at his creations.

Sirens screamed in the distance. Searchlights blazed overhead. The peacekeepers would soon be here, to punish him for corrupting the innocent.

 

[Droflet]

House Hunting


My skin bristled as the sound struck my ear, again.

Bump.

The infamous reputation of this house may be true.

Bump.

I edged forward, my sweaty hand firm on the club.

Bump.

A soft breeze blew through the window. The door hit the stopper.

Bump.

Relieved, I laughed aloud. “So much for things that go bump in the –”

A dank, rotten force tore the last word from my throat.

The house had been patient.

 

[HareBrain]

Monster


Midnight. The first long leg groped, joint by joint, through sleeping Jennifer’s open window.

At one o’clock, the second; at two, the third.

The fifth leg, at four, brought the bristly body. Mandibles glistened.

Six o’clock, and one leg left. No rush. Still time to feed.

But the clocks had changed! Early sunrise brought hissing, shrivelling.

Jenny woke to find a mass of frazzled hairiness.

‘Cooool.’

Chuckling, cradling, she padded to her little sister’s bedroom.

 

[martin321]

The Spiders from Mars

Henderson was the first to die. But he was old, so nobody noticed. His wife was next, only a week later.

Wasn't until young McCreedy passed away that people got scared.

Natural causes, that's what the doctors said. But I know different now...

In the gloom, near my bed, it's sitting, waiting. Big as a dinner plate. Hairy legs twitching. Eyes glistening. Watching me.

If I'm quick I might make it to the door...

 

[holland]

Posted by jenny67 on October 2, 2014 at 00:22

She's at the doorway, not moving, looking at me. Five meters away.
She's been there for almost two hours. Young, pale, blonde hair.
God, I can see through her.
I dare not move.
I live in 86 Lafleur Avenue in Pinetown, Quebec . If anybody reads this, please, help.

 

[Hex]

The Babayan

Wake in darkness to the whistling breath of the Babayan. To the deep-earth stink of its skin.

Don't breathe. Don't move.

Listen to the creep of reaching fingers. Long sharp fingers, stained with red.

Listen, knowing if you move, the fingers will plunge deep, drag you into the choking earth. Know, because you've heard the stories, heard the screaming.

Lie still. So still you might be wood.



But you gotta breathe, don't you.

 

[Void]

River Daughter

Grim-dark swisshhh.

I open my mouth to the rain. Let the black clouds fill me all up so that when the river bobs, I go grim-dark swisshhh too.
I’m a raindrop, because I make the river ripple like they do. My wiggly fingers in the water, black and bloated like fat maggots.

I’ve been playing River Rain long enough for the fishes to eat my toes. Do you think mum lied about Heaven?

 

[chrispenycate]

Yea, though I walk…​

Comforting, velvety darkness, then 'THUMP'.

The Scariest Monster in the World is through the front door. Inside the house.

Hold breath to hear each scratch, each slither on the stair.

Can't see door handle move, floor doesn't creak, but faintest waft of air says something's in the room. Perhaps something looming, breathing, immobile.

Joyously: "Dadee! Have you been frightening humans? Did they squeal?"