75 WORD CHALLENGE -- August 2011 -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

[Moonbat]

RULES:​

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

One entry per person.​

All stories Copyright 2011 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, August 23 2011

Voting Ends at 11:59 pm GMT, August 28 2011​

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 privilege of choosing the next month's theme or genre.​

The Theme for August:​

PLAY​

The Genre:​

HORROR!


"PLAY" is a theme and no compulsory style or format is implied. Any choice of style or format is entirely up to the individual.
​

Whilst we encourage you to be creative and explore the selected genre to the best of your abilities please be aware that the Chronicles is a family friendly site and therefore all entries MUST adhere to the site rules regarding graphic violence. Any entry breaking these rules will be removed from the competition without hesitation.​

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[HareBrain]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

The Play’s “The Thing”


They should never have adapted John Carpenter’s film. Ambitious, they employed a props buyer who promised big.

‘I can outdo that plant from “Little Shop of Horrors”,’ he claimed.

How right he was.

The expense-account trip to the Antarctic should have been a clue.

Only five of the first night audience crawled from the theatre. One was a critic.

‘Bloodless performances,’ he scrawled in his own gore on the Shaftesbury Avenue pavement. ‘Convincing special effects.’

 

[mosaix]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

Final Curtain

[FONT=&quot]It's the final performance. The last time I'll appear bound and gagged, struggling desperately, my screams muffled as a gun is levelled at my head.

I see my wife in the wings. But wait! She's kissing someone! The props man! They turn. She sees me, smiles unashamedly, slowly draws a finger across her throat, gives a farewell wave and mouths ‘Bye.’

I struggle desperately, my screams muffled, as the gun is levelled at my head...

[/FONT]

 

[Hex]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

Red in Tooth and Claw


When they stop screaming, the fun starts all over again.

My orchestra of agony, my percussion of pain (amusing conceit, hmm?). I, the artiste, conduct bones crunching, blood spurting. Such delicious sounds. That last, frantic gasp - so desperate you can taste it.

Then he's home, calling "Where's my beautiful girl?", and I can't play anymore.

Later, curled on his lap, his hands coaxing me to thrumming oblivion, I remember my orchestra, and purr.

 

[Starbeast]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

The Vampire Play​

"Good afternoon sir. I'm here for the audition."​

"I'm the director. Tell me about your experiances."​

"I can change into a bat and a wolf. I drink blood and I can do my own stunts."​

"So, you're a real vampire? Shouldn't the rays of the sun kill you?"​

"Don't believe everything you see in movies."​

"Get outta here ya freak, crawl back to your coffin!"​

"Foolish mortal." (transforms into a bat and poops on him)​

 

[Oskari]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

The Puzzle Master


Herold made it to the final round and stepped into the chamber. A large, naked woman stood before him, expressionless. Her lips moved as if to say something, but nothing came.

Suddenly, the woman came apart as though invisible surgeons cut away her limbs, her organs, her head. In no time at all she lay on floor in a thousand, bloody pieces.

A voice from somewhere in the room announced, “Let’s play.”

 

[southron sword]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

Bloody Dress-Ups

“Do you want to play dress-ups, Henry?” Abigail asked as she looked into the mirror and smeared the red on her lips.


Henry stared blankly straight ahead. The red ran freely from his neck. Abigail had tied his hair to the bed post to keep him from rolling about. His body dumped in the corner.


Abigail smiled, all dimples and cuteness, and picked up her knife, “Oh Henry, I love playing with you.”

 

[The Spurring Platty]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

The Hand You Are Dealt

The arcane deck was old, surely valuable.
So I stole it.

Alone, by candlelight, three cards in my favorite pattern went face down.

First card. Thief.
A still small voice in my head: These do not belong to you.

Second card. Fool.
A presence chilled the room. Play the last.

Trembling hands revealed the third.
Death – holding my severed head at his side.

Fetid breath whispered in my ear... You are not one of us.


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[reiver33]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

Electra, Updated

I caught my father’s eye on entering the lounge. Both of them, actually, in the severed head my twin sister tossed to me. I grabbed it from the air on reflex, like the beach ball on holiday at Southerness.

Blood dripped from the neck onto my clothes.

Sabine lay on the sofa - hair by Titian, body by Rubens. She licked the naked blade in her hand and shivered, eyes like pitchblende.

“Let’s play House.”

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

There are Monsters Everywhere.


She heard the crash, the following silence was almost tranquil: it lasted less than a second.

The scream that followed was blood curdling, penetrating to the core of her soul.

She dropped the shopping and ran: ran to her daughter in the next room, cursing herself. It had only been a minute.

Her beautiful daughter lay in the centre of the room, playing with the newly bought doll.

"What's the matter Mummy?" she asks sweetly.

 

[paranoid marvin]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

Little Devils


They sat huddled together in their small, windowless sanctuary. Outside the inhuman screams and cries seemed to echo incessantly, but in here they were safe. For the moment.

The doorway had been barricaded to ensure none could enter uninvited; however they all knew that they couldn't hide in here forever. All too soon the alarm bell rang out, and they exchanged looks of sheer terror as they began to accept the inevitable...

Playtime was over.

 

[slack]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

Sunday

​

They're on the floor, playing with their toy cars and military men. You watch them and think, let them have this moment.

The window rattles again, harder now. It's coming. The house at the far end of the street lifts and disintegrates in the nuclear wind.

Getting so hot now. Your skin feels like it's separating. They cry out, Mommy, what's happening? You want to reassure them, but the words are melting in your throat.
​

 

[Highlander]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

Anatomy of Crime.

“ ‘Twas OK if they died naturally – easy pickings. But some we ‘ad to… weeeeell… ‘elp ‘em on their way.”

“True! Bit o’ alcohol, play with ‘em a bit then suffocate ‘em. Good money ‘n all!”

“Then we ‘ad painkillers – give ‘em too many and they’d snuff it!”

“That mental case was a nasty one. Needed both of us to kill ‘im! Then someone recognised him...”

“Good times, Mr. Burke!”

“Good fun, Mr. Hare!”

 

[GreenKidx]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

The Violoncellist

I welcome the storm outside. The chrash of thunder augments my cacophony: microwave, radio, blender. Their dissonance protects me.

I pray and wait.

A flash of lighting and everything goes silent.

I hear her ungodly cello, low and taunting. Frenzied, I scream into the night.

It's not enough! Her song races through a fearsome crescendo. I shout louder, clap and stomp.

Her song booms a deafening climax.

I never hear her play the final notes...

 

[Aun Doorback]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

I thought you should know
　
Came home yesterday.

No fanfares.
No dust in my boots.

Last time: Big brother was on. It rained. My family discussed the soaps and the football.

This time, I recorded my experience.

The dead kids. Mutilations. Flies. violence. Captured the noise, but not the smell.


Night time and I feel the heat on my skin. I don’t sleep much.

My family sit around the TV, waiting.

‘Watch this’ I murmur and hit the play button.

 

[Droflet]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

As the title suggests I’m not sure about this one.
Hopefully some of the old farts (of my generation) will get it.


It’s not for everyone’s taste.


Every night for the last two years she insisted he play the same song.

Initially he considered it beguiling. Too late, he discovered her lethal mania. He told her no. His lover died under her bloody blade. Anyone who helped him met the same gruesome fate. She detested rejection in any form.

“Play it again, Clint,” she cooed.

Clint sighed. The song played.

Look at me
I’m as helpless as a kitten up a tree…

 

[Boneman]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

Oh, I say...
​

It's damn difficult to see a ball in the dark, let alone hit one. The flourescent paint helped, but we were taking a hammering from the visiting side.

We shouldn't have accepted the challenge. They caught every ball that rose from the bat, no matter where you hit it. In the end it was nudge and run. My turn came.

"Play" called the umpire.

I swung at it, but I missed.

Vampires 21, Humans 0.

​

 

[bedlamite]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

The theatrical agent​

The best talent is in the sinks and fleshpots. A jagged situation, poverty; anyone poor is ambitious and eager for well paid work.
Unlike most agents, I take real interest in my protégées. Are you alone? Are you from out of town?
Our little troupe offers very agreeable terms, with only one performance as a trial.
Theatre is in the blood, the saying goes; we find the truth of it in the Grand Guignol. ​

 

[Star Girl]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

Final Scene

“I only... wanted...”
She spoke each word softly as he held the knife firmly into her chest. His clothes were dyed red, as he held her body tears trickled down her pale cheeks.
He never said anything to his beautiful bride, the blade spoke louder.
“...to love you.” She said as her body became limp.
The curtain fell.
The crowd roared with cheers.

He dropped her cold body and left before the truth was revealed.

 

[chrispenycate]

re: August 2011 - SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- HEX VICTORIOUS!

Stagefright​

Stagelights fade up on the last true human, facing an audience of mankind’s nightmares from tribal campfire to Hollywood extravaganza. Tentacled, scaled, slimy, chitinous, furred, fanged or, worse, indistinguishable visually from human.


“You cannot let me die.” Her voice proud, firm. “You exist only to terrorise. Without observers you will cease to exist.”


Beside her on stage a shadow stirs.


“And who is to say cessation is not our deepest wish?”