It was the big white house in the middle of the lush gardens I knew so well. It had wide open windows, the sun was shining and the birds singing. Harmony radiated from this place in warm comforting waves and I knew it was more than my guests had hoped for. Strangely I wasn't seeing anyone. They couldn't be all inside, could they?
I opened the big white door with its flower ornaments and it creaked. That was strange. I hadn't designed it to creak. I put my bag on the floor and took a look in the two rooms next to the hall. They were dusky and dimly lit - which was impossible because I could see the bright sun through the big windows. Its light just didn't seem to be able to get into the house. Confused, I went back to the front door to get my bag, but it wasn't there anymore. I have good hearing and especially in this place, nothing and nobody could get near me without me noticing. So where was my bag? I tried to open the front door, but it was locked. Another impossibility.
Tensed and with the beating of my own heart in my ears, I crossed the hall to the big staircase. There still wasn't a single sound inside the house and my own noises, mostly walking and breathing sounded stentorian. Halfway up, I heard a deep wet clunk from the second floor. And again. And again. I couldn't identify the sound, but it was menacing and gave me goosebumps. The whole atmosphere was oppressive and the fact that it got darker with every step upstairs didn't make it any better.
"Enough!", I thought. And tried to will the place back into what it once had been. A big knife just missed my throat and hit the wall with a sickening thump. Deep red blood oozed from the wallpaper and run down to the ground. Frantically, I turned round and round, but I was still alone. Making haste, I finished the last steps to the next floor. Everything looked derelict. The carpet was a moldy decomposed rug and its once bright and shiny colors had decayed to brown and gray. I tried to not tread on it. The chunking had become louder and more frequent. Even while knowing better, I still followed it. There was an open door, wherefrom the ominous sounds where coming. Carefully I went nearer until I was able to peek around the door frame.
It was the most disturbing thing I had ever seen. A small, blond girl was standing in front of a chopping block. She had a hatchet in her hand and blood all over her short blue summer dress and her bare arms. Next to her was a huge pile of decapitated hares, birds, cats, dogs and other small animals. Mechanically she put her hand in a bag, my bag, as I shockingly realized, and pulled out a white rabbit and beheaded it. So that was the wet chunk I had heard earlier. I must have made a sound, because the girl stopped and looked up.
"Mama? Mama?" She had a fragile voice full of despair. "Are you my mama?" Slowly she made a step in my direction.
I hesitated, torn between the wish to flee and to stay. She came another step closer, the hatchet in one, a struggling puppy in the other hand.
"Mama?" she asked again. Then she looked up. An evil red light blossomed in her blue eyes when she stated: "You are not my mama." She came another step closer, while I was paralyzed. "What have you done to my mama?" she screamed and sprang in my direction, hatchet and puppy raised above her head.
That's when my freezing left me and I ran as fast as I could back down the stairs. I knew this house and with the advantage of my longer legs, I easily made ground. I stopped to catch my breath and to listen for my pursuer. I heard the whining of the puppy and her perverse giggles.
Cold sweat on my forehead, I thought as hard as I could. What had happened here? Where would I be safe? Carefully I snuck into the kitchen, got me a big knife and opened the trapdoor to the basement. Cool air cleared my head and I slowly climbed down the ladder. I stopped, when with an ear-battering thud the trapdoor slammed shut.
In the same moment, I heard a counting-out rhyme from far below:
"Eeny meeny miny moe
Catch a dragon by the toe
Catch a duckling by the down
Tell, oh tell me whom to drown.
A little boy chuckled, followed by a scream and a splash.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a brief moment. Where exactly was I? What was this horrible place? When I heard somebody trying to open the trapdoor, I hurried farther down the ladder. Had that creepy girl finally found me? I wasn't with my whole mind at what I was doing, so I missed the next step, slipped of the one after that and fell.
I woke in my bed with a scream, covered in cold sweat, my heart thumping as if I had run a few miles. I was slightly disorientated and dizzy. A nightmare.
Is that one of your recurring nightmare subjects??
Poor Henry...
Mine is driving and then then the breaks not working ::)
Anyone who writes about horses of any form will not get my vote. :PD'aww. Now I'm going to have to come up with a new pun.
Anyone who writes about horses of any form will not get my vote. :P
It's probably older than that and horribly overused so I don't want to see it.Anyone who writes about horses of any form will not get my vote. :P
Henry, Piers Anthony let that pun out of the barn YEARS ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Mare (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Mare)
It's probably older than that and horribly overused so I don't want to see it.Anyone who writes about horses of any form will not get my vote. :P
Henry, Piers Anthony let that pun out of the barn YEARS ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Mare (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Mare)
It's probably older than that and horribly overused so I don't want to see it.Anyone who writes about horses of any form will not get my vote. :P
Henry, Piers Anthony let that pun out of the barn YEARS ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Mare (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Mare)
yah. nora was on the right trail.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightmare
What's with you guys acting like y'all be surprised at me being a smart lass?
What's with you guys acting like y'all be surprised at me being a smart lass?
oooooh... "lass". that's not how i originally read that.
It's not really covert tho ::)What's with you guys acting like y'all be surprised at me being a smart lass?
oooooh... "lass". that's not how i originally read that.
CCCP : consciously covert camarad pervert.
It's not really covert tho ::)What's with you guys acting like y'all be surprised at me being a smart lass?
oooooh... "lass". that's not how i originally read that.
CCCP : consciously covert camarad pervert.
hrm. i think i missed something. i meant "being a smart ass". cccp doesn't seem to apply to that. or does it and i'm just dense?I knew instantly that you meant "smart ass" and failed to see the CCCP too...
@xiagan (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1148), where are the likes? ;DI can see them just fine. ;) (thanks, Arry!)
pssst. @D_Bates (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=40257) -- doesn't the prose have to be at least 500 words long?
unless that's a poem, i suppose.
Format it like a poem.pssst. @D_Bates (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=40257) -- doesn't the prose have to be at least 500 words long?
unless that's a poem, i suppose.
Yep, I think it looks like prose, so sorry, you need a further 255 words :-\
After a lot of syllable counting, I think I've managed to get something that somewhat resembles a poem.
1,336 words into my story, and maybe one-third of the way through. >:(
1,336 words into my story, and maybe one-third of the way through. >:(
1 400 in mine and need to scrap 100 words to make the ending work. Counting myself lucky! Using Edge of Tomorrow's OST as I work and it's perfect.
Courage Jmack you can do it! If you write the full blown thing, post it in the critic thread for us to appreciate it!
1,336 words into my story, and maybe one-third of the way through. >:(
1 400 in mine and need to scrap 100 words to make the ending work. Counting myself lucky! Using Edge of Tomorrow's OST as I work and it's perfect.
Courage Jmack you can do it! If you write the full blown thing, post it in the critic thread for us to appreciate it!
471 words done. One third into the story as well. I'm on schedule. :)
1,336 words into my story, and maybe one-third of the way through. >:(
1 400 in mine and need to scrap 100 words to make the ending work. Counting myself lucky! Using Edge of Tomorrow's OST as I work and it's perfect.
Courage Jmack you can do it! If you write the full blown thing, post it in the critic thread for us to appreciate it!
471 words done. One third into the story as well. I'm on schedule. :)
Well ahead of schedule! We're only the fourth! Damn I'm almost sad to be already done, I love my new character to bits and I'll have a whole month to wait for the next topic.
What kind of story are you writing Henry? What kind of nightmares do Belgian do? Tu te reveilles en sueur apres une nuit passee a te croire francais??
(http://soocurious.com/fr/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/la-sueur-rendrait-les-hommes-plus-genereux-mesdames-cachez-le-deodorant-11.jpg)
My own vision of nightmare isn't especially scary or spooky this month (I'm going to disappoint Bea), but more movie-scriptish.
Awesome! Were you in a good kawai servant dress like the japanese like?Was a traditional thing like in Spirited Away's bath house. The pay was shit tho which is why I left. :P
Awesome! Were you in a good kawai servant dress like the japanese like?Was a traditional thing like in Spirited Away's bath house. The pay was shit tho which is why I left. :P
Nope, all I did was serve food, clean up and fetch things.Awesome! Were you in a good kawai servant dress like the japanese like?Was a traditional thing like in Spirited Away's bath house. The pay was shit tho which is why I left. :P
Such a cold, sadly realistic reason to leave your job! Not like they made you scrub smelly spirits or deal with puky no-faces.
In-dream the sex change wasn't considered an odd thing though it was a bit weird being smaller.
QuoteIn-dream the sex change wasn't considered an odd thing though it was a bit weird being smaller.
Was reading just the bottom-most post and quoted prior posts, wondering quite a lot. Until I got to this part. ;D
You guys are cruising through the theme! I have no idea what I'm gonna do with this one.
TheOne thing I really like about these contests is that the prompts get me writing stories I don't think I ever would have written without them.
Hey, you know how I said in February I was aiming to swing back to doing some more serious stuff? Well, considering how dark and serious a theme this is, it's only natural that my brain immediately went with the silliest idea I could come up with.So nobody's up for this?
However, I'm a little bit worried that I haven't pulled off the main conceit of my story as well as I could have and would like an outside view on it. So I was wondering if someone would like an advanced read to tell me what they think? Any takers?
I will but I don't know that my opinion means much. Just send it to me if you want me to look at it.Hey, you know how I said in February I was aiming to swing back to doing some more serious stuff? Well, considering how dark and serious a theme this is, it's only natural that my brain immediately went with the silliest idea I could come up with.So nobody's up for this?
However, I'm a little bit worried that I haven't pulled off the main conceit of my story as well as I could have and would like an outside view on it. So I was wondering if someone would like an advanced read to tell me what they think? Any takers?
Hey, you know how I said in February I was aiming to swing back to doing some more serious stuff? Well, considering how dark and serious a theme this is, it's only natural that my brain immediately went with the silliest idea I could come up with.So nobody's up for this?
However, I'm a little bit worried that I haven't pulled off the main conceit of my story as well as I could have and would like an outside view on it. So I was wondering if someone would like an advanced read to tell me what they think? Any takers?
Go on :)Hey, you know how I said in February I was aiming to swing back to doing some more serious stuff? Well, considering how dark and serious a theme this is, it's only natural that my brain immediately went with the silliest idea I could come up with.So nobody's up for this?
However, I'm a little bit worried that I haven't pulled off the main conceit of my story as well as I could have and would like an outside view on it. So I was wondering if someone would like an advanced read to tell me what they think? Any takers?
Sorry Bea, you're a touch too late. You can still enjoy it in the Submissions Thread though.Go on :)Hey, you know how I said in February I was aiming to swing back to doing some more serious stuff? Well, considering how dark and serious a theme this is, it's only natural that my brain immediately went with the silliest idea I could come up with.So nobody's up for this?
However, I'm a little bit worried that I haven't pulled off the main conceit of my story as well as I could have and would like an outside view on it. So I was wondering if someone would like an advanced read to tell me what they think? Any takers?
Over the last couple of months it now looks like people are a lot more shy with liking stories. We're far from the old days when a story could have 7 likes and 4 votes!I actually forgot to... usually I use likes to mark a story as read. Now I went through them in one go.
Over the last couple of months it now looks like people are a lot more shy with liking stories. We're far from the old days when a story could have 7 likes and 4 votes!
Over the last couple of months it now looks like people are a lot more shy with liking stories. We're far from the old days when a story could have 7 likes and 4 votes!
For me, this is an unintended consequence of m3mnoch's ebooks. I read the stories there and forget to come back to the forum for giving Likes and comments.
It just struck me that this is officially going full circle in over a year of monthly participation, not missing a single month! :o
I really like this contest and it really gave me a lot of help as the year went by. Man a whole year!!
I just added up all my submissions, and from March to March of FF short stories, I wrote 17.730 words and won once.
200 words past the minimum limit of a Novella according to wikipedia! So now I can brag shamelessly about having written a novella which is indeed a "collection of more or less crappy short stories". ;D 8)
We also need @ArcaneArtsVelho (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=40090), @m3mnoch (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=40419) and @Raptori (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=38840) 's...
So many 'regulars' that are skipping homework hehe
We also need @ArcaneArtsVelho (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=40090), @m3mnoch (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=40419) and @Raptori (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=38840) 's...I have an idea for a story but I don't think it really fits the theme. (And it's not that good anyway.) Might write it, might not.
So many 'regulars' that are skipping homework hehe
Yes, come on guys, 10 more days, you're cruising it.
This!
There's only 6 entries so far.
We also need @ArcaneArtsVelho (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=40090), @m3mnoch (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=40419) and @Raptori (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=38840) 's...
So many 'regulars' that are skipping homework hehe
Oh my gawd, I'm so sorry!
I thought I was clicking 'quote' but on this section I'm a mod so the right-most option is actually 'modify', so I modified your post instead of quoting and adding my bit.
I need to be more careful, sorry :(
I'll fix yours back.
I can't believe there are so few contributions on such a great topic! It's broad but graphic.There'll probably be some last minute submissions.
Good luck to y'all running on the last week!
And submitted! :D
QuoteIn-dream the sex change wasn't considered an odd thing though it was a bit weird being smaller.
Was reading just the bottom-most post and quoted prior posts, wondering quite a lot. Until I got to this part. ;D
I expect at least one sex change entry. Otherwise I'll be sorely disappointed :P
Doesn't matter, it's fiction. Look at mine, it's a lot like inception, but with Dream and Nightmare being drugs you inject yourself with. It would not be on Fantasy shelves but pure speculative fiction, next to some Murakami novel or whatnot! :D
Come on, post it, better than nothing!
Come on everyone, two days left! Such a great topic with so much room for craziness!
Somehow I will submit a story this month, even if it's unedited garbage.
Somehow.
Not sure how.
Doesn't matter, it's fiction. Look at mine, it's a lot like inception, but with Dream and Nightmare being drugs you inject yourself with. It would not be on Fantasy shelves but pure speculative fiction, next to some Murakami novel or whatnot! :D
Come on, post it, better than nothing!
Doesn't matter, it's fiction. Look at mine, it's a lot like inception, but with Dream and Nightmare being drugs you inject yourself with. It would not be on Fantasy shelves but pure speculative fiction, next to some Murakami novel or whatnot! :D
Come on, post it, better than nothing!
dude! spoilers!! some of us don't start reading 'til the end of the month!
[3]Somehow I will submit a story this month, even if it's unedited garbage.
Somehow.
Not sure how.
[2]
Hey, all of you last minute writers, I plan to lock the submission thread tomorrow about lunchtime (UK time).
If you then really *really* need another couple of hours, just let me know and I'll think about it ;)
We have only 10 entries this time... The last time we had 10 or less was just over 1 year ago (Feb 15).
Let spring inspire you ;D
Hey, all of you last minute writers, I plan to lock the submission thread tomorrow about lunchtime (UK time).
If you then really *really* need another couple of hours, just let me know and I'll think about it ;)
We have only 10 entries this time... The last time we had 10 or less was just over 1 year ago (Feb 15).
Let spring inspire you ;D
My creative mind has been stirring since last night.
I still have no idea how this story ends...
OK I'm in. Still feels like the story needs something but I've been sitting on it for awhile and haven't been able figure out what that something may be. Also, naming a story is hard.
Just started, wish me luck ::)
I wrote almost 1500 words in four hours. :o That must be a personal best.
Now I have almost 1500 horrible words to edit and I really should be sleeping. ::)
And the story fits the theme only marginally.
Also I can't post anymore until you guys and gals LIKE me so that my post and like counts are both at 666 and I get a screenshot of that. I only need 207 LIKES. You can do it! ;D
So...
Anyone else or can I close?
Curses!I wrote almost 1500 words in four hours. :o That must be a personal best.
Now I have almost 1500 horrible words to edit and I really should be sleeping. ::)
And the story fits the theme only marginally.
Also I can't post anymore until you guys and gals LIKE me so that my post and like counts are both at 666 and I get a screenshot of that. I only need 207 LIKES. You can do it! ;D
I would have helped but you already ruined your post count! :P
Somehow, I think it's time to update the Excel/Google spreadsheet of authors, stories and winners. @Raptori (http://fantasy-faction.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=38840)?(http://oi63.tinypic.com/156u98j.jpg)