“Willow-” She turned to face her brother, cheeks stained with tears.
“You didn’t kill me, you know. The demon- entity- whatever it was you summoned did.”
“Yes but I-”
“It’s okay. Just let me rest.” He smiled up at her and she wiped away her own tears.
“Goodbye ,Willow. Stop doing magic.”
“Bye, Dimitri. I’ll try my best. See you later.” He opened his mouth to argue, but he fell back, eyes closed. When she turned away, Abigail was gone and she sensed that after everything, it wasn’t the end.
____
And the story comes to a close. The ending was the hardest one by far because I wasn't sure how things were supposed to end. But it's been such a fun month with all of the prompts! Thank you so much for all of them <3
Gordon was lying in his racecar bed, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark star stickers on his drop ceiling, unable to move. He heard scratching up there. The dappled square of ceiling tile above him was slowly moved aside by three hands the color of wet cement. Gordon stared into that square of black void, terrified. Something inside moved. Gordon screamed.
(Torment 100 words)
Laura’s eyes sprang open and she shot out of bed like a pinball, bouncing off her door frame as she staggered into the dark.
“Gourd? Gourdy, what’s wrong?”
The screams were primal and scary, like a trapped rabbit. Laura blindly flicked at the hall light to no avail. She stumbled down the endless hall toward her son’s room. Just before she reached the door, the screaming stopped abruptly. She burst in and rushed to her son’s bed. It was warm and damp with sweat and completely empty. She frantically searched the surrounding void, then Gordon began to scream from elsewhere.
Entity 90 words
Laura screamed into the dark and searched the infinite versions of her son’s room, every bed warm and empty. She cried in the dark endless hall, “Gordon! Where are you!” and her voice was swallowed by the blackness. After an eternity, with insides were scooped out and ragged, she collapsed onto the floor. When she opened her eyes, she was in a void without context, surrounded by nothing except a square window of dull light, sunken in the abyss far below her. The gray thing in the void watched her.
She looked at the pair, her paranoia building. The pair of crows had been there for a while, on the same tree branch, staring at her through the window.
Then the third one appeared, hopping on the balcony. Also, staring at her.
She’d seen this before.
They suddenly flew away.
A black cat arrived, sitting on the same tree branch, staring at her.
She stared at the cat’s unblinking green eyes.
Suddenly, she had this realization. Those black creatures were the same entity!
We stopped in our tracks, headtorch beams like crazed lasers made rock beast faces slide along the cavern walls.
“Didn’t you hear that?! Listen!”
Heartbeats thudded silently, but then it came - a moaning whisper from the throat of the cave.
“It’s just air currents, guys, Jesus!”
“But what if…what if something IS in here?”
Summoned to existence, the moan came again… deeper, gutteral. more alive. We froze, then we ran. Something WAS alive - alive in our minds and alive in that cave. We could never go back in.
The storm swept in just before midnight, rattling the windows. I thought the scratching at the door was a tree branch. But when I opened it, she was standing there—me, pale, soaked, and silent.
Without a word, she stepped inside, her wet footsteps trailing after her as she moved room to room, inspecting my life, touching my things. I tried to speak, to shout, but my voice was gone.
Now she’s lying in my bed, slipping under the covers. And I’m standing outside, drenched, waiting for her to invite me back in.
Sometimes I lie awake, wondering what will become of my body when it dies. All the tiny entities living within me - the bacteria and all my separate cells - will disassociate themselves from my being to become individuals. The outside bacteria, fungi, insects, and larger creatures will then consume what's left, taking me into themselves. Will I then become a part of the great Earth entity, Gaia? Or will I become parts of the many smaller entities, going on to live many small lives? Or will I simply become a nonentity?
Thank you... I'm leaning towards a "green burial" when my time comes, but I'm not sure if the kids will be willing to follow through on it. I guess it doesn't really matter, I won't be around to complain. Unless, of course, I end up sticking around as an immaterial entity. 😉
The entity first appeared to Rose that awful night in the delivery room back when neonatal emergency care was a shadow of today’s standard. It hovered above her impassively observing Rose’s sunny plans turn to ruin. In the almost seventy years since then the specter never left her. Looking down as Rose fought on, tried to salvage a life, recover from the unrecoverable. On her deathbed Rose looked up to see the familiar apparition floating nearby ‘til the last. Rose had aged of course, but the infant not a day.
I went overboard, but I had a lot of fun writing this, regardless.
"RECEPTION"
Taroshi couldn’t shake the pressure from his mind. It started the moment his cruiser entered the blast zone of the Terran research facility. Even the proximity mass indicators detected the presence of shattered debris still expanding outward as dangerous projectiles.
It could have been psychological. But the pressure only mounted the further he travelled, and he presumed someone illegally boarded his ship. Yet, onboard surveillance picked up nothing of the kind. He couldn’t take any chances.
Upon searching through the corridors without success, he turned back toward the bridge when a sharp pain jabbed the interior of his skull. He dropped to his knees and winced, the moment that revealed an oneiric presence he barely made out.
The entity, or however he could describe it, hummed out a semantic drone. The pattern suggested an air of musicality, or recitations of a secret ritual. Individualized words became clearer. Then it struck him.
Avenge us… the entity repeated, its pleas finally heard.
PROMPT: ENTITY
90 WORDS
“Willow-” She turned to face her brother, cheeks stained with tears.
“You didn’t kill me, you know. The demon- entity- whatever it was you summoned did.”
“Yes but I-”
“It’s okay. Just let me rest.” He smiled up at her and she wiped away her own tears.
“Goodbye ,Willow. Stop doing magic.”
“Bye, Dimitri. I’ll try my best. See you later.” He opened his mouth to argue, but he fell back, eyes closed. When she turned away, Abigail was gone and she sensed that after everything, it wasn’t the end.
____
And the story comes to a close. The ending was the hardest one by far because I wasn't sure how things were supposed to end. But it's been such a fun month with all of the prompts! Thank you so much for all of them <3
3 Microdoses - 1 Story: “Drop Ceiling”
(Nightmare 60 words)
Gordon was lying in his racecar bed, staring up at the glow-in-the-dark star stickers on his drop ceiling, unable to move. He heard scratching up there. The dappled square of ceiling tile above him was slowly moved aside by three hands the color of wet cement. Gordon stared into that square of black void, terrified. Something inside moved. Gordon screamed.
(Torment 100 words)
Laura’s eyes sprang open and she shot out of bed like a pinball, bouncing off her door frame as she staggered into the dark.
“Gourd? Gourdy, what’s wrong?”
The screams were primal and scary, like a trapped rabbit. Laura blindly flicked at the hall light to no avail. She stumbled down the endless hall toward her son’s room. Just before she reached the door, the screaming stopped abruptly. She burst in and rushed to her son’s bed. It was warm and damp with sweat and completely empty. She frantically searched the surrounding void, then Gordon began to scream from elsewhere.
Entity 90 words
Laura screamed into the dark and searched the infinite versions of her son’s room, every bed warm and empty. She cried in the dark endless hall, “Gordon! Where are you!” and her voice was swallowed by the blackness. After an eternity, with insides were scooped out and ragged, she collapsed onto the floor. When she opened her eyes, she was in a void without context, surrounded by nothing except a square window of dull light, sunken in the abyss far below her. The gray thing in the void watched her.
PROMPT: ENTITY
THE UNKNOWN ENTITY
It started innocently enough.
A little creak every now and again.
An extra clank or two in the pipework.
All of which we laughed off, telling ourselves it was just our spacecraft getting old.
But the sounds were soon becoming much more insistent.
Louder.
Until they almost resembled footsteps, thumping along the corridors on the levels above us.
There was something large moving around up there, and it was getting closer with every passing moment.
Which was when the horrifying reality set in.
We were no longer alone on board… 👽😎👽
Microdosing - 90mg of an Entity
===
She looked at the pair, her paranoia building. The pair of crows had been there for a while, on the same tree branch, staring at her through the window.
Then the third one appeared, hopping on the balcony. Also, staring at her.
She’d seen this before.
They suddenly flew away.
A black cat arrived, sitting on the same tree branch, staring at her.
She stared at the cat’s unblinking green eyes.
Suddenly, she had this realization. Those black creatures were the same entity!
She was determined to escape the asylum.
oooh miguel yours is a bit heartwrenching AGAIN!
“SHHHH!"
We stopped in our tracks, headtorch beams like crazed lasers made rock beast faces slide along the cavern walls.
“Didn’t you hear that?! Listen!”
Heartbeats thudded silently, but then it came - a moaning whisper from the throat of the cave.
“It’s just air currents, guys, Jesus!”
“But what if…what if something IS in here?”
Summoned to existence, the moan came again… deeper, gutteral. more alive. We froze, then we ran. Something WAS alive - alive in our minds and alive in that cave. We could never go back in.
The storm swept in just before midnight, rattling the windows. I thought the scratching at the door was a tree branch. But when I opened it, she was standing there—me, pale, soaked, and silent.
Without a word, she stepped inside, her wet footsteps trailing after her as she moved room to room, inspecting my life, touching my things. I tried to speak, to shout, but my voice was gone.
Now she’s lying in my bed, slipping under the covers. And I’m standing outside, drenched, waiting for her to invite me back in.
deep
Thanks 🙏
Sometimes I lie awake, wondering what will become of my body when it dies. All the tiny entities living within me - the bacteria and all my separate cells - will disassociate themselves from my being to become individuals. The outside bacteria, fungi, insects, and larger creatures will then consume what's left, taking me into themselves. Will I then become a part of the great Earth entity, Gaia? Or will I become parts of the many smaller entities, going on to live many small lives? Or will I simply become a nonentity?
no bigger questions than these. Well thought up!
Thank you... I'm leaning towards a "green burial" when my time comes, but I'm not sure if the kids will be willing to follow through on it. I guess it doesn't really matter, I won't be around to complain. Unless, of course, I end up sticking around as an immaterial entity. 😉
90 MG of an entity.
It unfurled from the hole in the ground where they buried him.
It waved overhead and I couldn’t look away.
A void, a gap in the world where no matter what I felt, I couldn’t fill it.
I went home, I lived for years, and it remained the same. Following me.
They say we’re supposed to forgive. But the one who took him away eventually got to leave prison, go home, to a family that never stopped believing.
I found him. I made sure they were all there.
So I could remove him, and make them see it too.
Good one Ken!
100% agree!
She sensed it was there.
It stank of rotten meat, and its breath quickened as her hand moved to the edge.
It sniggered, so she quickly retracted her hand. She went too soon.
Now to count, she thought.
One…
Long fingers appeared at her feet.
Three…
It reached for her leg.
‘Eight, nine, ten!’
She smacked its dark hand before it touched her.
It shrieked and pulled back.
She bent over and looked at it upside down.
‘Tag, you're it!’ she said, smiling.
The entity under the bed smiled back.
Make friends with the boogeyman! Smart!
The entity first appeared to Rose that awful night in the delivery room back when neonatal emergency care was a shadow of today’s standard. It hovered above her impassively observing Rose’s sunny plans turn to ruin. In the almost seventy years since then the specter never left her. Looking down as Rose fought on, tried to salvage a life, recover from the unrecoverable. On her deathbed Rose looked up to see the familiar apparition floating nearby ‘til the last. Rose had aged of course, but the infant not a day.
I went overboard, but I had a lot of fun writing this, regardless.
"RECEPTION"
Taroshi couldn’t shake the pressure from his mind. It started the moment his cruiser entered the blast zone of the Terran research facility. Even the proximity mass indicators detected the presence of shattered debris still expanding outward as dangerous projectiles.
It could have been psychological. But the pressure only mounted the further he travelled, and he presumed someone illegally boarded his ship. Yet, onboard surveillance picked up nothing of the kind. He couldn’t take any chances.
Upon searching through the corridors without success, he turned back toward the bridge when a sharp pain jabbed the interior of his skull. He dropped to his knees and winced, the moment that revealed an oneiric presence he barely made out.
The entity, or however he could describe it, hummed out a semantic drone. The pattern suggested an air of musicality, or recitations of a secret ritual. Individualized words became clearer. Then it struck him.
Avenge us… the entity repeated, its pleas finally heard.
Interesting one!