Tuesday, 13 December 2016

Horror Bites - It's Alive!

I managed to get on a roll and write two Horror Bites entries in one night. It's delayed, but I kept to the rules with the word count and mention of reading. Hopefully I will be fully caught up soon. Here is my entry for the second challenge.


When it arrived everyone just thought it was another arty looking building, nothing special; another attraction on the skyline of the city, another chance for fancy photographic shots. And when another arrived on the road behind, everyone assumed it was part of a chain. No one questioned it. 

Marjory sat in the park nearby on her lunch break reading a crime thriller she’d been enthralled by all week - Willow Walk by SJI Holliday. But something caused her to look up at the building and wonder about it. She had never seen a door, although the querky green zigzag lines that ran down it could make them invisible. She’d walked by it and its sister many times and never seen anyone going in or coming out. The coloured glass reflected the outside world making it impossible to see in. She pondered the strangeness of it, especially since the newspaper reports. 

The papers said they were base jumpers, illegally flinging themselves off the top to prove something. But Marjory had been unsettled by the stories. There had been nothing to indicate an interest in base jumping from any of the victims, or so the family members claimed - one even suffered from vertigo. There had been more than five deaths so far, so why were people continuing to do it? It didn’t make sense.

As Marjory turned back to her book, movement at the top of the building caught her eye. She saw a figure approach the edge and realised with increasing horror what she was about to witness. But what confused her was the way the building seemed to move and contract, tipping the figure and not allowing them to hold on. Her hand flew to her mouth as she saw the body descend, a loud bang and screams from bystanders announcing its arrival on the ground.

Then she watched as the building seemed to shudder as though shrugging something off. The matching building behind moved too, as though tipping its head in agreement. Marjory went cold. If these weren’t buildings in their midst, what were they?

Words 347

Horror Bites - Arranging a Date

I'm a bit behind on the Horror Bites Challenges, run by Laura James. She recently started them up again over at her new blog Get Wordy, and I am trying to keep up.

I have been out of the loop with writing for some time, and I need to return to it as I felt I have lost my focus with everything lately.

In attempting to write for the first challenge, I didn't register the word count, and went quite a bit over (400 words). And although I clawed it back to 280, trying to get it down to 200 will lose the entire story, which is a different kind of horror - but just as scary. Enjoy.


Jackson looked at his watch and up at the clock again. “Come on, come on,” he muttered. He hated waiting, especially in train stations. Any one of them could be who he was waiting for. That was the downfall of arranging things over the net - and the beauty of it.

He smirked, his irritation forgotten. He’d always thought about doing this, but never had the nerve. Working as a team gave him courage. 

A man caught his eye: head down, black Parka, tufts of curly hair sticking out the sides of the hood - it had to be Carter. He glanced up looking straight at Jackson. That’s when he knew. They were a go.
The sleeve of Carter’s coat brushed Jackson’s arm as he whispered, “Down from 10 …”

Jackson started counting, moving rapidly to the agreed destination. She’d be in view by the time he reached it, and she was. 

Her blonde pony tail flicked from side to side as she walked towards the escalators. Jackson saw another guy flanking her on the left - that had to be Mandelson. Jackson moved up behind her and pushed the lid off the syringe in his pocket, letting his sleeve disguise it as he pulled it out. He pretended to trip and knocked into her, feeling the tip enter the flesh of her arm and the contents release. She took in a sharp intake of breath and scowled at him, rubbing her arm. 

The scowl became confusion and he saw her eyes roll. He stepped forward to support her from behind, Carter and Mandelson came in on either side to keep her upright. They were going to have fun tonight!