Scribblings
Here you will find a selection of short stories, poems, etc. Some are from sites like Writer's Digest, others collected from books I am working on....
Writing prompt: Your Monster Returns
"When you were little, you could swear there was a monster under your bed--but no one believed you. On the eve of your 30th birthday, you hear noises coming from under your bed once again. The monster is back and has an important message to deliver to you."
No one believed me about the monster under my bed. When I was little I would switch on the light and run and jump on to the bed and yell for my mother to come turn the light off, but she refused as I grew older and I had to face the dread of trying not to walk too close to the bed in case a cold hand snaked out and grabbed hold of my ankle. Once in bed, I would lie and listen for the noises that began under the bed…
Now I’m about to turn 30 and still I can’t escape the irrational fears that tormented me as a child. I’m back in my parents’ house for the first time since I was a teenager and I almost fainted when mom gleefully announced, “You’ll be back in your old room, Jane, we’re remodeling the guest room”…Oh great, almost 30 years old and STILL feeling like a kid…
I managed to get into bed without anything sliding out from under and grabbing me. Maybe it will be OK, and I can put the childish fears behind me. I’m all grown up now, after all. I snuggle down into the blankets, smelling the long-forgotten scent of the detergent mom has always used, reminding me of sheets flapping wetly on a clothesline under the summer sun.
I’m drifting off now, but a sudden sound snaps me awake. It came from under the bed. I feel my palms start to sweat along with the pounding of my heart. My throat is dry as I listen, ears straining to hear beyond the clicking of the crickets outside my window. It comes again, the secretive, SLITHERING sound that struck terror into me as a child. My eyes dart frantically around in the semi-dark, trying to discern shapes of objects in the room. A patch of dark beside the bed suddenly becomes blacker, and I realize the monster from my childhood has risen out from under the bed, and is watching me.
Red eyes take shape in the blackness and the monster speaks, “Jane, how nice to SEE you again”. It sounds as if it’s speaking through a mouth containing too many teeth.
“Wh-what do you want?” I whisper through dry, cracked lips.
The monster issues a ghoulish chuckle.
“I’ve been waiting for you for so long. You see, when you were younger you were such a little toothpick, not much meat on your bones. But now,” it spoke through teeth and gathering drool, “Now you’ve fattened up SO nicely! Mmmmm…yummy…”
There’s a sudden fetid stench and with mounting horror I realize the monster has opened its mouth and is preparing to eat me, as it wanted to, all those years ago. Damn, I KNEW I should have shed those extra pounds I put on when I went to Europe last Su---
Writing prompt - Swim Club Scare
"You and a friend break into your neighborhood swim club late one night to go for an after-hours dip. While splashing around in the pool, you go into shock when a dead body floats to the top. Worse yet—it's someone you know. Write this scene."
“I’m not sure I want to do this. What if we get caught?”
“C’mon Janey, there’s no one there this late at night. Besides, when was the last time you skinny dipped?”
“Uh…how about never? I’ve led a sheltered life, remember!” I grin in the dark at Sue. “Oh, OK, where’s the key then?”
Sue fumbles in here purse, then holds up the key in triumph.
“Ta-da!”
“By the way,” I ask, as she slips the key into the door and turns the handle, “Just where DID you get that key anyway?”
“Trade secret,” Sue replies. She pouts, then says, ‘Well if you must know, I asked that cute new lifeguard.”
“THAT guy? God, Sue, he’s so smooth he could slide uphill! Are you sure you want anything to do with him?”
“Well it’s not like I was asking him for a DATE or anything! Come on, last one in’s a rotten egg!” With that, Sue skims out of her jeans, tank top and underwear. There’s a flash of skin as she hit the water cleanly, swimming out into the middle of the pool.
“Come on in, it’s great!” she yells.
With some reservations, I pull off my clothes and gingerly put one toe into the water. The pool is heated and actually feels pretty good. I dive in, swimming as far underwater as I can, before surfacing, then diving and swimming again. I surface and look around. Sue is nowhere in sight.
“Great, I TOLD you you’d need to hit the restroom after all those beers!” I mutter. I close my eyes and let myself float in the gently moving water for a few minutes. I’m lost in a reverie when I feel something bump my right thigh.
“Quit it, Sue, I’m trying to relax,” I hiss. Something moves against my thigh again. Sighing with exasperation, I open my eyes, expecting to see Sue’s blue eyes peering at me with mischief. I see her eyes, all right, but they’re bulging, the whites speckled with red dots.
“What the --!” It’s then that I notice Sue’s towel wrapped tightly around her neck. She looks dead. Someone has strangled my best friend!
“Oh God,” I whisper, looking around in panic. Whoever has killed Sue is probably still in there with me! I flail in the water and reach the side of the pool, where I grab my clothes and run for the door. It’s locked. I whimper in panic, looking around for the key.
“Looking for this?” drawls a voice. I turn, my back pressed tightly against the door. It’s the lifeguard who gave Sue the key. He starts to walk toward me, and as he nears I feel the hot sting on my thighs as my bladder gives way. I know now that this is the serial killer the cops have been looking for for two months…and I am his next victim…