This week’s Visual Dare truly inspired me! It catered for my tendency toward the eerie and macabre, and it also helped me to look at a short story I am working on in a completely different light. I had a blast writing this, and I can’t wait for next Wednesday already! Give it a go…if you dare…
Great chunks of the dusty floor had been eaten away, perhaps by decay, or perhaps by the unknown thing that lurked beneath. Jagged splinters of wood jutted out like uneven teeth, hanging over a bottomless pit that might have descended deep into hell…or even further.
He moved cautiously towards the edge, listening to the wet slithering sounds writhing up from the black hole. Glancing around as he crept, the peeling paint on the walls reminded him of rotting flesh, and the sudden stench of dead fish seemed to emphasize this.
He placed a hand over his mouth to stop himself from gagging, but despite the ungodly, eye-watering aroma, he couldn’t quite turn away. He had to find out what was down there. He had to see what was creeping about in the basement of the condemned building.
He had to know what lurked beneath…
The Mind of Evermore 
“Jagged splinters of wood jutted out like uneven teeth…the peeling paint on the walls reminded him of rotting flesh,” your use of imagery is quite endearing and inspiring.
Thank you very much! I do get carried away when given such lavish images to play with 😀
Wonderful use of description, and a great cliffhanger at the end. My own attempt for this piece ended up hitting 2.3k so I’m going to have to give the prompt another crack.
I love the image of something slithering beneath him by the way, wonderful contrast to the jagged edges of the floorboard.
Thank you Carol! I totally understand how you feel about getting carried away. I have completely altered the setting of a short-story I was working on because of this very prompt!
It can certainly be useful though. Getting carried away allowed me to find a new direction to take ‘Headquarters’ in and to create a new piece of fiction to post.
Absolutely. The beauty of writing is that ideas can take shape anywhere, in any place, at any time. You’re certainly making the most of such things!
Why thank you, I like to think so. I just hope this new post fits with the standing Headquarters work.
Eerie and macabre alright!
Two of my favourite words 😀
Quite an eerie feel…I LIKE!
Thank you very much 🙂
You been reading laymon again! All the same I like it 🙂
I’m actually on Dean Koontz at the moment, but the same applies! Thank you 😀
Love the imagery, and sounds and smells, evoked by your story – all quite unsettling and yukky. Well written.
Thank you very much, Sarah! I do enjoy creating atmosphere, especially in these shorter pieces. 🙂