Earlier this week, I started a writing challenge (the two sentence horror story challenge, to be precise) as an exercise in a genre I am not familiar with. You can read more about it on Google+, where I posted a two sentence horror story every day since Monday.
It’s been an interesting challenge, and the number of ideas I’ve had during this period made me think about exploring the horror genre a little more. It was surprising, because I usually dislike horror. However, I do have experience with creepy dreams, partly because I saw “A Nightmare on Elm Street” at an inappropriately young age. My past nightmares are a good source of inspiration for horror stories, so I’ll probably read and write more horror in the future, set the scary memories free and turn them into something entertaining maybe 🙂
Here’s what I came up with this week, my first five bits of horror fiction, the way I, a newbie, understand horror at this point.
Day 1
Swallowed and pushed by the crowd, she could finally crouch to pick up her wallet. But as her fingertips touched it, a head bumped into her arm, rolling down with the others in the rain of blood.
Day 2
The stench coming through the cracked door didn’t avert his eyes from the monstrosity charging against him. He stumbled downstairs, feeling the beast’s hot breath claiming him, the stairs descending in an endless spiral.
Day 3
A rush of blood filled his mouth as they kissed. Was it his or hers?
Day 4
She woke up in pitch darkness, gasping for air and unable to move. Then, she recalled the hammers nailing the lid to the coffin.
Day 5
When the demons started biting his sleeping body, he plunged back into awareness, desperate to end the dream. Screaming in excruciation, he recognized each of the faces covered in his blood, and wished he could still choose to stay asleep.
Happy Halloween!