The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Conflict of Night and Day
by Melissa R. Mendelson

A long time ago, my mother told me to pray that the sun never met the moon.  If they do, death would take a form and become a beautiful, young woman that would stand on the highest balcony of a house that nobody wanted to buy.  As far back as I could remember, that house was always abandoned, and despite the long, cruel years, it remained, defiant and strong.  Something terrible had happened there, but nobody could remember it.  They only remembered that the sun had met the moon.

Every Sunday, I took my usual walk, and at the end, it would always lead back to that house.  I was enjoying the cool breeze when a shadow fell at my feet.  My eyes rose upward, slowly meeting her gaze, but it wasn’t her that chilled me.  It was the sun in the sky with the moon.

Night came fast.  The gnawing in my stomach wasn’t that of hunger.  My intestines were filled with rocks and nails.  My body was molasses, frozen to the family room chair.  Time melted into green numbers that bit into the dark, and fear kissed my cheek.  Something terrible was coming like a nightmare revving up to begin, and sleep was my enemy.  What would I awake to?  Why did the sun have to meet the moon?

It was late.  No.  It was early.  The sun was supposed to rise, but it was dark.  Something scratched at my windows.  The doorknob to my front door turned.  The shadows closed in, laughing menacingly.  Yet, there was no sound.  It was as if the world was already gone, but then I realized that my eyes were closed.  It was just a dream, and I finally relaxed.  As I did, I opened my eyes, and the real nightmare began.

 Fiction © Copyright Melissa R. Mendelson
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Melissa R. Mendelson:

Please visit Antarctica Journal for a reading of Melissa’s winning short story, Please Stay and Guard Me.