The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Alone
by Ela Lourenco

Beep beep beep, beep beep beep… Eyes still closed I reached out an arm to silence the drone of my alarm, successfully knocking it off the nightstand.

I pulled the duvet snug around myself, fighting the chill in the air, hoping to catch five more minutes of sleep before my daughter Zoe forced me awake again. Just five more minutes…

A blinding bright light woke me. What the …? Flinching as my toes touched the icy floorboards, I sat dazedly on the edge of the bed. It was summer time, how could it be so cold? Glancing at my fallen clock I burst into action. Shit! Eleven o’clock? Damn! I was so late! Shit, Zoe was going to miss school… Huh. Where was the little imp anyway? She always dragged me out of bed before seven…

Wrapping my oversized jumper around me, I shuffled to her room. “Zo, time to get up!”

Her room was empty. Her bed made to near military standards.

“Zo? Zoe?” I called out, hearing the frantic pitch colouring my voice as I woke up in earnest and rushed down the stairs. I was greeted only by the steady sound of coffee dripping. The grey concrete walls of the kitchen shone with an eerie light. A white light, blasting its way through the curtainless windows of the old industrial warehouse me and Zoe were slowly converting into a home. Maybe she had given up on me and gone to school?

Shielding my eyes, I stared out at the streets – there were no sounds, no cars… there was no one outside- nothing but total silence. I jumped as a faint tapping sound came from behind me. I looked but there was nothing there. The tapping came again, so heart thudding I inched towards it. It was coming from the T.V. I switched it on. Maybe there was something on the news that could explain what was happening.

I stumbled, my whole body quaking as the screen lit up.

“Help me! Please help me!” a little girl screamed from inside the box. She was surrounded by a throng of shadows and distorted faces all screaming from their very souls. “Help me mommy!” my daughter begged before she disappeared from sight…

Fiction © Copyright Ela Lourenco
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Ela Lourenco:

Essence

Katra is a Fae Hunter in a world once ravaged by a terrible war. Having lost all memory of her childhood and rightful identity, her duty is now to protect the tentative peace brokered by the varying races of the supernatural world. When an evil darkness begins to spread, draining young witches of their power, Katra must find a way back to her true past in order to save the future.

Enduring many trials as ever-increasing powers awaken within her, Katra must also struggle with the mixed emotions her new partner, Blade – a Black Dragon – is rousing within her. Together they must battle the shadows that plan to devour the world they know and prevent its decent into another thousand-year war.

Can Katra hold onto her strength as the truth of her very being begins to unravel? Can she bear the weight that ancient prophecy has placed on her young shoulders? Or is her destiny to regain her true self, only to lose the world she is sworn to protect?

Available on Amazon!