The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Building
by Elaine Pascale

She had run.

The knife had not scared him; she knew she had to run or die. She also knew he was closing in on her; he was faster than anything she had ever seen.

She ran toward the building. Her grandmother, who studied the stars, said that people believed in that building before life in other galaxies was proven and understood. Her grandmother said that the light from the farthest stars had shed light on the gods and monsters of the past and shown them to be only shadows.

She had thought her grandmother infallible until a monster had found her and chased her for her blood.

Yes, they knew more now about the universe and how it worked, and they closed buildings like this one and stopped telling the stories and singing the songs. When the monster had appeared, with his pale skin and fangs, she wished they still told the stories. A story may save her life.

There were no higher powers, the alien life-forms had confirmed. There were no dark powers, either. No demons, no devils. There was no need for places of worship; the only danger was our own kind. Even before the monster, she had questioned this. It all seemed guesswork. What was real was the dark figure slavering and growling in her wake, hoping to sink his teeth into her neck.

Feeling him behind her, hearing the papery rustle of his clothes as his arms reached for her, she thanked any ancient god who listened for the ability to squeeze between the gate and climb the sleek stairs to the heavy doors bracketed by stained glass windows.

Something inside her, that couldn’t be proven by science or stars, drew her there. The knife hadn’t stopped him, the building had.

Relieved when she saw him stand impotently outside the gate, she disappeared inside.

Fiction © Copyright Elaine Pascale
Image courtesy of  Pixabay.com

More from Elaine Pascale:

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