The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Nick
by Kathleen McCluskey

Nick began to get frustrated with his wife, he had been waiting for her for over an hour. “Just how long can a woman spend in a candle store?” He thought. He couldn’t sit any longer with her other purchases in his lap, he decided to go explore some of the other stores in the strip mall.

He wandered aimlessly, looking in the store windows. Nick found himself standing in front of an antique photography shop. The little bells above the store’s door chimed as he opened the door; the distinct, musty smell of ancient paper and photos hit him as he got deeper into the establishment. He raised his hand to his nose as a reflex. Setting his wife’s bags on the floor he began to look through old photos.

He shuffled through picture after picture. The urge to find a specific picture gripped him and he began rifling faster and faster until he stopped. Nick could feel a vibration coming from the picture that he had stopped on. He couldn’t imagine why he was so intrigued by a photo that he had never seen. He pulled it out of the stack and turned it over. Letting out an audible gasp, he stepped backward as the image looking back at him was himself.

Instantly upon seeing his own image in the ancient photograph he vanished from the store. He appeared in a field; he felt the hot, humid summer day. Astonished he looked down at his clothes. He was now in the uniform of a rebel colonel of the American Civil War. He could hear the sound of cannon fire and smell the Sulphur from rifles being fired. Nick was confused but self-preservation kicked in as he began to run towards the tree line.

“Colonel, Colonel…what do we do? The Yankees have over run the town. I fear we have lost Gettysburg!” Nick began to speak but was interrupted by searing pain as the bullet slammed into his back. He staggered. The second bullet caught him in the hand and the third ripped a hole into the side of his head. Nick fell over dead. The battle had been lost for the Colonel.

Fiction © Copyright Kathleen McCluskey
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Kathleen McCluskey:

The Long Fall: Book 1: The Inception of Horror

Lucifer always cunning and intelligent challenges father to a battle of wits. Being the angel of light he casts a judgmental eye upon mankind. He begins a war with his fellow archangels and God. Michael, along with his siblings defend their home and mankind from their deranged brother. Broad swords and hand to hand combat drench heaven in blood. The four apocalyptic steeds are released, each having their own destructive power. Betrayal and lust are at biblical levels. Understand the very creation of evil and the consequences that transpire in the first of THE LONG FALL series.

Available on Amazon!