The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

O Brave New World that has such people in it
by Amanda Worthington

The god in her massages her brain

And she tries not to faint

.

The glasses she wears

Came from a corpse she encountered

In an abandoned library

.

She had brown skin like hers

.

She does not know her own name

But the dead woman was called Miranda

It was emblazoned on the badge she wore

Like a cipher

.

And it felt powerful

Like it alone

Could keep the tempest at bay

.

And so she wears it like armor

As she ascends the pulpit

Not quite knowing what she’ll say

.

She prepares to read

And they listen, faces upturned

Eager to receive the ghosts

That spring suddenly to life

In the rich dark of her eyes

.

The assembled crowd blurs before her

She feels them shift uneasily as she begins:

.

“We are stories in the end

Our truths are stitched into our skins

Which bind our pages

Your gods within will soon awaken

They will rage drunkenly until they settle

Into the rhythm of you, their new hosts

.

You will remember then the days of sun

And how the ash darkened our skies

And how the First Ones

Ate it in handfuls

Hoping maybe it would revive them

Knowing as they did what it really was

Less fortunate bodies reduced

.

You must be prepared to consume flesh this time

Before it is dust

And when you do, you must trust in the power of the act

Vow that you will remember the form your meal last took

Promise to speak the departed’s story

Every day

.

And you must not ask what I am

I’m afraid I ask the only questions here

.

Here’s my final one;

Will you be saved?

The promised land beckons

To the brave

But the price of entry

Isn’t a thing

Every soul can afford”

.

She turns to a fair woman

Who has blanched noticeably

The pink receding from her cheeks

Like a tide that only ebbs, recedes

Retreats forever

.

Several women nod

They are the hard kind who will outlast the men, she knows

Some of these darker, larger shapes draw knives in hunger

But they are fewer than she’d imagined

.

And when Miranda steps down, she feels shaky

Falls to the earth

Struggles to rise

And wonders at the looks on the faces

Of those who had drunk

The god’s sermon down

Like communion.

.

The blonde woman reaches a hand down

Helps the fallen child to her feet

Kneels to her height

“You’re so young…none of this is right.”

.

She goes on then

Fades into the shadows

And the night rushes in to fill

The void her passing leaves

And it is blessedly quiet

.

And the girl thinks only of sleep.

.

Fiction © Copyright Amanda Worthington.
Image courtesy of Pixabay

Wicked Deeds: Witches, Warlocks, Demons and Other Evil Doer’s

Sometimes wicked people do wicked things simply because they can… The twelve stories in Wicked Deeds tell tales of witches and warlocks with ill intent, devilish demons bent on destruction, and other doers of evil who make the world a terrifying place. What is a mother to do when her daughter is gifted but lives under the thumb of her fanatical preacher husband who will brook no talk of the supernatural? What of a demon so desperate to free himself of a trap that he will force another to repeat his atrocities and condemn a young boy to his demonic fate? Or maybe the story of a crotchety old witch with a score to settle against the town she lives in is more to your liking – what evil will the seemingly harmless town-crazy call upon when faced with an ultimatum? If you’re looking for wicked people with supernatural abilities doing wicked things, this is the collection for you!

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