The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Petrichor Gothic
by Loren Rhoads 

The storm advanced toward her faster than Alondra DeCourval could hike. She picked up her pace, but the path winding through the grassy hillocks was too uneven for her to break into a run. If she turned an ankle, it would be a long, wet limp back to the village.

The ruined castle ahead of her darkened as the rainstorm passed over its stone walls. A chilly wind raced across the meadow toward her. The grasses bowed obediently before it. Alondra shivered and huddled into her slicker. She hoped she could find some kind of shelter in the ruin.

As she hustled on, the onrushing clouds swallowed the last ray of daylight. Alondra slowed to a walk as the rain front pounded toward her. No point in slipping in the muddy trail ahead.

Icy rain pelted her full in the face like a handful of pebbles. She was struggling to unroll her hood and pull it up when something strange caught her eye. In an empty window atop one of the towers, an unsteady yellow light suddenly kindled. It looked for all the world like a candle burning in the rain.

There was a ghost, after all. With any luck, it could manifest the room in which its haunting began: complete walls, a full ceiling, maybe even a fire in the grate. Alondra smiled and hurried toward it. She hoped the stairway up to the window was intact and not too slick.

Fiction © Copyright Loren Rhoads
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Author Loren Rhoads:

Alondra’s Experiments

Alondra DeCourval travels from San Francisco to Prague to Olso, encountering magical creatures and searching for the limits she will go to for love.

Available on Amazon!