The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

What They Say 
by Elaine Pascale 

.“You know what they say…” He tapped the ground tentatively with his walking stick.

“That the rock looks like a penis,” she answered, “very mature.”

“No,” he laughed, “They say the people that lived here were cursed, driven crazy.”

“By the penis rock?”

“Now who is being mature?”

They walked. The tide was ebbing, so they were able to make it to the tip of the island. They had planned the trip carefully; the snakes would be dormant, and they would be able to collect samples from the reeds. They had also planned so that they could spend an extra day at the resort on the populated island that was adjacent to this desolate one. Scientists need fun, too.

“It was probably ayahuasca or something. You know, that made them crazy.” She did not like the feel of the long grass. It had a stickiness to it that she could not place.

“Nope. That’s not what they say.”

“There are lots of reasons for mass psychogenic illness,” she reasoned, bending and collecting some of the sticky substance. It was transparent on the weeds, but when she looked at her gloved hand, the substance was a purplish color. It also burned through the latex, feeling like a feint sunburn. She thought of their plans for tomorrow, sitting at the pool bar. She had promised that she would not pressure him to tell his wife about them on this trip and she intended to keep her promise.

She noticed he was moving away from the reeds. “Are you getting samples or am I doing all the work?”

He paused, giving a simple question far too much consideration. “I am doing a secondary study.”

“On what?”

“You’ll see when the sun goes down.”

She didn’t want to argue. She was hoping that tomorrow would be the romantic getaway she felt they deserved. He needed to value their time as a couple. He needed to want it enough to leave his marriage.

She continued to gather samples as he walked further toward the rock.

“The sun is starting to set, what should I be looking for?”

They were still close enough to hear each other but there was a challenging void separating them.

He leapt onto the monolith that she had ridiculed earlier. The grass around her came alive.

“They were right,” she heard him say before she felt her mind break.

Fiction © Copyright Elaine Pascale
Image courtesy of Pixaby.com

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