The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Lianne’s Eyeball
by Alyson Faye 

Sophie sighed, and put down her iPhone, its charge was rapidly dying – like everyone else in this damn cave, she thought. No reception anyways.

Her best friend Lianne’s right eyeball stared at her, and Sophie couldn’t help but feel guilty.

“It was your idea to come caving for your freakin’ Hen do,” she muttered.

Lianne’s eyeball, encased inside its alien casing – blinked once in reply.

“I saved what I could of you, girlfriend . . . but . . .” Sophie swallowed, remembering the bloodbath of bone, flesh, torn off tendons, gristle and muscle that had splattered the cave walls when it arrived.

Sophie had no name or noun for it. However she had a few adjectives:- f***in’ fast, savage, hungry and horrific.

There had been five of their Girl Gang just twenty-four hours earlier, but it had whittled them down, one by one, isolating them, luring them away into dead-ends – literally.

Now only Soph and Lianne’s eyeball were all that was left of their bullshitting, rock and rolling crew of Happy Hens.

Soph shivered, and chowed down on a Powerbar, which tasted like cardboard. She heard the familiar purring noise echoing from one of the limestone tunnels which burrowed into the bowels of the cave system.

She turned to face the eyeball. “You know, Lianne, I might as well ‘fess up. I didn’t wanta come on this crappy Hen Do. I only did it to keep you chill and now, look at yourself!”

The eyeball blinked furiously, as though trying to semaphore a message. In the dark heart of Lianne’s pupil Sophs glimpsed movement; a glowing shimmer approaching.

Shit, it’s back!

Sophie backed herself into a hole in the wall, holding up the only weapon she had – a fruit knife.

Yeah, like I’m gonna peel you to death.

The stink of ammonia filled the cave, sparks leapt from the rocks, tentacles blazing with golden veins inched towards her – Sophie shut her eyes, fear furring her insides, turning them liquid – moments passed but nothing happened.

She was still breathing, sweating and sobbing snot trails. She opened an eye and peeked.

Lianne’s eyeball was glowing, a fiery golden orb of pulsing light, which streamed out towards it – building a bridge, a connection, a transcendent moment?

Sophs knew this was her chance to run, whilst her best mate, well, her eyeball, held the entity’s focus.

Up, up, choose a tunnel going up.

Sophie made her choice, and scrambled away. Behind her the trilling and purring noises reached a crescendo.

                                                                        * * *

Left behind in the rock shelf miles underground Lianne’s eyeball communed in spirit and energy with the entity, pulsating and glowing, travelling myriad light years to its planet.

One golden tear dropped from her eye – as the last human cell within – extinguished.

Fiction © Copyright Alyson Faye
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Alyson Faye:

The Lost Girl & Spindleshanks

The Lost Girl
A nailed-up door. An inheritance which comes with a ghost. A missing girl. A fifty-year-old mystery. Parapsychologist Berkley Osgood is hired to investigate. What he uncovers reveals secrets the living want to hide and the dead will never forgive.

Spindleshanks
Adam is having nightmares about a skeletal shadow figure, who he calls Spindleshanks. Soon his whole class are sharing the same nightmare. Adam’s dad, Rob, knows that Spindleshanks can’t be real. But is he? One terrible night Rob has to face his son’s nightmare creature and fight for his son’s life. What would you sacrifice to have your child back safe?

“A decent two-for-one. Alyson Faye brings the engaging and eerie in equal measure.” CC Adams – horror / dark fiction author

Available on Amazon!