The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
The Green
by A.F. Stewart
Have you ever looked at moss? Truly looked at it. Studied its pores, its texture, the way it clings, smothering the surface of a rock or earth. It’s insidious, creeping, growing, so…alive. People think I’m crazy, but it’s everywhere and I swear, there’s more of it every day.
I used to spray weed killer, and that kept it at bay, but the neighbours complained. Organic methods are better, they said, so I switched. Some all-natural mixture I made myself. That’s when I noticed how it spread. It would recede for a while, before expanding out, and it took progressively more spray to kill it off. I saw the green crawling along the rocks around the pond, then worming its way between the paving stones of the walkways. In secret, I switched back to herbicides, until that didn’t work anymore. It just kept growing…
Now it’s slithering into the flower beds.
It’s killing the grass, taking over the lawn.
I can feel its pulse beneath the earth, like a heartbeat.
I’m afraid.
Now it’s squirming up the side of the house towards the windows.
What happens when it gets into the house?
.
Fiction © Copyright A.F. Stewart
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from A.F. Stewart:

Visions and Nightmares
Tragedy spares no one… and takes no prisoners.
In the twilight shadows, secrets are revealed past the whispers of madness.
Wander into the realm of the old gods with Elenora, where humanity and marriage are a prison.
Step through a looking glass of dark horrors with an Alice you never knew.
Join with Zenna to seek the truth as her death by magic grows closer.
Journey with Olivia as she crosses paths with a monster of the forest and runs for her life.
Watch Isobel summon the faerie to solve her problem of an unwanted husband.
Shiver as Doctor Killbride experiments with corpses to create life from death.
All that and more await within the pages.
Ten stories. Ten women.
Who will survive? Who will fall? And who will succumb to their inner evil?
Find out in Visions and Nightmares.
Warning: This book contains disturbing scenes that may be upsetting to some readers.














I love the way your last line shoots a knife of fear into your mind, cutting a wide swath through your awareness, leaving you a victim of nightmares for months to follow.