The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Cold Cold Change
by Sheri White 

I stepped out of my tent and saw that the snow was closer. I could feel the icy winds licking at the parts of me that weren’t bundled up.

It was time to move on.

Winter is taking over. I don’t know if it’s global, but in my little corner of the world, so many people have frozen to death or starved.

My wife was one of them.

I wanted to lay down and join her, but when this started, we promised each other we’d keep trying to find a place with our kids. There must be a warm, sunny place somewhere.

The three of us sleep together in a sleeping bag in our tent to keep warm at night. Once we hear the wind start to whip up and shake the tent, we pack up and head out.

***

We trudged on for several days, the icy wind at our backs pushing us forward. Trying to keep ahead of the eternal winter. And then we stopped short.

I dropped to my knees and wept.

Snow. Mounds of it covering bushes, cars, everything. Including people. I turned my kids around so they wouldn’t see hands sticking out of the snow as if they were reaching for help.

I set up the tent and we laid together inside. I usually zip the tent closed to keep out any encroaching snow and to keep us as warm as possible.

This time I left it open.

.

Fiction © Copyright Sheri White
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Author Sheri White:

Don’t Turn Out the Lights: A Tribute to Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Featuring stories from R.L. Stine and Madeleine Roux, this middle grade horror anthology, curated by New York Times bestselling author and master of macabre Jonathan Maberry, is a chilling tribute to Alvin Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

Flesh-hungry ogres? Brains full of spiders? Haunted houses you can’t escape? This collection of 35 terrifying stories from the Horror Writers Association has it all, including ghastly illustrations from Iris Compiet that will absolutely chill readers to the bone.

So turn off your lamps, click on your flashlights, and prepare—if you dare—to be utterly spooked!

The complete list of writers: Linda D. Addison, Courtney Alameda, Jonathan Auxier, Gary A. Braunbeck, Z Brewer, Aric Cushing, John Dixon, Tananarive Due, Jamie Ford, Kami Garcia, Christopher Golden, Tonya Hurley, Catherine Jordan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Alethea Kontis, N.R. Lambert, Laurent Linn, Amy Lukavics, Barry Lyga, D.J. MacHale, Josh Malerman, James A. Moore, Michael Northrop, Micol Ostow, Joanna Parypinksi, Brendan Reichs, Madeleine Roux, R.L. Stine, Margaret Stohl, Gaby Triana, Luis Alberto Urrea, Rosario Urrea, Kim Ventrella, Sheri White, T.J. Wooldridge, Brenna Yovanoff

Available on Amazon!