The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Watchman
by A.F. Stewart

Against the rising, relentless tide,
that salty sweep of ocean
Sustaining above the persistent ghosts
with urgent, raging voices

Breathing, it entwines ancient necromancy,
drifting past the sun-kissed sakura blossoms
quivering within each golden spring morning
Remaining stalwart, unyielding protection

Thirsty yokai, onryō, circle
stretch their bony fingers;
clawing shadows, reaching
from beneath the sea

Time unwinds, resistance pales under
the surging generational malevolence  
Residual bastion, now reflecting the sunset,
faded and aging, battered by the current

understanding
their time is coming
and hungry remnants
will surface

The day their prison falls

.

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.

Available on Amazon!