The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Terminal 
by Kathleen McCluskey 

The Terminal was unlike any airport anyone had ever seen. Shimmering glass walls reached to the heavens, reflecting a sky of impossible colors. Families bustled with excitement, clutching their tickets as they wheeled their suitcases across gleaming floors. Vacationers chatted about exotic destinations, their faces alight with the joy of escape.

Overhead the departure board flickered constantly. Its destinations scrolled in a language nobody recognized but everyone seemed to understand. Euphorica. Paradism. Bliss Eternal

The staff moved with unnerving precision. Uniformed attendants with too-wide smiles directed passengers to Gate 13, the only gate illuminated in the entire terminal. No one questioned why the other gates were dark and silent.

“First time?’ A man in a business suit, noticing the nervous twitch of a young woman clutching her suitcase.

“It’s…..surreal.” She stammered.

“Yeah, it sure is. It’s my first time, too. Everyone says that it’s the best thing.”

She smiled weakly. Her anxiety began melting under the intoxicating hum of anticipation. The promise of paradise was just too alluring to resist.

At Gate 13, passengers formed an orderly line as a soft, melodic chime announced boarding. The gate attendant scanned each ticket with a flick of her talon like fingernails. She motioned with her hand to place their suitcases next to the departure ramp. Those who passed through the archway disappeared into a swirling mist, their laughter echoing faintly.

Behind them, attendants gathered the abandoned suitcases. They piled them in neat stacks  near a vast steel door marked: DO NOT ENTER

Inside the mist, the young woman marveled at the strange sensation of floating. A soothing voice whispered promises of joy and peace directly into her mind. She barely noticed the mist thickening, clinging to her skin like a second layer.

Then came the sound. A low, guttural growl, vibrating through her bones. Her excitement turned to dread, but before she could scream, the mist pulled back and revealed the beast.

It was a monstrous entity, its form shifting and warping as if reality struggled to define it. Eyes, too many to count, glowed in a spectrum of color and its mouths, all gnashing teeth and slithering tongues, opened wide.

Passengers in front of her stood frozen. Their smiles were grotesquely plastered on their faces as the beast consumed them whole. With every devoured soul, the creature swelled, its power rippling across dimensions.

The young woman turned to run, but the mist constricted, forcing her forward. The voice returned, no longer soothing but commanding. “You were promised paradise. It lies within me.”

Meanwhile, back at the terminal, the attendants worked tirelessly adding to the stack of suitcases. Their movements were robotic, their faces blank. Occasionally, one would glance at the steel door, behind which muffled screams and wet crunches could be heard. No one hesitated in their tasks.

A man in a faded janitor’s uniform shuffled by, pushing a mop. He paused briefly at the door, muttering under his breath. “Another batch, huh? Poor souls.”

An attendant glanced at him sharply. “Keep moving.”

The young woman’s turn came. The beast’s gaze fixed on her, its eyes burrowing into her mind. She hugged herself desperately, as if she could anchor herself in reality. She whispered a prayer to no one. The beast opened one of its largest mouths, revealing an abyss that seemed to stretch on forever. She felt herself being pulled forward, her screams swallowed before they even left her lips.

At the steel door, an attendant placed the last suitcase on the stack. She stepped back, admiring the perfect symmetry of her work. A faint hum emanated from the stacks, resonating with the beast’s feeding frenzy beyond the door.

The attendant allowed herself a small smile. “Another successful departure.”

The Terminal’s chime sounded again. Outside, more passengers flooded in, their suitcases trailing behind them. Their faces filled with hope of escape.

The cycle continues.

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Fiction © Copyright Kathleen McCluskey
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Kathleen McCluskey:

The Long Fall: Book 1: The Inception of Horror

Lucifer always cunning and intelligent challenges father to a battle of wits. Being the angel of light he casts a judgemental eye upon mankind. He begins a war with his fellow archangels and God. Michael, along with his siblings defend their home and mankind from their deranged brother. Broad swords and hand to hand combat drench heaven in blood. The four apocalyptic steeds are released, each having their own destructive power. Betrayal and lust are at biblical levels. Understand the very creation of evil and the consequenses that transpire in the first of THE LONG FALL series.

Available on Amazon!