The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Memories… 
by Rie Sheridan Rose 

Brittany stood outside the broken fence, staring into the unkempt backyard. Patchy grass covered the open space, checkerboarded with green and dead sections. She closed her eyes, and the voices of several excited children filled the yard. Laughter and chatter rode the breeze of her memory. She could almost see the girls again…

Her eyes fluttered open. Her heart constricted in her chest as she studied the only other item in the backyard—a dilapidated playhouse. White paint flaked off the rotting walls and the windows and door gaped empty. The roof had visible holes.

Brittany bit her lip in pain. She remembered when it once had been quite lovely. Pretty green lace curtains had hung in the windows. The walls had been pristine white, and the door…had been red.

Should she take a closer look? What if…? No, there couldn’t be anything left. It had been almost twenty years. Surely the blood would be gone by now.

She sagged against the jagged fence. Monica, Cathy, Shelly…her best friends when she was a child. This had been her home. And that night…

The memory bloomed in her mind as her eyes closed again.

A full moon hung in the sky over the playhouse. Inside, the four of them clustered on cushions surrounding an apple crate with a Ouija board lit by several candles. It was the last weekend before school started for the eighth grade. They’d decided to have one last sleepover for the summer, and Monica had suggested a séance. So, here they were…

Cathy was the one who called the demon. Perhaps by accident, but Brittany wasn’t so sure. One minute they were giggling over the planchette, and the next—

Her eyes flew open before the memory ran its course. She couldn’t face the ending right now…

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “So very sorry…”

Inside her, the demon laughed.          

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Fiction © Copyright Rie Sheridan Rose
Image Copyright Rie Sheridan Rose

More from Author Rie Sheridan Rose:

Overheard in Hell:
Dark Poetry

Poems exploring hell and damnation. Tales of sorrow, vengeance, betrayal, and redemption. Ghosts, ghouls, and demons stalk these pages. Don’t read in a lonely house…in a darkened room by a single candle…

…unless you like the touch of an icy finger up your spine.

Available on Amazon!