The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Good Bones
by Mary Ann Peden-Coviello

The real estate agent drove her two young prospects up to the Victorian two-story with the wide front porch.

“Yes, indeed, it’s a bit of a fixer-upper. But the seller’s motivated, and the price is right. The house has what they call ‘good bones,’ for sure.”

“You say you’re on your honeymoon? No family or friends in the area? Marvellous. A fresh start. Oh? No family at all? Either of you? Hmmm. Aww, that’s nice.”

“Yes, the house is wired for electricity, but we’ve put oil lamps out here and there to give light at the moment. They do cast a nice, warm glow, don’t they?”

“The house has six bedrooms. You could use one as a nursery – oh, don’t blush! – and another couple for his-and-hers offices and have plenty left over for visitors. Oh, I forgot, you said you don’t have family. How about friends who might come calling? None of those, either, really? Hmmm.”

“Up those stairs is a spacious attic for storage. I wouldn’t go up there tonight, though. The floorboards are a wee little bit tricky to navigate in the dark.”

“How many baths? Uh, four. Two on each floor. Very convenient.”

“The kitchen does need a bit of an update, I’m afraid. As you can see, it’s taken ‘retro’ to an extreme. Oh, you noticed there are no rats or mice? Yes, that’s very true. You’ll find not even a spider or a cockroach in the house.”

“The entrance to the basement is in the kitchen. Yes, through that door. Let me just unlock it. Oof. Sticky lock. Now you might like to check out the basement. That’s where the furnace and all are located. Watch your step.”

The real estate agent waited till the young couple were down the steps. Then she slammed shut the basement door and locked it. She sank to the floor and listened till the screams and the sounds of fists thudding against the unmovable door faded into inevitable silence.

The house, indeed, had ‘good bones,’ lots of them.

 

Fiction © Copyright Mary Ann Peden-Coviello
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com 

More from Mary Ann Peden-Coviello:

Fright Mare-Women Write Horror
Short Story: One Hour Before the Dark

Women write horror and have written it since before Mary Shelley wrote FRANKENSTEIN. This anthology is to highlight the fact women write great horror and to kill the fallacy that they aren’t in some way up to standard. They are. Read here stories by Elizabeth Massie, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Lucy Taylor, and a plethora of other great writers as they work on your nerves, get inside your head, and bang out some of the scariest tales written today. I’m proud to present these women for your consideration, as Rod Serling might say, as I ask you to step into FRIGHT MARE. Lock the door and windows, put on a light, and remember, it’s not real. It’s not real. Midnight awaits, monsters scheme to take you away, the strange and weird wait in the shadows, but it’s not real. Is it?

Edited by Billie Sue Mosiman, the author who brought you the SINISTER-TALES OF DREAD collections and her latest suspense novel, THE GREY MATTER.

Available on Amazon!