The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

A Magnificent View
by Elizabeth H. Smith

A popular destination for families and couples of all ages, this sacred place has been trampled on by uncaring feet carrying disposable cameras. They snap their shots and watch the pure water flow into the crack in the earth. They don’t know what waits below. They could never fathom the reality of it.

We come here each year to pay respect to what is deserving of it. It hides silent, still, through the ages as long as our history tells. There exists no record of it having ever stirred or uttered a single sound. So we return generation after generation in the hopes that it is appeased.

This year the crowd is unsightly, offensive in its nature. We watch from afar and consider something that has never been uttered before. The mere mention of it was nearly too much to bear. But anger had been brewing among the younger generation, a youthful rebelliousness had infected their obedient demeanors.

On this trek to the sacred crevasse, they banded together and sung loud the forbidden lyric. The song legend spoke of that could wake it from its slumber. The ground rumbled beneath our feet. The young sang louder. The rock gap split and widened as its massive form rose from its place of rest. For the first time, we laid eyes on the magnificent ancient one, the one whose wrath would seek us all.

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Fiction © Copyright Elizabeth H. Smith
Image © Copyright Alex Grehy

More About Elizabeth H. Smith:
Elizabeth H. Smith is a storyteller who writes while trying to keep her cat, Luna off the keyboard. The musical group, Rasputina is her muse. She was born in the state of New York and would never feel at home anywhere else.