The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Prisoner
by Alyson Faye
This is her prison
of blame, blood and bark,
the villagers bent her
broke her, wrapped her
in willow wands
sealed with warmed wax
embalming her within
the bowels of the
ancient yew.
.
Her lips stitched
together –
blue skin
with tarry thread,
holding in
her words,
her magic,
her evil.
.
They chanted
around their fires
‘Bana-bhuidseach*
faigh bàs!’**
.
Children laughed
ate crispy chestnuts,
drank dilute mead whilst
women let loose
their hair, their robes
dancing naked, wild.
.
Through a crack
darkly she watched
the seasons bleed into
years, blur into decades
total a century then more …
.
Her flesh tanned
her hair rotted
her lips decayed
but her spirit –
strong, oh so strong –
survived,
and always she watched
and waited
within the yew.
.
* The Scottish Gaelic word for witch is ‘bana-bhuidseach’
** die, go to Hell
Fiction © Copyright Alyson Faye
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from Alyson Faye:
The Lost Girl & Spindleshanks
The Lost Girl
A nailed-up door. An inheritance which comes with a ghost. A missing girl. A fifty-year-old mystery. Parapsychologist Berkley Osgood is hired to investigate. What he uncovers reveals secrets the living want to hide and the dead will never forgive.
Spindleshanks
Adam is having nightmares about a skeletal shadow figure, who he calls Spindleshanks. Soon his whole class are sharing the same nightmare. Adam’s dad, Rob, knows that Spindleshanks can’t be real. But is he? One terrible night Rob has to face his son’s nightmare creature and fight for his son’s life. What would you sacrifice to have your child back safe?
“A decent two-for-one. Alyson Faye brings the engaging and eerie in equal measure.” CC Adams – horror / dark fiction author
