The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Hide and Go Seek
by Alex Grehy
“Ninety, ninety-one, ninety-two…”
Pssst!
.
I stop running, I need to find a
place to hide right now, but
she’s so good at finding.
.
Pssst! Here, quickly!
.
The voice is a creak and a crack,
there in the tree, a gap just big
enough for me, I squeeze in.
.
“Ready or not, I’m coming to get you!”
.
I tuck myself into the hollow tree, it’s
just wide enough for me to stand and
peer out, but I’m afraid she’ll see.
.
Don’t worry, I’ll shield you
.
The voice is a soft groan as the
wood folds over my body. I peer
out, she’s running and laughing.
.
“Come out, come out wherever you are”
.
I’ll keep you safe
.
I shrink back into the darkness, feeling
the tree hugging me, drawing me into
its heart.
.
“COME! ON! It’s getting dark”
.
She’ll never guess where you are
.
Cool water pulses up the tree’s veins,
it steals my warmth, and my breath,
I am drowning.
.
“I’m going home, I can’t believe you left me in the woods!”
.
I see her running away. I struggle against the
tree’s embrace, I call out, but my lips are
bark dry and will not shape the words
.
FIND ME, SAVE ME!
.
Shhhh! That’s not how the game works.
.
The voice thrums through my body,
a part of me, she will never find me,
I am beyond finding.
.
Fiction © Copyright Alex Grehy
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from author Alex Grehy:
Thoughts, Prayers and Other Curses
Alex Grehy (she/her) enjoys writing quirky, thought-provoking horror. Widely published, her latest collection of short stories, Thoughts, Prayers and Other Curses is disturbing, clever and darkly entertaining – a wickedly imaginative journey through ten stories where time and technology have given humankind the chance to be kind, but why bother when there’s always an option to be beastly?
