The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
I Want To Go Home
by E.A. Black
Everyone expects blood to drip from the walls in a haunted boarding school. I don’t do blood. I pour motor oil down the walls. Tapioca pudding. Lime green jello. Mushroom gravy. I used to pour sewage from the lavatories but that pissed off the professors so I stopped. I don’t want anyone mad at me. I only want someone to find me and help me go home.
I wander between the walls, along the catwalks, and through the tunnels, hoping my father will return to get me out of here. I was caught in the wall behind the chemistry room when the school was built. The workers poured concrete over me and I’ve been trapped here ever since.
Father worked construction. I loved architecture. Gothic spires and mansard roofing inspired me, so when he took me to the new school foundation I was thrilled. Finally, father wanted to spend time with me. He shoved me. Next thing I know, I’m wandering the hallways of the school in broad daylight, but no one can hear me cry.
Why did father leave me here? Why can’t I go home? He told me he wanted a boy and not a girl who needed a cane to walk. After mother died he became so distant. I tried to please him every way I could. I brought home flowers but they only reminded him of mother’s grave. I sang and played pianoforte but he only complained I made too much noise. I tried to like his new wife but she never took to me. Cold and cruel, she locked me in my room for hours on end. Then she and father talked about boarding school but they couldn’t afford it, not with twins on the way. I heard her complain she was stuck with me.
I miss my father. I crack the ceilings and floors. Make the water fountains spray yards into the air. Rain molasses down the walls. Hardly anyone is left here. The school is closing. I see father walking down the hallway with two boys who look like me. As they leave I rush up to him. He sees me but looks right through me and keeps walking, holding the two boys close. As he walks away I cry but he pays no attention. Why won’t he take me home with him? What did I do wrong? Why doesn’t he love me? I don’t want to be alone.
Fiction © Copyright E. A. Black
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from E.A. Black:
Zippered Flesh 3
What horror anthology on body enhancements wouldn’t include gross-out fiction? This book has it in spades. But, this collection of stories goes far beyond that. Here you will also find science fiction, surreal fiction, fantasy, and even a full serving of dark humor. Disturbing, perverse, often gut-wrenching (pun intended) stories—all between the covers of this anthology!
Nineteen chilling tales by some of the best horror and suspense writers today. Definitely not for the squeamish!
“Hardcore horror that ranges from the socially relevant to the scatologically repulsive—the shock here is like ‘The Scream’ made flesh.” — Mort Castle, editor of On Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association
“In Zippered Flesh 3, Editor Weldon Burge has done a masterful job of combining work from well-known masters like Jack Ketchum and Graham Masterton with newer writers. But it is the original work by newcomers like L.L. Soares and Meghan Acuri that stands out for me. … Highly recommended.” — Gene O’Neill, author of The Hitchhiking Effect: A Retrospective Collection
“‘Closer by Charles Colyott is a wonderfully poignant and romantic story. … ‘Going Green’ by Christine Morgan is so original, timely, and well-written it deserves special mention. … Kudos to Burge for putting together another fine anthology of cutting-edge fiction.” — Paul Dale Anderson, author of The Instruments of Death series
Be sure to check out the other fantastic events and people participating in
Women in Horror Month 9
Spreading the Writer's Word 
