The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Tequila Sunrise 
by Suzanne Madron 

.The burnoff cloud on the horizon was getting closer. It would have been beautiful if he didn’t understand what it meant. Ignorance would have been bliss in this one instance, to be able to enjoy the swirl of colors reaching and grasping across the sky like a daytime Borealis.

Staring at the damned thing was starting to hurt his head, he realized, like trying to discuern a picture from a 3D puzzle, but much worse. The burnoff cloud moved with sentience, incinerating everything in its path. He was quite literally watching the world burn.

He checked his watch. It was an old analog wind-up. No batteries to melt or die. He wiped his sweat from the cracked face and noted the cloudy date and time.

By his calculation, he had been running from the end of the world for three days. Today, he had reached the end. He climbed the last cliff to the last surviving tree and sat in its meager shade.

He opened his pack and removed the bottle of tequila. He had saved it for a special occasion. If the end of the world wasn’t a special occasion, he didn’t know what was. He began to drink, chugging the alcohol as best he could as he felt his eyelashes curling. The skin of his face felt tight, too tight, still blistered from the other times he had gotten too close or had moved too slow.

Below him, the ocean steamed as the burnoff cloud swirled in the sky above it. Behind him was charred and blackened earth, scorched from where it all began.

He continued to drink, staring up at the sky at the swirling cloud, and watched the world burn.

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Fiction © Copyright Suzanne Madron
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Suzanne Madron:

For Sale or Rent

The house across the street seems to go on the market every few months, but this time nothing about the sale is normal, including the new owners. No sooner has the for sale sign come down and the neighborhood is thrown into a Lovecraftian nightmare and the only way to find out is to attend the house warming party.

Available on Amazon!

The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Hilltop Avenue 
by Lee Mitchell  

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They say there’s a place just beyond the foothills that transcends both time and space. For most, it’s just a vague glow—or sometimes even less—but it’s much, much more to those who know. The things that reside behind the trick, the shades with eyes as dark as coal, are able to do so much more than hide. They say the things can take your soul…

Gina shivered, turning to her date with a hesitant frown. “It’s cold out here. Maybe we should come back another time. Maybe when it’s not so dark?”

Joe stopped, slumping over and resting his telescope against its folded tripod with a sigh. “It has to be dark, or we won’t see anything.”

“I didn’t realize how close we’d gotten to the hilltop,” she replied, taking note of the short distance. “The foothills are far enough from the city lights, don’t you think?”

“You don’t actually believe in that stupid, old legend, do you?”

Gina shrugged. “It’s just creepy here.”

“Fine.” The young man grabbed the telescope and perched it over his shoulder. “We’ll go back down.”

The two made the short trek back to the parked car, which sat just off the main road. Just as Joe began to load the telescope into the trunk, Gina spotted a flicker of light near the shallow summit. She pointed.

Joe spotted it as well. He set down the telescope and angled it to get a better view. His eyes widened, jaw going slightly agape. “There are streets and buildings up there.”

Joe gestured for Gina to look, and she gave the eyepiece a hesitant peek. She searched through the hazy light but saw nothing. “Is this thing in focus?”

He looked again, “I think it’s as clear as it’s going to get.”

“Your eyes must be better than mine.” Gina tried the passenger door, found it unlocked, and got in.

Joe was a step behind her, securing the telescope in the trunk before getting behind the wheel. He tried to start the car, but the engine failed to turn over. He tried it again, pumping the gas, and the starter labored for another moment before going silent. After another pause, Joe grabbed his phone and clicked one of his autodial selections, only to grumble and check the screen. “One bar. Damn.”

Gina checked her phone, finding her signal also unusably weak.

“I guess we’ll need to hike up to your ghost town to get a tow truck.” Joe got out, slamming the door behind him.

Gina stayed seated. She waited for him to peek in, then she said, “You go up there if you want. I’m waiting right here.”

Joe left, offering an annoyed nod, and Gina locked the doors as she watched her date walk off into the darkness.

Time seemed to fall to a standstill as she waited. The shadows stretched and deepened across the dark mountainside, a full moon rising just beyond the flickering peak. The air inside the car grew colder as the time passed, and Gina thought she might freeze to death before her date found his way back.

A sigh of relief escaped her when she finally caught sight of the young man hurrying back.

“Found something you might want to check out,” the figure said, peeking through the window. “You need to come with me.”

Gina caught sight of the dark, hollow eyes, and a shock of panic rushed through her as the thing mimicking Joe unlocked the door.

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Fiction © Copyright Lee Mitchell.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com