Monday, October 31, 2016

"The Everlasting Arms"

Note: The following was written as part of ISLF friend Eric Douglas’ Halloween-themed 100-word-story challenge. Please visit Books By Eric for more spooky tales.

Jeffrey’s mother chucked up the covers and groaned, “What the hell?”

“Monster,” Jeffrey said. “In my room.”

“You’re too old for this.”

“The monster—”

“Damn it, go to bed, you little bastard.” Her breath smelled of juniper.

Jeffrey went. He lay weeping as the room filled with the odor of rotting violets and a sickly light welled from beneath his bed and an encircling score of squelching tentacles slowly squeezed him to his mattress.

“I WILL ALWAYS BE HERE,” The Voice said from everywhere and nowhere.

“I know,” Jeffrey said. And he hugged the pseudopod’s squamous surface in return.

4 comments:

Patrick N. said...

Creepy!

These 100 word stories are MUCH harder to write than I thought they'd be.

Loren Eaton said...

You know a kiddo's life is tough when he has a closer relationship with the nameless abomination beneath his bed than his own mother.

Yes, Drabbles (which is, I suppose, the technical term for these little stories) are challenging, but also insanely fun. Let me give my official shout out for The Drabblecast, a podcast that always features at least one of them.

Phil W said...

Heh. Mercy.

Loren Eaton said...

A-yup, Pretty much.