Living Room

Wrote this for Midweek Blues. The music prompt was Living Room, by Paris Combo.

 

Living Room

By Lisa McCourt Hollar

 

The woman on the stage was captivating. I found myself staring into her eyes while she sang. They were a pale blue. Everything about her was pale, except for her lips, which were ruby red and her dark hair, which framed her face, accentuating her eyes.

Never a dancer, I was surprised to find my toes tapping to the music. Before long my legs joined in. I felt her eyes on me and everyone else faded. It was as though she and I were alone in the room. I was performing for her and she for me.

After the show she invited me back stage. It was on the leather couch that she whispered her name to me, Lilith, and then a sharp pain in my neck followed by darkness.

“Wake up.”

I opened my eyes, confused. My wife stood over me, her hair in curlers, wearing that ratty pink robe she insisted on wearing all day, every day.

“What…” I covered my eyes and squinted through the cracks in my fingers. Why was it so bright?

“Your boss called. He said if he doesn’t see you walking through the door in fifteen minutes not to bother coming in. Ever.”

“Shit. I overslept?” I sat up, knocking a pile of beer cans to the floor. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

Joan snorted. I knew the answer to that. I don’t think she’d been up before one in, well, over a year. When our son died. That was also when I started sleeping on the couch.

I was wearing my clothes from the day before. I smoothed out the wrinkles. If I made all the lights, I could make it to work within the fifteen minute time frame.

I got stopped by every single one. Twenty minutes after leaving the house I was walking through the office doors. Maybe I could smooth things with my boss.

The elevator doors opened and she was inside. Lilith. She stared at me, her blue eyes searching my soul. The pain of losing Alex came back, Joan distancing herself from me, the drinking to forget… my heart screamed for release. I closed my eyes and begged for death.

When I opened my eyes I saw Joan staring at me, her gaze cold, uncaring. I was in my living room again, on my couch. My clothes were stained and I smelled like death.

“I’m leaving.”

I sat there while she packed her bag. I didn’t do anything to stop her. I popped open a can and drank my sorrows away.

I was in the club again, dancing for her.

“Who are you?” I asked.

She answered, “Death and Life.”

We danced. A dark man played a cello… or was it a double bass? I wasn’t sure. I only wanted to dance and feel her in my arms. I could feel my heart beating with the music.

I looked into her eyes and saw myself as I had been the last year. I was alive, but I wasn’t living.

She whispered into my ears, “I can show you how to live.” She kissed me and my heart slowed. The music faded and I only heard the rush of my blood as she drank.

When I woke, she was still with me. I’d accepted the gift she had to offer. I looked around my living room one last time, then took her hand and went out into the night. It was strange… I was now dead, but had been reborn. It was time to start living again.

 

Word Count: 593

D is for...

My D word is a bit of a stretch but does fit in with the Creepy Crawly theme. Bearded Dragon

 

Failed Invasion

 

"People call them dragons."

"What? Those tiny things?" Bending, I looked at the tiny creature that was standing on it's hind legs and leaning against the laundrey detergent. It was no longer than two inches. Nothing like the glorious creatures I remembered from my youth.
"You must be joking."

"I told you, they would be easy to take."

"Shhh, someone is coming." Shimmering, I morphed into a puddle and slid under the door. Once outside, I transformed again, blending into the tiger lily's that were blooming. I could hear a woman speaking.

"Franklin is coming for dinner tonight, I thought I would spruce the place up a bit."

Then I heard her shrieking. "Ewww, get it, get it...don't let it into the rest of the house!"

"Lois, it is just a lizard."

"It is a wretched, ugly beast," Lois said. The door opened and the creature was swept out of the house. The lizard sat there a moment, dazed, and then crept into the flowers to escape the crazed human.

"Not a very polite species," Glek said. "This planet will fare better, once we have removed them."

Before I could respond, the human took hold of me, wrapping her fingers around the stem my body was emulating.

"These tiger lilies will be perfect. Franklin loves them."

Realizing the mistake I had made in choosing this form, I attempted to transform before it was too late, perhaps into a fierce dragon, so this woman would know what a true fire beast was. My body shimmered for a moment, but her closeness prevented my being able to change. The scissors slipped in and cut.

"Glek, I can not change back!" My thoughts were frantic as I sent them to him. "You need to shift now, if you are to survive."

"I am afraid it is too late," Glek said, joining me in the woman's hand.

As we were carried back into the house, I saw the small 'dragon', leave his hiding place and crawl onto a rock, sunning himself.

Winner 55 Word Challenge: Week Fifty-Two

 

I’ve let the week get away from me. I’ve even gotten behind on the A to Z Challenge, so today I will be playing catch up. But first the winners of my C is for 55 Word A to z Challenge...

 

Honorable Mentions:

@klingorengi: Loved the combination of comedy and horror.

 

@bookwormattack: The thought of cockroaches eating someone just sent a chill through my body. *shudder* And what a great way to dispose of a body.

@JMwandering: I love how the serial killer was a human that killed bugs. Was the museum ran by the creepy crawlies? That would be fun.

Winner:

@PurpleQueenNL: This story made me chuckle. I could picture a big, burly man dancing around and then, in my mind, it cut to Dr. Cockroach in Monsters Vs. Alien, looking very confused.

Jack thought it was just a stone in his boot until it crawled out onto the bootstrap, then he screamed; toppling backwards in an attempt to shake it off. The whole work crew turned to laugh until they saw it too, and then within seconds the yard was cleared, leaving the lone cockroach bemused.

 

Miranda, I will send you a Smashwords coupon for the book!

Thank you, everyone, for entering. see you again on Wednesday.

 

A to Z 55 Word Challenge: C is For

 Week 52

 

 Welcome back to #55WordChallenge! This is a special week becaue this is day 3 of The A to Z Blog Challenge. Like last year, I have a theme. Creepy Crawlies! So pay attention, there is a word prompt as well as a photo prompt.

For those that are uninitiated, the 55 Word Challenge is a contest to write a story in 55 words or less. Not an easy task, but fun and I have been blown away by some of the entries. See for yourself, all the past contests can be found here. The challenge begins at noon Eastern time every Wednesday and ends at noon Thursday. The story is based on one of three photo prompts and for the A to Z Challenge, a creepy crawly that begins with the letter C. Your story can be written in any genre you choose. My only request is no porn. I don't want to hear graphic details. If it is erotic, make it titillating, not obscene. I know that can be done and done well.

The story is to be posted in the comment section below, along with your twitter handle or email address, so I can contact you if you are the winner. If you don't want to list your email address, send it to me at jezri@writing.com. I promise I won't distribute it, but if you are the winner I need a way to notify you and to send you your prize.

And what does the winner get? This badge for one... actually I may make a special badge for the challenge. If so, I will display it tomorrow. For 2 a copy of Monsters, which was inspired by my A to Z challenge last year.

 

If anyone is interested in contributing a prize, a book, cover art, whatever you want, let me know and we will work something out. If you are an artist that would like to have your work featured, let me know!

Photo Prompt:



Photo courtesy of Petr Kratochvil



 



Photo courtesy of Petr Kratochvil



 



Photo courtesy of  Kecia O'Sullivan



Word Suggestions:

You can use your own as long as it begins with a letter C and is an creepy crawly.

Crab, cockroach, carpet beetle, cricket, cobra, centipede, chigger. Coccoon would even work, since it could contain a creepy crawly.

 

Shameless Plug:

Monsters!

 

Buy Now

B is for Bed Bugs.

Day 2 of the A to Z Blog Challenge.

 

B is for Bed Bugs

 

Exterminating Circumstances

by Lisa McCourt Hollar

 

“What the hell… owe!” Thomas rubbed the back of his head, being careful this time not to hit it on the heating pipe hanging over his head. Molly glared at him, unfazed by the sound of the prison alarms shrieking around them and then kicked him in his happy spot. Thomas reacted by punching her in the face, adding another bruise to her already swelling face.

“You better watch yourself, bitch. I’ll be back to finish this.”

“Hey wait, you can’t leave me here.” Molly struggled against the zip ties he’d fastened around her wrist and the metal bed frame. “They’ll wonder where I am.”

The guard looked back at the prisoner and chuckled, “Aint no one going to miss you.” He then shut off the lights and left. He hurried because he was in section C of the Women’s Penitentiary. He was supposed to be in Section A. Frank had better cover for him, since he’d paid for him to look the other way while he took Molly to the boiler room for her training. His ankle screamed as he climbed the steps, already swelling from where Molly had kicked him when he’d first climbed on top of her. Damn uppity whore needed to know her place.

“Where have you been?” Frank asked, when he rounded the corner. “Cain is looking for you.”

“Never mind where I’ve been, what’s going on?”

“Prison break,” Frank said, and then turned his gun on Thomas and shot him in the shoulder.

When he woke up, he was tied to the bed in the boiler room. Molly stood over him, a pipe in her hand.

“What the hell…”

Molly swung the pipe forward, hitting him in the face. Blood filled his mouth from broken teeth.

“Don’t speak,” Molly said.

“Are you ready?”

It was Frank standing behind Molly. Thomas opened his mouth to speak, but shut it when Molly lifted the pipe.

Frank shook his head. “You raped the wrong woman… Meghan.”

Thomas’s eyes widened. He remembered the cunt. A year before, she’d reported him to the warden. He’d almost been fired over it, but then Meghan had hung herself and the problem went away.

“Meghan wrote me,” Molly said. “She told me she was afraid you would kill her. When she died, I knew. I also knew no one would do anything about it. No one cared about Meghan except for us.”

“She was our sister,” Frank said. “Different father’s, so no one knew. I was at a different prison at the time, but finding a transfer wasn’t hard. You’re a dick, Tom. No one wants to work with you. And faking paperwork for a new prisoner wasn’t that difficult.”

The two turned to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“We’re leaving,” Molly said.

“You can’t just leave me here.”

“I think we can. No one’s going to miss you. Oh… we left you a little gift in the bed.” Then she shut off the lights.

Thomas lay there, waiting. He knew eventually someone would be down. Maintenance checked the boiler room on a schedule. He planned his time there around the schedule. He did worry about what Molly meant by a little gift. He was thinking about that when he felt something crawling on his arm. Then he felt more creepies on his leg, under his pants and then crawling under the waist band.

He struggled to loosen himself from the ties, but they were strong… his own personal stash, he didn’t want anyone managing to get loose. Whatever had crawled under his waistband was now swarming over his dick, tiny points digging into the skin.

His face was also crawling with whatever was swarming him. His imagination went wild, imagining rats chewing his eyes out. These weren’t rats though, they were smaller… some kind of a bug. Did cockroaches eat your skin?

“We left a gift for you on the bed.”

Bed Bugs. The word came to him and he shook his head, trying to knock them off. How could there be so many? He opened his mouth to scream and bugs poured in, biting him on his tongue and sliding down his throat.

Eventually he passed out.

***

“He was dead when we found him.”

“Why didn’t anyone report him missing?” The warden looked angry.

“We didn’t know,” Sgt. Cain said. “We had a drill earlier and when he didn’t show up I checked… he’d clocked out early.”

“What do you mean he clocked out early?”

Cain shrugged. Frank spoke up, “It’s my fault sir. He told me he wasn’t feeling well. I told him he should go home. I thought he would report first.”

“Bed bugs… and this room. There were complaints about him.”

“I know, sir,” Frank said.

“Are any of the prisoners unaccounted for?”

Cain started to speak and then changed his mind. He’d gone through the roll call. He could have told the warden that the new prisoner, Molly was missing, but there was no record she’d ever been there.

“No,” he said instead, “all prisoners are accounted for.”

“It could be an accident,” Frank said. “He was a bit… odd. He could have used his teeth to tie himself to the bed and then not been able to get loose when he needed.

“You’re saying this could have been an unfortunate… accident?”

“I’ve heard of stranger things. Some actor a while back killed himself by asphyxiation when he accidently hung himself.”

The warden shuddered. “And the bed bugs?”

“Were hungry.”

The warden closed his eyes. “Okay, we don’t want this getting out. Clean the room up and for Pete’s sake, call an exterminator.

A is for: Arachnid

Today is day one in the A to Z Blog Tour. Last year I did Monsters, A to Z. This year I am doing Creepy Crawlies, starting with Arachnid's. This is going to be fun.

 

 

a·rach·nid

/əˈræknɪd/ Show Spelled [uh-rak-nid]   

noun


1.

any wingless, carnivorous arthropod of the class Arachnida, including spiders, scorpions, mites ticks, and daddy-longlegs, having a body divided into two parts, the cephalothorax and the abdomen, and having eight appendages and no antennae.

 

Serving Notice

by Lisa McCourt Hollar

Ana parked her car at the bottom of the hill and stared up at the house. The driveway was blocked by a large metal gate and she doubted the resident of the home… such as it was, would willingly open it for her. There were gaps in the fence though, large enough to allow her access to the property and it was her job to serve notice to the occupant. Sighing, and glad that she hadn’t worn heels, she stepped out of the car and made her was to the nearest breach in the failing barricade.

“Probably a good thing I wore jeans today, too,” she muttered. The fence was covered with spider webs. Ana wasn’t one to back away from a job though, so she pulled her scarf over her head and ducked between the two slats. A spider crawled across her arm and she flapped her hand in the air, trying to shake it off. Memories of a basement and hide and seek with her brother came back to her and she shuddered. Why did it have to be spiders?

Shaking the creature off, she waded through the yard, glad for the boots. They came up over her ankle and the jeans, which covered the tops and kept the spiders off her skin. There had to be hundreds of them in the yard, judging from the webs strung across the grass, which had grown out of control. She tried not to think about the tiny, spider bodies she was probably crushing with her feet.

The porch wasn’t much better and Ana wondered about the owner’s state of mine… or former owner, since the house was now in foreclosure. She opened the folder the bank had supplied her, the name Cora Brentwood stood out in bold black. According to the paperwork she was in her late sixties. She didn’t look forward to serving eviction, but maybe this was for the best, living here couldn’t be healthy. Ana was surprised the place hadn’t been condemned long ago.

Spiders skittered out of her way when she stepped onto the sagging porch. She started to reach for a rail, but changed her mind when her fingers brushed against the sticky webbing. Treading carefully she crossed the porch and knocked gingerly on the door.

At first Ana didn’t hear anything but the creaking of the boards under her feet. She worried that the floor would give and she’d tumble to the ground below. Maybe she shouldn’t have come on her own. The sheriff had told her she should wait for him, but he’d seemed… annoyed when she’d told him what she was there for. She knocked again and was just about to tape the notice to the door when she heard a faint voice from inside.

“Coming.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Ana put a smile on her face and waited.

“Can I help you, deary?”  

A woman stood inside the door. She looked like her own grandmother. Ana held out the paperwork. “I’m afraid I am serving notice that the bank is reclaiming its property. You have seven days to vacate the premises.”

“Would you like to come in for some tea?”

“I’m not sure you understand, you haven’t been making your payments. The bank is taking your house.”

“Not before I’ve finished my tea. Please, come in and join me.” The woman opened the screen door. Ana hesitated only a moment before stepping inside.

The interior of the house was clean, much nicer than the outside. She looked around, astonished. “You have a lovely home.”

“Thank you. It’s not easy to keep up with, but I manage.”

“From the outside I was a bit worried…”

“Never judge a book by its cover.” The woman led Ana to a dining room where there was a place setting for two people.

“Is someone else here?” Ana looked around but she didn’t see anyone.

“I’ve been expecting you. Please, have a seat.”

“Do you have any family that can help you move out?”

The woman chuckled. “I’m not leaving. I’ll be here until the day I die.”

She sighed and took a sip of her tea. This was always hard and she didn’t have to explain it to the owner, just deliver the notice. In seven days, if the woman was still there, it would be up to the Sheriff to move the woman and her belongings out.

“My son owns the bank. The eviction was just a ruse. A good one though. He worries that I’ve grown too old to hunt on my own.”

“Pardon?” Ana’s eyes felt heavy. “I think maybe I should be going.” She moved to stand but something seemed to be preventing her legs from moving. She looked down and saw that they were encased in spider’s web. Why didn’t she feel the pressure from the silk threading. Pulling against it, she tried to free her legs. Several spiders ran across her lap, covering her with more of the webbing.

“My babies. They are hungry… and fresh meat is so scarce these days.”

“The sheriff will come looking for me when I don’t come back to town.”

“Daniel… I’m expecting him any minute. He’s my great grandson, you know.”

“No, I didn’t know…” There had to be something in the tea, this had to be an illusion. The old woman’s eyes glistened as she stared at her. They appeared to be multi-faceted, like a spiders. There was a knock at the door.

The old woman moved across the room, her feet making strange clicking sounds. Ana heard the door open and then more strange footsteps.

Ana tried to turn her head. “Sheriff?” Her voice came out muffled. Spiders were crawling across her face, the sticky webbing was in her mouth. Her tongue was numb.

The sheriff took off his coat… four more arms were hidden beneath the heavy covering. He smiled, revealing mandibles instead of teeth. “Dinner looks delicious.”

***

For more spider fun, check out There's Something About Miss Wicker.

Winner 55 Word Challenge: Week Fifty-One

 

 

I'm an idiot. I just realized today I never announced the winner of 55 Word Challenge. So here goes.

 

Honorable Mentions:

 

@nickjohns999: Love the sci fi feel to this story.

 

@bookwormattack: I am wondering what was in the pocket. You've set me up now... I want more.

 

@DavidALudwig: Love the promise this story holds. Everyone has a dream worth working towards.

 

Winner:

@Angelique_Rider:  I like the buildup. You know something is about to happen.

 

Gloaming

“Daddy, look! A swing!”

Small feet patter through the leaves, followed by a larger set.

“Push me!”

The chains squeak noisily.

“This swing hurts my legs.”

Rough gouges ring the edges of the seat.

“Want to get off now…”

The movement slows, then stops.

“Daddy….”

Eyes of fire and sharp-toothed mouth engulf the swing.

Silence.

 

Thank you everyone for entering. Forgive the delay and see you in just a few days.