Thursday, June 3, 2010

Magpie tale 17

hosts a weekly writing prompt



Using the below photo write a vignette or poem.
Here's mine.


Preparing the ground for a vegetable garden my shovel hits upon something large and hard in the soil. I strike it many times trying to move it and when I am unable I drop to my knees and begin scraping away at it with my glove clad hands. I scrape and scrape and the object begins to take on enormous proportions and I wonder in my task what could this be? It has a shape. As I scrape harder and faster I am shaken to see that I have uncovered what seems to be an eye and a nose made out of concrete. My heart begins to beat faster and my hands dig and scrape furiously. I scream when I uncover the other eye, and the matched pair take on the look of fright.
Oh Lord, I call out as I, in a state of shock, unearth the mouth of this concrete being...
a child with a horrifying look on its face, a mouth wide open in terror. My hands shoot back in quick response to the ghastly image before me and I fall backwards onto the earth behind me. Dare I take another look? Could it be a grave marker that I have uncovered or some evil object buried to contain its evil. The smell of burning wood suddenly seems to stick its finger up my nose and I become aware that night is beginning to  fall.  I look around and the woods nearby take on a sinister appearance.
Don't go out into the woods at night!  I suddenly remembered my grandmother's warning. There's wood witches out there at the top of trees waiting to find children out in the woods alone at night.
 Since childhood I have lived with a fear of dark woods and now I find myself paralyzed  unable to move away from the concrete child below me.
My mouth suddenly goes dry as a bone and I know I can hear my heartbeat in my ears... pounding away as the sound of cackling rises out of the woods. I stare down at the terrified face below me and I hear another voice, small and panicking...Wish yourself stone or she'll eat you. It is coming from the hole.
What do mean? I shout out excitedly...what do you mean?
As I lean closer to hear something more, I feel the sharp stabs of something in my back and blackness flows over my eyes in heavy fabric and the sensation of movement unnerves me.
Too late, I hear a haggy voice say, too... late
and I see myself rising above the trees
into the dark woods.

33 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! You can do the horror genre, too. Excellent story. That stone boy is really creepy ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have the chills...I, who cannot watch or listen to a horror story or movie, even in the day...now, I cannot close my eyes tonight for fear of the dark woods which surrounds me.
    You Did get me!
    So, to shake the fear, I will look to the sky to see the stars of promise of a better day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, I was truly shaken. What a great tale. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My goodness. You scared me. Nicely done.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Awesome, awesome, wonderful! LOVE IT!!!

    Perfect creepy ending.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You gave me chills, lady! The "dark woods" inspire and intrigue us all, I think. Great story!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well, for once in my life I'm glad I don't live near any woods! Suburbia seems nice & safe right this minute :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh my gosh!! I'm going to think of her buried every time I see her! Willies!!!

    (I fixed your link...no worries!)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Gardening will never be the same. Every time my spade hits something hard a chill will pass over me. A very nice tale!

    ReplyDelete
  10. You should get paid for this stuff!
    To me she looks like a child at school that has just forgotten the words to a song in the school play.
    See, no imagination:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Creepy!! I shall be so careful gardening in future!

    Christine

    ReplyDelete
  12. AWESOME! You kept me going up up in the air. What a ride.

    I love the image of uncovering the head. Our mother holds such surprises for us when we work her soil.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Suz,
    Your fiction always comes across so real I can feel the chills up my spine and see the hag fly out of the trees.
    as always; great magpie.
    rel

    ReplyDelete
  14. You do not disappoint! You need to be strong to create an ending like yours...Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  15. aaaaaaahhhhhh! Very scary! I think you set the atmosphere remarkably well. The only issue I had with it was...I'm reading it at night!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow! This was one intense Magpie! And thoroughly enjoyable - even the ending!

    ReplyDelete
  17. A strong story - I hereby vow to stop digging anywhere, anytime for anything. Excellent work!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I could almost taste the fear... bravo! :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yikes! Excellent - I can feel that black flowing robe.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Yikes is right - now I'm scared of the woods at night!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Okay, so much for my solitary strolls through the woods! Well done! A bit frightening but you had me from the opening line. This is as good as any Grimm's!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Ideal writing for children! Grim as Grimm indeed! Almost as scary as the Old Testamet! Eeeeek!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Always remember what your grandmother told you!

    Wonderful Magpie!

    ReplyDelete
  24. oh lord...you know i am never going to get to sleep tonight...i grew up surrounded by woods and heard their footsteps often....masterful magpie!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Definitely my cup of tea!! You do spooky so well..still have a chill.

    ReplyDelete
  26. This gives me the creeps and I like it! Really good, you do spooky very well.

    ReplyDelete
  27. perfectly creepy and exciting tale!

    I posted mine!

    ReplyDelete
  28. It certainly stuck to it's horror theme. Gritty and dark - like the stories I loved as a child!

    ReplyDelete
  29. wow makes me think twice about gardening--I am hearing that horro movie music--zing zing zing

    ReplyDelete
  30. This is good. I could feels the air and smell the burning wood, and the hair stood up on my arm as I felt the fear rise. Thank you for sharing this with us.

    ReplyDelete

If you have landed in my tree..give me a chirp,fluff your feathers...drop... me a comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...