Hello there!
It's time for the WEP October
thrilling challenge where writers are asked to respond in any way they choose
to Michael Jackson's "Thriller". The options are there for those who
resist reading or writing horror in any form, so some entries might be
'thrilling' in other ways. Myself, I'm rather attracted to vampire stories, so
of course that's the direction I took my entry.
For the second half of my entry, I
incorporated lyrics from the song, mindful that there is copyright on lyrics,
so I changed them. No copyright on titles, thankfully. I also had some useable
pics in my picture folders that I hope enhance the 'thrilling' experience.
“Run, Sadie, Run.”
Sadie slithered down the freezing drainpipe, and bam, her
ballet flats hit the ground. Creeping cold seeped through her shoes, her toes
turned to ice. She slapped her face. Got the blood flowing. Idiot! She should
have worn that ugly sheepskin coat her mother gave her, but she wanted to show
off her milky white shoulders in her red silky dress. To whom? She was about to
find out.
Lucretia, her BFF at her new school
had told her about a ceremony happening at midnight deep in the woods. How
could Sadie miss that?
She shivered along the snowy path
into the wood behind her house. Should have worn a cloak, not this thin shawl.
"Yes, Mom, I'm a stupid cow."
“We moved here to get you away from
those weirdos in Washington State. But you never listen. Don’t whine to me when
disaster strikes.”
“Don’t go walking in those woods at
night”, Lucretia had warned her, “especially on Halloween”.
“Especially under moonlight.” Her
new boyfriend Xavier added on several occasions while they made out in her
room. As he spoke, his eyes gazed at her soulfully, eyes flecked with red which
sorta scared her. “Never, never, never enter those woods.” He thumped the
pillow. “Evil lurks.”
Sadie had almost laughed. Xavier was
so quaint of speech, like he was from another age. But she wasn’t doing trick
and treating with the class like she was some stupid little girl. She was going
to be a scientist. Scientists don’t believe anything they can’t prove.
She passed an abandoned shack by a
frozen stream. She was close.
Close to a grassy glade, a circle of
trees. Then … she saw it, a sight that almost stopped her heart. Horror hooked
her between the eyes like an arrow from a gifted archer. She opened her mouth
to scream, but terror stopped her voice.
Black-clad figures wearing white
gloves, sang in falsetto while they gyrated, their movements strangely elegant,
“Thriller, thriller.”
My God. Who were these copy-cats
singing Michael Jackson’s biggest hit? Her heart hammered so loudly her ears
throbbed. Were her weird new friends playing tricks on her?
The fake-Jacksons swiveled, booed
her, like they saw through the huge tree where she hid.
“Come out, girl, we need your
sweetness.” They sang, clapped, made Michael Jackson moves, bodies jerking.
“You’ll be thrilling, thrilling, our lips will drip with sweet, sweet blood.”
They high-fived, smacked their lips, whirled in the air so many times it made
her dizzy. How long had they practiced to get that right?
Some friends, she thought. Ugh. How
could they scare her like this?
“Run, Sadie, run.” A familiar voice.
A familiar touch. She spun around. No one.
The dancers shot their hands in the
air, their claw-like fingers spasming.
“Come to us, little one.
We need your sweetness.”
“Run, Sadie, run.” An awakening fear
nailed her feet to the ground.
“We crawl in search of blood.
You are the one we crave.”
A cold hand wrapped around her neck,
sharp fingernails pinched her bare shoulders. A creature. Behind her. These
creeps were real! She’d read Twilight; she knew what came next. Razor-sharp
teeth would rip her apart.
“Midnight is so close at hand.
Jaws of death are in the land.”
Oh, no, no, no. Cold dread crept
throughout her body. Then … pfft … maybe … if she opened her eyes, she’d be in
her warm bed in her warm room in her warm house with her cold parents.
But no.
“We demons, we’re closin' in on every
side.” Voices now deep baritone, they formed a ring around the tree, her
prison. In time to the words, they stomped their feet, flew into the air, their
robes flapping around their bodies.
“Darkness falls across the land.
Thriller, thriller night.
We will take your sweetness.
Take you to a better world.”
Woodland creatures squawked and
squawked, wolves howled, then suddenly stopped, adding to Sadie’s terror.
Deep baritone voices seared her
soul. “We will possess you.” And they did, their hands all over her, imprinted
her body with ice. “This night we'll open your eyes to the knowledge you seek.”
Sadie couldn’t see their hooded
faces, but she smelt foul breath, felt rough tongues, teeth, huge, monstrous,
grazed her shoulders. Her knees gave way; she fell into a heap.
“Your body shivers, twitches, but
your cries are feeble. Give up the fight.”
“Leave me alone,” Sadie cried,
wrapping her hands around her neck. “Go scare someone else.”
“Stand and face we hounds of hell.”
They tugged at her hands, exposing her neck. “Let us hold you tight. Thrill us
on this thriller, thriller night.”
They hauled her to her feet like she
was made of air.
She kicked and screamed, but fingers
tore her skin.
“Give in. Give in.
This is the end
we commend.
No mortal can resist our evil.”
“This mortal can.” The familiar
voice again.
The foul stench screamed a
collective falsetto, ‘Ooh-ooh-ooh’, backed away.
“Xavier.” Relief coursed
through her. “Save me.”
“If I don’t take you, they will.” He
stabbed a finger at the demons, their white gloves circling the darkness, their
falsetto voices creeping her out big time. “Ooh-ooh-ooh, oh Master.”
WTF? “Master? Xavier?” She tried to
pull out of his arms, but they felt like iron bands.
His eyes sparkled with red flecks.
“Stay away from these woods, I said, but you didn’t listen. If I let you go
now, you’re dead. I’ll change you; you will live with me forever.”
Sadie felt woozy as Xavier’s teeth
bit her neck. Oh the exquisite pain of discovering the truth. She heard
falsetto voices: “Ooh-ooh-ooh, please give us a go.”
Mom, you were right. I am a stupid
cow.
TAGLINE: Mom is always right!
WORDS: 1039
FCA
STOP PRESS!
For this challenge, WEP is
offering Amazon Gift Cards to three winners to the tune of $20, $15 and $10. If
you have a story that meets the guidelines, join us!
I hope you enjoyed my ghoulish story. Please click on my sidebar to read more entries.
While you're here, I'll tell you
about WEP's December challenge. We'll tone it down a bit from this month.
Roberta Flack said - I think it's the kind of song that has two unique & distinct qualities: it tells a story, and it has lyrics that mean something....Because of [its meaningful lyrics] the [song] can be interpreted by a lot of people in a lot of different ways: the love of a mother for a child, for example, or [that of] two lovers.
Go HERE for more inspiration.
Thanks for taking time out of your
busy schedule to read and comment on my post.
Denise
