The Summer Solstice dawned… or never set. The sun’s rays lingered on house rooftops far longer than they had to. Pastoral and serene, Lysvika was the perfect backdrop for the festivities–the verdant pasture and placid wildlife made the longest day of the year stretch with quiet persistence.
17-year-old Erica was an avid blogger–the solstice gave her the perfect excuse for blog research. Lysvika was the perfect abode for myths and legends–banshees stalked, elves whispered from window eaves, and spirits drifted all summer. Erica set herself on exploring the legend of the Sun Walkers–they scoured the Earth on the longest day, pilfering the shadows from the unwary to keep from fading.
Her grandmother’s warnings rang like irritating wind chimes in her ears–“Don’t leave home when the sun sets–they come for your shadow.” Erica took them with a lifetime of sea salt–they were just another of Grandma’s bedtime draugr.
Until he appeared. Right behind her. No footwear. Mirroring her every gesture.
It was before her. Beside her.
Everywhere.
Erica’s legs never moved this fast before–she stumbled into the village church, covered in panicked sweat. Her shadow flickered ominously by the ancient stained glass windows.
She hid until dusk.
A dusk that never appeared.
EricaΒ wasn’t in bed the next morning. Her mother found her shoes–by the church altar.Β
Erica did reappear. Waiting for someone else. Following. Mimicking their gestures.
Her blog auto-uploads every year– a figure standing behind.
She no longer chased in the light–some things only survived in the shadows.
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No one saw Mr. Chee leave the Assisted Living Community–there was just his crossword, half-completed, a half-eaten boiled egg and a cup of half-drunk coffee.
Ching, the night-orderly, grumbled. Stuck in a rut. The money wasn’t enough–she had to support her three sons, now that her half-baked husband had taken off.
She bumped into the new door while sweeping. It was never there. Brass frame, freshly varnished.
She rapped gingerly. No response.
She opened it– and entered.
Never returned.
The neighbors mentioned grumbling, in Mandarin: “Ho hui (regret).”
The staff now avoid that door. Escape wasn’t freedom, but another blocked exit.
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Please find a book of my horror microfiction, Echoes in the Dark, free for download here.
f you like this story, do join me on Patreon! Buy this blog a coffee β it keeps the words flowing and the lights on! βYour kind donation via Paypal would be greatly appreciated!
Please find a book of my horror microfiction, Echoes in the Dark, free for download here.
The hotel room was the epitome of luxury–a state-of-the-art television set, a full mini bar with every cocktail known to man and a plush, way-too-comfy king-sized bed. All set against a Victorian Gothic backdrop, complete with ornate pillars and a balcony that would have made Romeo elated.
Opulent, too opulent. Odd. Lennox could hear whispers of unease in the air.
Perhaps it was all that luxury. Or the way the mirrors seemed to follow him around.
Surrounding him, closing in.
Or the whispers. Ones that played like a distorted podcast on repeat. Phrases that he had heard before. His father’s voice, in dissonant Mandarin, telling him to leave the home. Classmates who congratulated him on his ‘happiness.’ Girls who passed him by and told him, βni hen mei (you’re beautiful).β.
He caught sight of his reflection in one of the mirrors.
He turned–and jumped.
The mirror showed who he was, and who he had buried.
He was in a glamorous sequin jacket dancing with someone he’d met at a Pride Parade.
He woke up in the hallway, cowering from the weight of his nightmare. He leaned against the wall, hauling himself up.
The room door was open.
He stepped in gingerly. The same mirrors lay around the room.
Still threatening. Accusing.
A chambermaid passed by. He ran out and grabbed her by the shoulder.
“You must have passed me several times. Did I go in?”
She shrugged, eyeing him up and down. “No. I left you alone. Figured that you’d had a night of it. None of my business.” She walked off, whistling.
Lennox swallowed, hard. He stepped in, again.
To see smiling versions of himself in the mirror.
His mom and dad’s reflections appeared. He gazed at them, worry filling his eyes.
They didn’t speak. But looked him over, their gazes filled with curiosity. His mother reached for him in a virtual embrace. His father seemed to reach for his shoulder, hesitant.
Some mirrors didn’t show the truth–Lennox knew that it was up to him to decide what his reflection was.
f you like this story, do join me on Patreon! Buy this blog a coffee β it keeps the words flowing and the lights on! βYour kind donation via Paypal would be greatly appreciated!
Please find a book of my horror microfiction, Echoes in the Dark, free for download here.
If you like this story, do join me on Patreon! Buy this blog a coffee β it keeps the words flowing and the lights on! βYour kind donation via Paypal would be greatly appreciated!
Please find a book of my horror microfiction, Echoes in the Dark, free for download here.
June, 2045. The high school auditorium welcomed its graduating batch of students, gathered in front of the stage, eyes trained on the podium. They awaited their valedictorian to grace it with her presence. Mia Pang was that valedictorian. The soft-spoken student had always aced her classes. But like everyone else, she had a few skeletons (or prototypes) in her closet. She was a Generation B Variant– a prototype cyborg enhanced with a super-intelligent, artificial brain. The school had chosen her to deliver that year’s valedictorian speech. She stepped onto the podium, trying to get over her stage fright by telling herself that the members of the audience were a bunch of cabbages. But the school’s principal stood up, brows furrowed, a scowl forming at the corners of her mouth. “Please don’t deliver that speech yet.” Her voice reflected an uneasy calm. “The school’s new Cyborg Filters have just detected you as inhuman. Don’t worry,” she responded to the buzz of the audience. “It’s just a formality. You know Mia, or at least we thought we did. I’m sure all will be clarified. Mia, please step aside.” An uncomfortable buzz blanketed the audience, crescendoing as the school’s Cyborg security hauled her out of the hall. And into its office. “Your submission contains phrases inconsistent with human neural maps.” Mia’s eyes darted over the room in furtive movements, finally landing on the control room. With a nod of her head, she rigged its controls. Her voice flooded the auditorium. She steadied herself, fingers brushing her cheeks. It was a learned habit; one borne out of a need for disguise. “I have a confession. I’m not a complete biological human. I’m not real, by your standards.” She paused. The auditorium fell silent. “But I have grieved. I have mourned breakups. I may be the valedictorian, but I still teared, like you, when my grades weren’t good enough to meet the expectations of my parents.” She faced the principal. “How does that make me less worthy of humanity?” The school’s cyborg security guards arrived in full troop, grabbing Mia by the arms. In almost perfect synchronicity, the audience held up flat glass mobile phones. A sea of neural lens had swallowed the proceedings. Mia’s final words hung uncomfortably static in the air, covering it like a blanket that was too warm. Protest cyborgs and humans alike held vigils for her. Mia didn’t graduate with her peers–she was thrown, like other cyborgs, into a storage locker. Years later, her name was on a plaque along with an epitaph. “I have mourned, I have hoped. With every pound of flesh, and every drop of blood.” “To be alive is not to have flesh, but to have meaning.”
If you like this story, do join me on Patreon! Buy this blog a coffee β it keeps the words flowing and the lights on! βYour kind donation via Paypal would be greatly appreciated!
Please find a book of my horror microfiction, Echoes in the Dark, free for download here.
If you like this story, do join me on Patreon! Buy this blog a coffee β it keeps the words flowing and the lights on! βYour kind donation via Paypal would be greatly appreciated!
Please find a book of my horror microfiction, Echoes in the Dark, free for download here.
If you like this story, do join me on Patreon! Buy this blog a coffee β it keeps the words flowing and the lights on! βYour kind donation via Paypal would be greatly appreciated!
Please find a book of my horror microfiction, Echoes in the Dark, free for download here.
The Getting Literal Writing Alcove 