"Just some moldy birthday cake, so far, Sarge." A banner seemed to float in the air, wishing a happy birthday to Joshua. A dark trail had seeped from the chocolate ice cream container sitting on the table, reminding her of congealed blood. A lingering darkness seemed to cling to everything, and it creeped her out. Her lungs felt infested with fear, as if whatever happened here was contagious. She wiped her palms on her sleeves, then moved her flashlight along the wall. A pile of presents sat on the sideboard, their cheerful wrapping in contrast to the scene.
What happened here? Where did these people go? Didn't they band together when they realized something terrible was happening? Didn't they try to escape? No chairs overturned, nothing amiss. It was as if all at once, everyone simply vanished. All forty-seven of them, children and their parents, just gone.
A sparkle in the kitchen caught her eye. A piece of dust, floating in the air, had caught the beam of the flashlight. Erica looked more closely when another mote sparkled at her, then another.
"I think I've found something, Sarge." Her hand reached out, touched one of the dust motes sparkling in the air. It attached to her finger. She stared in wonder as a second speck landed on her hand, then a third. Her fear evaporated, and a warm feeling of peace fell over her. More sparkling dust motes landed, until her entire arm was covered in glitter.
"Get out of there, Clark! That's an order!" Sarge screamed at her through the comlink as he and the crew watched Agent Clark's arm disintegrate, clothing and all. Agent Clark was beyond responding by that time. When the comlink went dead, Sarge turned to the group.
"Burn it down. All of it."
This is what happens when I attempt home repairs, such as trying to reattach a vacuum hose. Sorry if it is a bit gruesome.
The prompts for this week are ice cream and cake.
The prompt is the third definition of the word BAND.
Oh, how wonderful! I will say that what that glitter did to Erica is how I feel about it every single time it infests my house. I thought it was so effective how she became victim to the very thing that she had been musing about.
ReplyDeleteGreat story.
Fantastic! Great language and how she processed what she saw and what transpired is so real. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Deleteha I LOVE LOVE this. particularly because I HATE HATE glitter.
ReplyDeletegreat detail to move this along nicely.
I don't like glitter, either! Thank you for reading.
DeleteGruesome, but very, very creative! Hope your vacuum repair was less deadly. :)
ReplyDeleteSo far, my attempts have been thwarted, but I am not giving up. Thank you for reading!
DeleteOh, very creative! And great job building tension in the scene.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteGlitter, seems so innocuous. But I have been known to call it demon spawn....
ReplyDeleteGlitter just won't go away! Thank you for reading.
DeleteVery well done! I like how you played everything against type. For example, ice cream was like blood, people died celebrating someone's birth, glitter was a weapon! Ha! Ha! Very clever and inventive writing. I have always found that the best horror has a touch of humour embedded into it. Thank you ever so much for linking up this week.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to be in the company of so many terrific writers. Thank you for reading!
DeleteI, too, found your whole story sprinkled in humor. Just loved the power of the glitter (and I hate when people send it in envelops and it flys all over when you age the note/invitation out!) to disintegrate. You always do a dark tale justice!!!
ReplyDeleteGlitter never really goes away does it? No matter how much you vacuum or sweep there is always one piece.
ReplyDeleteOh WOW, my friend, I really liked this for the descriptions and the sci-fi feel to it. Plus glitter puts you in a trance doesn't it? It's pretty and deceptive and you used that in such a unique way.
thanks for linking up!!!! xo
Thank you, ma'am!
DeleteThis was terrific--the mystery, the humour, the suspense, the creeping horror, all of it. I agree with Tom's comment about the effectiveness of playing things against type. That works so well with horror, the ominous sense that nothing is to be trusted--even a seemingly innocuous mote of glitter!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
DeleteI have a five year old who loves crafts. Glitter has spawned in my air, and it's not pretty. I loved watching her move from a bit condescending to being at peace, right before everything went south.
ReplyDeleteWow. You created this other worldly scene with this story. Great use of descriptive words to establish the atmosphere. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThank you, sir!
DeleteIf only every bit of dust would be magical glitter.
ReplyDeleteVery cool story.
Thank you for reading!
DeleteHoly cow, this was great! Sometimes it does feel like the dust will overtake me (but mine doesn't look like glitter...it's more like snowflake strands of pet hair clinging together. Gross!)
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's what my dust looks like, too! Thank you for reading.
DeleteThat was exciting! Wasn't expecting that. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteSo much better than having to clean up the mess. Just disintegrate! Hahaha And to be consumed by glitter!!!
ReplyDeleteLoved this, Tina!
Great last line, too.
When I attempt home repairs it's generally pretty gruesome. Sometimes I wish I had a destructor ray that I could use whenever my house got too dirty. Then I could just start over!
ReplyDelete