Absolute Write’s October Prompt

This month’s prompt: Some Things Dark and Dangerous

Choose a word from this list of Lovecraftian words or this list of obscure words (or one from both if you’re feeling ambitious). Use your chosen word(s) to craft your post. It doesn’t have to be Lovecraftian or even horror, but it should be dark, or unsettling, or scary, or Halloweenish in general.

As busy as I am, I just couldn’t turn this down. After-all, I am a horror writer, right? What helped make this easier was that in forgetting my memory stick at the cottage (it has ALL my writing on it), I had to dig up my back-up files on my computer. In doing so, I uncovered a bit I wrote a while ago based on an observation of a local house, by a good friend of mine. Her words? “I always see a faint light in the windows but never any tire tracks in the snow on the driveway.” Now you know how my mind works. Run away!

As always, at the end of this post is a list of the other participants. Take a moment to browse through their contributions as well. Remember, all bloggers love comments.

‘There’s No Place Like Home…’

 No matter how much Alan shoveled, he made no headway. The snow laid waist deep about him, silent, glittering and unbudging.

With a sigh of defeat, he trudged back into the house. His current lot in life wasn’t what it was hyped up to be. “Greener pastures” his church minister had said. Ya right. The same drudgery, only now he had even less impact on it.

He slumped into his armchair in the Stygian darkness of his foetid living room, the picture window allowing only a few feeble rays of light to penetrate the grime coating its surface. He stared miserably down at the undisturbed dust on its arms, and sighed.

He returned his gaze out the window at the white shroud of death coating his lawn and watched as a pale Pontiac crept by, its tires whining at their lack of traction.

The world just kept right on spinning passed his door like he didn’t even exist.

He remembered when he had a purpose, when life held more promise than the dawning of the next day.

A familiar rattling gasp broke him from his self-pity, and he looked down at the source. Alan gazed at himself with morbid fascination. The broken, hunger decimated, form lay where it had for the last three months. How could he last so long? It was unnatural.

“ALAN!! Stop that horrid noise.” The harsh voice of his wife from the other room caused Alan to cringe and the eyes of his living corpse to slowly open.

Alan could feel it happening again, and as before, fought in vain against the pull. But like an elastic band stretched taunt and released, he snapped back into his body. He looked out through phlegm covered eyes, trying not to draw another breath, least he draw her undivided attention. He didn’t breathe again until her Cthulhuthian shadow faded from the doorway.

Participants and posts:
orion_mk3 – http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com (link to this month’s post)
Ralph Pines – http://ralfast.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Cath – http://blog.cathsmith.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Diana Rajchel – http://blog.dianarajchel.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Alynza – http://www.alynzasmith.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
pyrosama – http://matrix-hole.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
dolores haze – http://dianedooley.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
leahzero – http://www.leahraeder.com/words (link to this month’s post)
AbielleRose – http://stainedglassinthenight.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
pezie – http://www.erinbrambilla.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
MysteryRiter – http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Inkstrokes – https://drlong67.wordpress.com/ (You are here)
AuburnAssassin – http://clairegillian.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Alpha Echo – http://writersramblings81.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
robieae – http://thepondsofhappenstance.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
JSSchley – http://www.jessicaschley.com/ (link to this month’s post)
spacejock2 – http://halspacejock.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Madelein.Eirwen – http://madeleineirwen.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)