Question Of The Week 4-14 2021

What is the most unsettling film you have ever seen?

I don’t remember the name of the film, because I watched it over 30 years ago. It was a horror film. The Twins? No, that doesn’t sound right, but regardless, one scene stays with me to this day. The children are jumping from the hayloft in an old barn, onto a thick pile of hay below. One of the kids hid a pitchfork in the hay at the bottom, prongs up. You see this just before one kid jumps.

For some reason this scene has stayed with me for all these years. As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned to avoid films which might be unsettling much as I have learned to avoid those films filled with violence for the sake of violence.

Funny thing is, I am a huge fan of true crime.

What movie unsettled you?

Response – JSW Prompt 2-24-2020

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It was the endlessness of the miles which staggered him. Mile after mile after mile through the rugged ruins of the world which Once-Had-Been. Mile after mile after mile of wilderness reclaiming all he might remember if only he had the chance.

Nothing was the same, yet nothing had changed. He was foolish to leave the enclave, they said, but they didn’t understand. Their focus had narrowed in the years since the End to nothing more than that which they could see. Circle-Turning People he called them. Always circling around what was left; never remembering what Once-Had-Been.

A Visionary, they called him mockingly. A Rememberer.

Yet the dream memories haunted him like the random skeletons of what Once-Had-Been rising suddenly through the tangle of the wilderness, more forgotten with each vine and branch and wild-bush.

The mouth of the tunnel was barely visible, hidden behind years of trees and brush and deadfall. Far, far away he heard the dream-sound hum of tires on pavement.

 

JSW Prompt 2-24-2020

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JSW Prompt 2-17-2020

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Response – JSW Prompt 1-28-2020

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“What the….” Jason asked as he pulled the car over to the side of the road. The front lawn of his house was covered with limbs and debris. “Did a tree explode?”

“You have exploding trees in your neighborhood?”

“Apparently.”

“I wish our neighborhood had exploding trees.”

Jason looked over at her. “Really?”

She looked at him seriously. “They would protect us from the Maurding Marchmonsters.”

His eyebrows raised.  “What do they have to do with all that… stuff on my yard?

Her look said it all. “Protection, remember.”

“From the Marauding Marshmellows?”

“Marauding Marchmonsters!”

“Oh, so no marshmellows?”

“No!” She crossed her arms and looked out her window.

He smiled.  “Do you think we can in past the exploding tree?”

After a moment, she nodded firmly and he parked the car across the street, stepping out and around to lift her out of the car.

She slid her arms around his neck.  “You won’t let the Maurding Marchmonsters get me?”

He kissed the top of her head.  “Of course not, baby,” he said softly, closing the car door with his hip.

Half way across the street, she was asleep.

JSW Prompt 2-10-2020

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JSW Prompt 2-3-2020

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This week’s prompt includes the following:

 

A storm

An old oak Tree

A scar

 

and GO!

Response – JSW Prompt 1-20-2020

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And who wouldn’t? Enemies, yeah, I could carry on a bit longer, but I didn’t have enough friends left to lose any more. That was a week ago. Yesterday, I buried my last friend.

Life’s a bitch and then you die.

I wish I had that option. Being the living dead does things to you, like not being able to die. Easily, at least. Wasn’t like I couldn’t die, but of the few avenues open for my death, none sounded quick or painless. I’ve been told I’m a coward.

After burying Tony, I spent the rest of the night wandering the cemetery, but there was no comfort in cold stones or upturned dirt. Anyone I might have found comfort with, would have died.

Tony had been my first friend and, ironically, my last. He’d been my lifesaver. Without him, I’d have died the moment I awoke. With me, he’d died instead.

I’d always wondered how the world would end. Fire? Flood? Atomic bombs? Imagine the surprise when everything started to end due to the Undead virus. It was me – Me! – ending the world. Everything I saw, touched, tasted began to crumble to dust. Every person died. If I had known, I would have… what? Caused my own death? Hidden away, far from human civilization? Forever alone?

I am a coward.

Near dawn, I settled down in front of my grave stone, leaning back against hard, cold, stone.

Waiting for the sun.

JSW Prompt 1-28-2020

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Response – JSW Prompt 1-13-2019

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pix by csknotts 2020

 

The snow wasn’t deep, but the day was just beginning. By nightfall, it would be knee-deep if not deeper. I love snow, but not up to my knees, getting into my boots, soaking the jeans tucked into rubber. Today was not the day for that mess.

I had other things to do, things snow couldn’t stop. Time waits for no man, not even me. Especially not a man with a plan.

Shouldering my pack, I set out again, making my way through the trees, already tired. Next time, a smaller target, I promised myself, but kept going. I needed to reach the cabin by nightfall.

By noon, I’d reached the first lake and stopped for a rest. The snow was heavier now, falling faster and thicker, cutting my vision by half. I hadn’t planned on this lake, but I wanted to get home.

Dropping my burden, I clicked open the folding shovel from my pack and started to dig. By the time the snow melted, no one would ever know there was a grave.

Lake-side. A pretty view come springtime.