Writing Prompts

Prompt 1

When she pulled into the gravel driveway, she noticed the door was ajar. It wasn't that that scared her. It was the blood on the handle.

Her fear grew when she entered the house. Her house. Arms full of groceries, she could hardly defend herself should she need to; unless she whacked the intruder with a cucumber. Nothing was out of place. Not a footprint muddied the wooden floorboards, nor a sound broke the silence. Thats when she began to panic.

Silence. Her four year old daughter was never silent, not even when she slept. And where was her husband?

"Shaun?" She called out nervously. No response.

After what felt like an age, she reached the kitchen and placed the grocery bags on the counter. Again, everything looked normal. No sign of a disturbance.

"Hey".

The voice startled her, her heartrate increasing tenfold. With a shaky hand on her chest, she turned to face the source of the voice. Her husband stood in front of her, clearly fresh from a nap.

"Jeez Shaun, you scared me." She scolded.

He frowned and enveloped her in his arms.

"Why? You knew I was here?"

"The door was open when I got back. There was...There was blood on the handle".

She watched as he visibly tensed. He marched towards the now closed door, opening it to examine the handle.

"There's nothing here Elle."

Elle furrowed her brows. Impossible. She had seen it. Crimson and smeared over the silver metal. She approached the door, needing to see for herself.

"It...It was there Shaun. I saw it".

His eyes were filled with concern and confusion. He gestured towards the perfectly clean handle. Not a single speck, smear or droplet in sight. She looked at it every which way.

She was still staring by the time Shaun went back inside to wake their daughter.

She was sure there had been blood. She'd seen it. Or had she?