Horror in a Flash - a collection of prompt based live-writting

Prompts: 1 The Fillpino revolt... 2 How the Spider Woman... 3 Atis...

Ever wonder if a horror story can be created out of the prompt "The Fillpino revolt against Espana and how the US used that to gain a strategic foothold in the south China sea?"

This is a collection of flash fiction written on the fly. I asked for prompts and then wrote each piece right then, taking between 15 minutes to an hour. Some came out okay and some not so much.

Prompts:

The Fillpino revolt against Espana and how the US used that to gain a strategic foothold in the south China sea.

How the Spider Woman in the jungle lures children and maybe military men to their deaths.

 Atis - It is a fruit from the Philippines. It is like an apple slightly sweet and soft. In English it is Sugar Apple. it looks white inside with big black seeds.

Joe sat on the couch, watching yet another DVD about various historical battles. All of them were mainly slides, the kind you’d find in a classroom, with one man droning on and on about what should have been exciting bits of history. He was currently talking about the Filipino revolt against Espana and how the US used the event to gain a strategic foothold in his mother’s fine china.

No wait, that wasn’t quite right. Joe shook his head, but the words still kept getting jumbled up. Now the man was talking about how the Atis, an apple like fruit from the Philippines had been instrumental in the revolt, as it could be used as a grenade if properly toasted in gunpowerder.

“Oh great,” Joe said, getting up from the couch. “I must be dreaming. I hate falling asleep watching DVDs.”

He slapped himself in the face, trying to wake up. He had to finish watching, or he’d never be ready for his finals in time and he seriously doubted his professor would accept fruit grenades and fine china as part of his answer.

The slap didn’t wake him up and the television faded away, revealing a long path into dark overgrown jungle where the wall of his apartment used to be. Joe shrugged and stepped over to the portal. If he couldn’t wake up, he could at least enjoy the dream and it was shaping up to be much more interesting than monologues about dates and figures.

The jungle grew thick under his feet, slippery and rough compared to the sponging brown carpet of his living room. The trees above stretched out over him, blocking out any light and forcing him down a tight path that became more of a tunnel the further he went.

A small light appeared ahead, illuminating the tunnel of trees and plants in a dull red glow, that swam around, making it almost seem as if he was underwater. He turned around and only saw a wall of jungle, that edged closer, forcing him to continue on towards the source of the liquid red light.

He came to a small boxy clearing, with the ruins of an old stone temple scattered about, like a child had knocked over their blocks in a fit of rage. There was a hole in the middle of the clearing, like a crudely dug well. The red light shone out of it like a waterspout, rising up and spreading over everything. Joe stepped over to the hole and peered inside and had to shield his eyes from the intense red glow solidified in the center of the hole like blood pooling in an open wound.

“Greetings Joe,” a voice said from the light, a dark voice that crawled up the sides of the well and spilled out with the light.

“This is some dream,” Joe said and the light intensified for a moment, causing Joe to back away.

“This is my dream, not yours,” the voice said. Joe could see a form emerge from the light, a large twisted form that made no sense.

A woman clawed her way from the hole, but she was only a woman from the waste up. The rest of her body was a thick round spider, with eight large hairy legs that propelled her across the ground and over to Joe in the blink of an eye.

The light made the woman look like she was covered in blood, even the long tattered dress that covered the upper part of her body and the long stringy hair that surrounded her head like a veil. Joe tried to back away, but the woman reached out a hand planted it firmly on his shoulder, her grip firmer that a metal clamp.

“I…” Joe forced himself to say something. Everything felt too real, not like any dream he had ever experienced. He could even smell the insect sweat of the woman and the bitter sting of her breath. “I want to wake up.”

“You are awake,” the spider-woman said. “As I said, this is my dream, not yours.” She drew him in closer and held his face to hers. “I brought you here, lured you from your home. I am the devourer of men and women, children and adults, citizens and soldiers.”

Joe struggled to pull back, but the spider-woman tightened her grip until his shoulder exploded in pain and stopped responding to his commands. “What… What do you want with me? I’m no one.”

“And no one will miss you when you’re gone,” the spider-woman said. “You are a risk free meal.”

She opened her mouth and pulled him in closer, teeth growing larger than Joe’s whole body. He screamed as they came slamming down on him, like a bear trap snapping shut.

The end.