Have you found yourself stuck in the middle of a particularly bad writer's block? Need a dose of inspiration? Or are you simply looking for some creativity to kick-start your newest novel? Then look no further!
Paranormal Prompts aims to bring you...
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Hello everyone and welcome to our brand new prompt! This week, we're featuring a picture prompt. Remember that you can interpret our prompts however you'd like, provided that there is a clear link between your entry and the prompt provided. For more information, you can check out our guidelines below!
PICTURE PROMPT:
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WINNERS:
Please note that winners are not listed in any specific order. You can read the rest of the spooky entries in the comments section below!
My friend and I were standing in front of the shop 'The Strange and Unusual Oddities Parlor'. It was dark in there, not much light entered in there. It was filled with artefacts and allnotwhat. Interestingly, it made me and my friend interested and we wanted to see what was in that eerie shop. But before that, we had a quick bite from 'Little Kitchen's', a restaurant best known for its delicious and succulent meat.
We entered the mysterious shop and, oh my! Wasn't the shop beautiful! I went over to a large candle and smelled it. Ah, and then I fell into a delicious slumber.
When I woke up, I saw my friend and a pale skinned man standing next to her. He had long canines, and hair growth was visible from his palms. My friend did expose her canines after, which made me wrinkle from fright. I was in a basement, which was devoid of light. It reeked of decomposing flesh and all around, the only stuff you saw were human bones. It was like a butcher's shop.
My friend cried to the old man,"Dad! I always lure people into this trap, and you always take the first drink! That is not fair!" The old man replied,"Dear, you can have the rest of her. Quick! The manager of the restaurant, 'Little Kitchen's' just called over to place an order for more meat!"
Jacqui stood outside the window, nervously shifting from foot to foot. She'd always wanted to go in, but Mother hadn't allowed it. But now Mother was gone. A frisson of fear ran up Jacqui's back at the freedom to do as she pleased.
She leant closer to the window. Her nose tickled from the grime that clung to it, coming no doubt from the dust devils that followed the quarry trucks as they drove through town.
Dust devils, hehe. She giggled a tiny laugh and looked beyond the funny skeletons, modelled to look like they were dancing, to the tiny figure of a man in a 3-piece suit and top hat tipped rakishly to the side. Except he had red skin and horns curling out of his wavy black hair.
"Devil!" her mother's voice sounded in her head.
Jacqui pressed her fingers against the glass, then her forehead.
When the little man turned his head slightly and winked at her she gasped & inhaled dust. Coughing to clear the foreign particle she looked back with streaming eyes.
Were the skeletons facing that direction before? And the little man - surely his head had been tipped the other way?
Excitement chased fear through her.
She pushed into the dim shop, glancing at the jangle of forks and spoons strung together over the door that acted as a bell.
"Hello?"
An aged woman turned slowly on her stool. Her cloudy eyes looked sharply at Jacqui, but the thrill of fear was stronger this time.
Pretending bravery, Jacqui said, "I'd like to ask about the statue in the window."
"You're just his type,aren't you now?"
"Type?" Jacqui repeated,voice rising. She glanced back at the door & licked her lips.
She started when the old woman said from right in front of her. "Not that door for you." Strong fingers gripped Jacqui's arm. "Come now,lets get you ready for him."
"Ready?" Jacqui looked into the display window,but the statue of the little man was gone.
"Right this way,my sweet. Big night ahead for you." With a tug,the old woman pulled Jacqui forward,deeper into the shop.
The little boy paid no mind to the murmuring that came from deeper into the shop and stood by the front window, staring out of his uncle's oddities parlour. A brush of something against his shoulder distracts him from the translucent figures wandering, lost, along the street.
"You okay, dearie?" The disembodied voice of a long since passed Witch sounded from over his shoulder and the boy smiled in her direction. He had gotten used to the spirit world fairly quickly, having had the gift since birth. "I wondered if you had heard from your uncle lately?"
Without a word the boy crossed the shop floor and shuffled into the backroom, immediately aware of the foul stench. His shoulders dropped and he bit his lip on his way towards his uncle's massive desk, behind which he found his uncle.
"Uncle Willow?" The older man faced his nephew with a bright smile, unaware of the body he'd slipped from still slumped in the chair underneath him. "Are you okay?" His uncle merely nodded, his smile constant, and the boy reached over to pat an icy hand. "Okay, I'll be with Maeve."
The witch looked on as the boy told her about his awful day at school, sad for the boy who hadn't realised the reality of the situation. The little boy ignored the niggling at the back of his mind and kept speaking, knowing that strange and unusual things were to be accepted here in his newly-deceased uncle's parlour.
