The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Ivy by Alyson Faye Beyond the curtain, beyond her web, the trees cluster, ever tighter, the greenery ripples, sighing, whispering of who is coming Snake-like, swollen vines slither and Ivy, oh so lush, her curves a symphony, of damnation and destruction, rises from the mossy divan rested, reborn, and rapacious for the upcoming union.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! The People in the Painted House by Sue Renol The painting had been on my grandmother’s living room wall since before I was born. I’d even seen it in the background of pictures of my parents when they were little. It was old, definitely older than Grandma, and it always creeped me out.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! The Ghost of Me by Melissa R. Mendelson I laid in the dark, my body melting into the mattress beneath me. I wanted no part of the world. I didn’t care what was happening outside my door, but the phone never left my hand. And I messaged those I thought were real, but they never filled the empty spaces…

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! The Bone Harvest  by Kathleen McCluskey The house in Wraith Hollow was built with local timber - oak that “bled” when it was cut. The carpenters said that the sap ran as red as rust and clung to their hands like syrup. They laughed about it then, wiping their palms on their trousers. Never noticing how their palms slightly blistered after or how their dreams were filled with whispers from the rafters.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! To Rot by Elizabeth H. Smith Decay feeds the soil so what’s above may flourish. The rot and congealing innards of the dead give birth to new life. It’s the cycle demanded by nature and forced upon all who are born, and so eventually, we must die. This is what Ed told himself while he admired his temple of gourds.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! November Remnant by Lynn Ruzzo Leaves left their homes and joined the masses in the exodus from the trees. They joined together on the street where the old hat lay. People walked past it, seeing, but ignoring it. “Don’t touch it,” they said, “we don’t know where it’s been.” It sat unloved and unwanted, its owner nowhere to be found.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! We Have to Talkby Marge Simon Darling, we have to talk. On this very sofa you proposed. We had marvelous sex right here for the first time, do you remember? Tonight, I found your love letters to her. Little pieces of them litter the carpet. Did you ever come home? Did we fight?

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Good Bonesby Mary Ann Peden-Coviello The real estate agent drove her two young prospects up to the Victorian two-story with the wide front porch. “Yes, indeed, it’s a bit of a fixer-upper. But the seller’s motivated, and the price is right. The house has what they call ‘good bones,’ for sure.” “You say you’re on your honeymoon?

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! The Gourd Fall by Donna J. W. Munro By rights, the queen of the Fall should have been Sorcha’s, eldest daughter of the Mclau clan. They’d won the spot with their industry, more children, more live goats, more strung fruits, and a field full of gourds as big as her head. The gourds were the thing that ought to have sealed the deal.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Allergen by Elaine Pascale Her throat is swollen with an itch that cannot be scratched. Her face is full of boils that ooze and weep. Her mouth contains sores that are red and pyretic. She feels dizzy, nauseous, clumsy and clammy. She has no regrets. She forces down a potion of bat wings, millipede legs, and frog tongue.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Mycelium by Amanda Worthington My self is mycelium Infinite, Underground Concealed by the palatable earth above Eager tendrils reaching unseen Seeking the decay that flows rich and sweet From the broken world above These shadows nebula-thick Form the murky walls of my nursery I hunger for the things of the light But I do not contemplate the sun that makes them grow…

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! This Creepy House  by Alex Grehy All the creepy creatures come to roost in my dark domain. At close of day the bats fly in and roaches play with millipedes, while spiders thrum their resonant webs to entice a net of juicy flies that dance a frenzied jive; they may escape captivity but arachnid poison means…

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Blue Moon Harvestby Tawny McCarty We stacked the hearts in the root cellar, ridged and resting slow, skins the color of old bruises in the hush below the snow. A moon that lost its sky in the place where willows never weep And dust keeps score against its rationed sleep We fed them dark, we fed them ash, we fed them careful names, …

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! The Mad Hat by Rie Sheridan Rose I don’t remember where I came from. I do know my materials are top of the line. Butter-soft Corinthian leather stitched with silk; band braided from leather sourced from Spain and dyed with precious saffron. I am elegance personified as far as hats go. The first owner I remember was an old wise man…I believe they called him a “wizard” as we traveled through the world.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! The Stillness   by Kathleen McCluskey The world ended without thunder or flame. It ended in silence, the kind that seeps into your bones and fills every hollow space. No one could say when the sound began to fade. First the distant hum of traffic dulled, then the birds grew mute until finally even the wind forgot how to move.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Patient Zero  by Kendra Smart   The screampark was alive as haunt by haunt the lights were flickering with pops and buzzes. The outdoor haunts had thuds and clanks as the relay were activating and bringing the mechanisms to life. All of the string lights over the path lit the ways to fear, and the Main Stage.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Willa Wispby Mary Ann Peden-Coviello We was drunk. No excuse, yeah, but we was. Got thrown outta the bar ’cause Jimmo made some kinda crack about the barmaid’s backside. Well, she shoulda been able t’take a friggin’ joke, shouldn’t she? Was it our fault the half-witted lumberjack tendin’ bar with her was her brother?

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Gentleman Jim by Naching T. Kassa “Over here,” the Reaper said. She motioned toward a trail, lit by jack-o’-lanterns. Gentleman Jim Ford, freshly dead, followed the robed figure through the trees. “Would you mind if I asked a question?” Gentleman Jim asked. “I would not,” the Reaper replied, her voice soulless and hollow.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Bad Girls Run to the Woods  by Alex Grehy I remember the day my courses started how I was kept indoors, no longer a girl, no longer allowed to laugh or run or play. I remember how the trappings of womanhood were suddenly the community’s concern. How my mother took me to the Goodwives…

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Strongholds of Both the Blessed and the Damned by Amanda Worthington My family’s totem represents the death of flight A hollow skull accented in the feathers of the still-alive Probably plucked without consent and arranged Like flowers at a tombstone I resent my family But I quite like the totem Token of endurance that it is…

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Surviving Reprisal by Elizabeth H. Smith The morning sun burned her eyes. She’d been in darkness too long, shrouded in rags, planted without a marker by a man she’d never forget. The scent of his blood remained with her, a memento of the claw marks she left. The heaviness in her heart and soul preserved her despite the worms crawling in and out of her flesh.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Punkins Gotta Punkby Kim Richards In the misty evening night Arise the Punkins Eyes glowing firey bright They rock and roll through tall trees Seeking a new prey To devour their souls Empty porch steps beckon them Squat and grin so wide Waiting for mayhem’s hour Taking Jack-O-Lantern’s place…

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! No Place Like Homeby K.R. Morrison “There’s no place like home!” I had uttered those words when I’d first woken up/gotten back/whatever. Everyone was so relieved to see me come back to life. But now that line didn’t seem to work anymore. Maybe it was because the cops had brought me home in the wee hours more than a couple of times this past month.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Who Waits For You In The Endby Melissa R. Mendelson “There are two estranged sisters. One is Karma, the other is Life. Karma has been talking incessantly lately, but Life is lost for words.” “I thought this was supposed to be a ghost story.” “Shut up, Bob.” “You shut up, Amy. She invites all of us over for a good Halloween party, and we’re crashing at her house since her parents are away.

The Ladies of HorrorPicture-Prompt Writing Challenge! Burn Pit Prophet by Donna J. W. Munro  By the time the last flame died, and the coals cooled, I wasn’t myself. My sun brown skin crackled with black ridges, weeping valleys, and crusted plateaus. My braids had melted away leaving only the wiry strands of metal I’d plaited in before they’d come for us.