Curse

I'm doing flash fiction for this year's A to Z challenge, hope you enjoy!


This one is kind of a follow-on from my A post. 



Curse:


It happened fairly quickly. People started getting ill; they quarantined the entire village, no one could go in or out. Then they started having hallucinations, saying they’d seen a woman in their house, wearing old fashioned clothes and muttering strange things. Then came the animals; cats, toads, owls, clustered around the homes of those who were sick, waiting, watching.

Soon I was the only one who hadn’t been affected by any of this, and I could think of only one reason why: I brought her back. The rest of the village were being punished, even though it was their ancestors who ended her life, so long ago.

I was being spared, as I was the one who had given her life again.

Everyone was cursed, because of me.

Comments

  1. Click3 April 2015 at 10:51

    Ooh, that's creepy. It's got the potential to be expanded into a much longer story. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown3 April 2015 at 12:17

    Talk about guilt!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tasha Duncan-Drake3 April 2015 at 12:49

    Oh dear - moving that slab was no such a good idea after all.
    Tasha
    Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rosie Amber3 April 2015 at 13:31

    Love your theme, I have given you a shout out from my blog today, enjoy the rest of the challenge https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Alex J. Cavanaugh3 April 2015 at 14:25

    Bummer position to be in.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rob Z Tobor3 April 2015 at 14:27

    Clever but is it them that are cursed because they are ill or is it you that is cursed for thinking you have made them ill. . . . . When I say you, I refer to the you of the story teller not you as in Miss Laura.

    Well Done again.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sophie Duncan3 April 2015 at 14:51

    Is there going to be a way out of it, to end the curse? Will there be a part 3?
    Sophie
    Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles
    FB3X
    Wittegen Press

    ReplyDelete
  8. Haneen Ibrahim3 April 2015 at 15:00

    Goody! goody! I love this one, thank you for continuing with the first story :) can't wait for the next (smiles hopefully)
    "Haneen/I Will Never Give you Up (479)"

    ReplyDelete
  9. Keith's Ramblings3 April 2015 at 15:39

    Guess you're not the most popular person in the village! Good story brewing here.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dixie@dcrelief3 April 2015 at 16:35

    Well, stop that! Great post.

    ReplyDelete
  11. betty3 April 2015 at 16:38

    Oh, I wonder what will happen when they realized why they were being cursed and who caused it.

    betty

    ReplyDelete
  12. Annalisa Crawford3 April 2015 at 16:56

    Oh dear, that's a lot of guilt to handle!

    Annalisa, writing A-Z vignettes, at Wake Up, Eat, Write, Sleep

    ReplyDelete
  13. S. L. Hennessy3 April 2015 at 17:17

    OOOH, that's so dark and creeptastic! I love it.

    Good luck with the 2015 A to Z Challenge!
    A to Z Co-Host S. L. Hennessy
    http://pensuasion.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. David P. King3 April 2015 at 17:38

    Guilt can certainly feel like a curse. Awesome way of depicting it! :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Susan Gourley/Kelley3 April 2015 at 20:56

    Sins of the father. I don't believe a person should be punished for something their ancestors did but it makes a great story.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Varsha4 April 2015 at 13:05

    I would love it if you continued this story :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. L.G. Keltner4 April 2015 at 20:04

    I'd feel so guilty! Great story!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Unknown4 April 2015 at 22:15

    I love that story - so creepy and yet touching. Good luck on the A-Z, and have a lovely weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Bevimus5 April 2015 at 23:06

    Yup, I knew that had to be a bad thing.

    I find the sentinel animals most creepy.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Sara C. Snider6 April 2015 at 07:51

    Interesting. The plot thickens...

    ReplyDelete
  21. i b arora6 April 2015 at 15:47

    there is hardly any justice in the world, being punished for the sins of forefathers

    ReplyDelete
  22. Heather Musk6 April 2015 at 20:55

    A brilliant follow-on from Awoken, this has a lot of potential in it Laura.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Angela Yuriko Smith7 April 2015 at 02:12

    Nice bit of writing!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WEP August - Change of Heart

Image
So I actually wrote this piece for April's WEP, but I was ill so didn't get to post it in the end. I'm quite glad, as it suits this month's theme so much more. Change of Heart ‘Are you ready for this?’ Paul asked. Brian nodded, trying to steady his shaking hands. ‘You’re the only one who can defeat him,’ Molly said. ‘We believe in you.’ She stepped back to join Paul. Brian balled his fists as he looked at the huge stone doors before him. He took a deep breath and pushed them open. Before the doors closed, Brian glimpsed Paul and Molly turn and begin to walk away. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness inside. With a whispered word he created light in the palm of his hand, raising it so it would light up the room. It was empty apart from another doorway, much smaller than the first, hidden away in the corner. Brian marched through it and found himself in a large chamber, lit by many flickering candles mounted along the walls. Someone stoo
Read more

IWSG

Image
The Insecure Writer's Support Group was created by Alex J. Cavanaugh as a place where writers can talk about their insecurities once a month, and receive encouragement and support from other writers. It's such an amazing group, it even has its own website now, which you can visit here . This week I'm a co-host! Be sure to go to Alex's page and visit the other people who are co-hosting.  I had such great plans for my writing this month, but not one of them came through. There were three short stories I wanted to get written, and I also wanted to get back to my NaNo edits, but none of that happened. I still have a little time for one of the short stories, though; it's for Kyra Lennon's cat anthology , and it's due Friday! Not much time to do it, but I made a commitment and I will follow through with it!  Even though I haven't got much writing done in the last month (or the couple before that!) I'm not going to let it get me down. I'
Read more

A is for Arachne and Arlee!

Before I get to my Greek Mythology part of this post, at the request of Alex J. Cavanaugh  (great idea by the way, Alex!), I'd first like to thank Arlee Bird for coming up with the challenge in the first place. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be taking part in this amazing experience every year. Thanks, Arlee! This is one of my favourite tales from Greek mythology, so naturally I chose it for my first letter. Arachne was the daughter of a shepherd, and was famous for the beautiful tapestries she weaved. Nymphs would travel from all over to see her work, and to watch her weave. One day, a nymph asked her if her talent was a gift from the goddess Athena. Arachne protested, saying her skill was all her own, and that her weaving was better than Athena's. Athena heard of this, and challenged the girl to a weaving contest. Both sat at their looms and began to weave, nymphs gathering round to watch. Athena weaved a tapestry based on the glories of the gods, showing the
Read more