People used to tell Tim he’d be lonely living up in the shack all by himself.
“Yes,” he’d politely reply, smiling in the way he only did when he was feeling both furious and witty, “that is rather the point.”
He’d been up there a week, alone with the winds, the mountains, and the occasional owl, and couldn’t say he was regretting much. He was getting a lot more reading done.
Still, he wasn’t fond of the shadows in the night. Or the voices. He told himself he was imagining them, but as the cold closed in and the only light was the flickering of distant stars, he found it harder to believe.
On a red dawn, with the mountains looking like the teeth of a wolf after the kill, he saw the footprints in the snow.
They must be mine, he told himself. They must be.
Word Count: 147
This is for Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers. Thanks to Priceless Joy for running the challenge and Yinglan for providing the prompt photo!
Chilling read.
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Thank you!
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Very Interesting 🙂
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Thank you!
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Chilling! Especially for me as I am reading The Willows by Alegernon Blackwood. It has somewhat similar theme. People going to a remote place and not being able to decide whether they’re hallucinating or the nature is seriously out to get them.
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Thank you! I’ve always liked stories with an edge of ambiguity to them.
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I think I’d be heading back to civilisation if I was him. I loved the line about the mountains looking like the teeth of a wolf after the kill.
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Thank you!
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You had me at, “Or the voices.”
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Thanks!
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A great short story.
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Thank you!
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He is reasoning away his fear. Very chilling! Hope he gets the heck out of there! LOL Great story, J.A.!
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Thank you! He probably should, but I don’t know if he will.
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Just your friendly neighborhood Yeti, don’t worry 🙂
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Let’s hope so. Thanks for commenting!
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Spooky tale! =)
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Thanks!
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Hummm.. can you say going crazy? Well done.
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Thank you!
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