The challenge over at TerribleMinds this week was to write a three-sentence horror story.
Writing a three-sentence story is always hard. But after much deliberation, I came up with one. There was but a single problem: although it’s about fear, it’s not really “horror”. As such. So although this isn’t an entry into Chuck Wendig’s weekly challenge, I hope you like it.
Scared
Maude smoothed the crisp white sheet on her lap and said, “When I was a girl I was scared of monsters, but now I’m more scared of Alzheimer’s and dementia and losing my mind so I don’t remember what I was saying two minutes ago. I want you to promise me, son, that if that happens to me, you’ll do whatever it takes to help me die quickly and with dignity. Because when I was a girl I was scared of monsters, but now I’m more scared of Alzheimer’s and dementia and losing my mind so I don’t remember what I was saying two minutes ago.”
Jo Eberhardt is a writer of speculative fiction, mother to two adorable boys, and lover of words and stories. She lives in rural Queensland, Australia, and spends her non-writing time worrying that the neighbour's cows will one day succeed in sneaking into her yard and eating everything in her vegie garden.
Ha! Love it!!!
Yay! Thank you!
brilliant
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
This suggests a fourth sentence to me that makes it a horror, I think… but it’s a bit gruesome so I won’t utter it.
I imagine it’s fairly similar to the fourth sentence I had running through my mind, but I didn’t want to write it. Perhaps that’s a failing on my part. Or perhaps not.
That fear, is true horror! The worst is those ocaasional clear moments when they realize, what a repetitive hell they live in and that it will swallow them up again before they can say BOO.
Great choice!!
Thanks, Judith. When I tried to think of something that terrified me, that’s what I came up with. I’m not sure whether it’s worse to be in the mother’s position, though, or the son’s.
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