Two sentence horror story

Task for the week: inspired by the Daily Mail’s story about Reddit’s thread, to write a two sentence horror story or thriller. Here are my attempts:

It was only when I looked on the mirror that I realised something was awry. There were two pairs of eyes staring back at me, and neither were my own.

Every time I look down at my hands I see them wrapped around my partner’s neck. He died last year, accidentally they said.

I was surrounded by a gaggle of children. Each child had bloodstained lips.

As my mouth filled with soil, silencing my screams, I realised there was no way out. This was not the death I had foreseen.

Ghost story II

Task for the week: to write a ghost story based on the group plot idea. The bones:
• Farm workers cottages are being converted/modernised/refurbished.
• An object is found under the threshold of one of the doors.
• The object is kept by the owners but harbours a ghost.
• The ghost is a child from the 1850’s.
• The ghost appears to the children in the house.
• The ghost died in suspicious circumstances even though his parents didn’t suspect this.
• The incident/death was at harvest time.

At the time having the builders in had seemed like a good idea, but the cottage was old and for every problem put right, another problem seemed only to be around the corner. Progress had been slow and Melissa was not a patient person. With each unforeseen extra she could see the pound signs flashing before the builders’ eyes and she was seriously wishing she had agreed a price in advance. She saw now that she had ventured into the build naively, being more obsessed with the end vision than realising all the upheaval it required in between. All she wanted was a place fit for her growing family; traditional cottage meets modern convenience. They had been remodelling and extending an old farm worker’s cottage and insanely were trying to live in the house at the same time. With two young children this had not, with hindsight, been a great plan. The dust seemed to get into every pore of the house. Even bits untouched by the building works seemed to be covered in a thin film of grime. It was impossible to keep on top of things no matter how much dusting or vacuuming Melissa did. Thankfully they were on the home straight now; there was little left that could go wrong as the builders were due to finish today.

“House of Shadows”: book review

This week we reviewed “House of Shadows” by Pamela Hartshorne. This is a time slip ghost story where modern day Kate keeps recalling memories belonging to Tudor-day Isabel. This element of the novel is well executed, shifting fluidly between snippets of memories from the past and those from the present. I did find the ending rather too predictable, having worked out the likely conclusion by mid-way through the book. However, it is well written and easy to read, with the worry of Kate and Isabel about whether they are going mad really pulling you into the story and making you want Kate to succeed in her identification of why Isabel is haunting/possessing her. The Tudor content is convincing and interesting. The characterisation is strong. All in all a decent read, as even though I didn’t find it particularly eerie or scary and the story didn’t feel that original, it did keep me turning the pages.