Weekly Prompt: Unexpected Monster
The kind of horror that blindsides you, with skin crawling shock.
Welcome to the third weekly challenge for October, where the theme is Oh, The Horror!
As we said in the Monthly Theme announcement, the goal is to get you to write a truly terrifying horror story.
The best of which we’ll to collect in our first themed anthology.
You’ve told campfire tales, huddled in the darkness around the flickering flames. Then you sent shivers down our spines by telling us what lies beneath. Making us hide under our covers, hoping whatever it is stays down there where it belongs.
Now we want you to tell us a story about an unexpected monster.
Jillian has given us our example story this week by premonition or by luck, she’s told a tale most sinister and heartbreaking, for the all too normal feel.
The normality that lulls you into a false sense of security. The blanket of trust that smothers our suspicion. A useful sense that kept you alive on the plains, dodging predators that had the decency to roar when they came for you.
We want you to plant the terrifying seeds of a normal everyday horror.
The unexpected monster. The creep in the street. The vicar of wicar. The postal worker with the strain that is plain. The smile that hides the darkest desires. The skin crawling notions that lie beneath a calm surface.
Lure us into a sense of peace. Then rip it away and leave us shattered.
Go on, do your worst.
Challenge Requirements
Your story must:
- Feature an unexpected monster
- Be minimum 100 and maximum 1000 words long, excluding the title, subtitle, and any post-story bio/links. (We use Medium’s own word count feature.)
- Be fictional, even if it includes factual information or concerns.
- Use “Unexpected” as one of your five tags.
Example Story by Jillian Spiridon:
“Despite my ghoulish reputation, I really have the heart of a small boy. I keep it in a jar on my desk.” — Robert Bloch
OR
“Walls have ears. Doors have eyes. Trees have voices. Beasts tell lies. Beware the rain. Beware the snow. Beware the man You think you know.”
Songs of Sapphique (Catherine Fisher)
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