Only 24 days left until Halloween! That means only a bit over three weeks to get in all the spine-shivers, gross-outs, hair-on-the-back-of-the-neck raises, and mortified gasps that make the season worth celebrating! Now as I've stated many times before (and I stand by this) I am a huge wimp. Mild chills and passing eeriness are fully sufficient for me--so I'm limiting my horror consumption to single paragraphs. Which is why I've crafted the Six Sentence Chill Challenge!
The concept is simple: in six sentences or less, compose a chilling vignette about a completely mundane object. The challenge is in the brevity (always a challenge for me) and in the fact that your challenger chooses the object.*
I've invited a number of writers I know - both amateurs and professionals - to answer this challenge, compose their own paragraphs, and post them in the comments section of this blog entry. And the target item: a bottle of shampoo.
Anybody reading this is welcome to reply with their own composition, and more than welcome to take the challenge idea and run with it. Happy writing! Here's what I wrote:
The concept is simple: in six sentences or less, compose a chilling vignette about a completely mundane object. The challenge is in the brevity (always a challenge for me) and in the fact that your challenger chooses the object.*
I've invited a number of writers I know - both amateurs and professionals - to answer this challenge, compose their own paragraphs, and post them in the comments section of this blog entry. And the target item: a bottle of shampoo.
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| The brand doesn't matter--it's the terror of hyper toddlers everywhere! |
She smiled when she picked up the bottle of shampoo. It had been her Mother's favorite brand, the one she'd used religiously every day of her life. The distinct perfume inspired so many memories: piggback rides; learning to use make-up in her Mother's bathroom; evenings snuggled together on the couch, watching TV. Now, the shower sending steady rivulets down her face, she opened the bottle and poured a generous amount into her palm. She took a deep wiff before raising it to her scalp. She couldn't feel the lather, of course, but she focused on the scent as rubbed, ignoring the wet sound of maggots and chunks of hair falling on the tiles.
*Unless you invented the challenge, which I did. I got to choose my own. But I did force myself to stick with the first thing that came into my head. And yes, I came up with this idea in the shower.
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| And of course a "Psycho" reference is required. Happy Halloween! |
*Unless you invented the challenge, which I did. I got to choose my own. But I did force myself to stick with the first thing that came into my head. And yes, I came up with this idea in the shower.