Have you found yourself stuck in the middle of a particularly bad writer's block? Need a dose of inspiration? Or are you simply looking for some creativity to kick-start your newest novel? Then look no further!
Paranormal Prompts aims to bring you w...
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Hi everyone! Welcome to our brand new picture prompt. Remember, you are allowed to interpret the prompts however you'd like, provided that there is a clear link between your entry and the prompt given. For more information, make sure to check out the guidelines below!
PICTURE PROMPT:
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WINNERS:
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They'd tell you of an insatiable Beast with skin as black and cracked as a starless night sky; with claws designed for tearing, ripping through anything like satin ribbons. A Beast that prowled the Northern Woods with one goal in mind. The children. Mothers would tuck their rosy-cheeked babes in swaddles of blankets in an effort to make stealing them away a tedious task. Fathers would patrol their fences, swords and shotguns poised as though those weapons would make a difference. And the children would sleep; most of them scared to death long before a Beast could snatch them up, but some of them in peaceful ignorance. Their ears were deaf to warnings.
The Beast was picky - he preferred well behaved children more beloved by their families and more susceptible to its song - a song of wild river rushes, desperate hunger and silver flutes, that called the children right out of the bundles that they slept in. It was like a dream, a lulling comfortable dream, that the children would remain in forever. And in their place, a darkened cherub would awake; its soul as dark as death and its smile more wicked than a Beast's. And they would tell you that the mothers and fathers can tell their own child from a Changeling, but they wouldn't tell you of how the Beast made men and women out of all them; each Beast worse than the last.
I looked up at the sky, my distress on display for nature around me to see. The snowflakes gently landed on my coat, covering the material. Nothing moved.
"I did everything I was supposed to."
A tear trailed down my cheek, blocking frozen after it fell down my face. I looked around me, wiping my eyes in case of other tears. I didn't want to cry.
"What did I do wrong?"
I crumpled down on the snow, my face still pointed to the distant sun. My hope vanishing from me. My life pulling itself away from me, far away like the sun.
"It's not fair."
I bowed my head, my hands and knees becoming numb from the snow. I didn't care. The cold was welcomed.
I grasped the white powder in my hands, ignoring the stark contrast between my skin and the frozen water. I didn't deserve anything. Not even the black that shaped my hands.
The door to hell just had to be on the ocean, it couldn't have been in a nice little cottage on the outskirts of Dublin or something. I grumble nonsense to myself as I pull myself up the last of the boulders that stand between me and dry land. Whatever Lucifer was thinking when he picked this spot, I'll never know.
I pull myself up to my full height and roll my shoulders, giving a quick glare at the path I'd just traversed. The sand beneath my feet shifts when I step further onto the beach and I hurry over to the car park, wanting to check my nails. Last time, when I'd been summonsed home, I'd chipped one nail and broken another two; I vowed never to let that happen again!
"Hey! Are you okay?" A deep voice calls out. Heading towards me is a rather tall man, wearing a simple pair of swimming trunks and no wedding ring. Great! He'll be so much easier to lure in. I drop my hands onto my hips and smirk as he comes to a stop in front of me.
"Of course. I didn't know we knew each other to be so concerned," I tease and watch, hungrily, as blood rushes to his face. His eyes drop to my arms and his brow furrows causing me to follow his gaze, only to find that my arms are still an inky black. "Don't worry about them, Sugar."
"But you have scales..." He sounds unsure, so I step closer and reach up to squeeze his bicep. I almost cackle when his eyes widen at the sight of my "false nails" – as if I would ever wear those monstrosities! It takes extreme care to keep these nails this long.
"All the better for swimming with," I assure him, my voice dropping a few levels. "Now then, why don't you come with me?" I ask, already leading him back to the water. "We can have a lovely time, swimming, playing, snacking..."
