Corruption
Conceived with the apple…A Prompt for 13 Days of Dark & Weird
It begins as a seed, planted in the mind.
A simple process, really — just present an image, an idea, a fragment to some unsuspecting soul, and then walk away. Will it take root? It might not; some minds are impervious. But in others, well… it will fester, burrowing down to fade silently into the soft places, to put down tiny tendrils that creep.
Into your thoughts they go…
The tantalizing, slow corruption of a completely ordinary object — the fruit of our labor as it were — Eve and the Apple, Persephone and the Pomegranate — there might be a pattern here, women and temptation, irresistible secrets, the command of “No,” — Bluebeard’s wife, anyone? Have you seen her key?
It wears the weather well, doesn’t it? Of course, it only had the one purpose — to taunt and woo her into opening that one… last… door…
Into your thoughts they grow…
They gain power, these everyday things. They unfold into stories, beginning with the most innocent moments and tilting, slowly, under the weight of suggestion (and a little tint of shadow, I suppose) and feverish curiosity, until one day, it is more than just a key, more than just a door, more than just the house on the corner.
Take this dress, for example. It was a perfectly lovely wedding, wasn’t it? (Though… perhaps not for Miss Havisham?). The feast there was not to be believed! Did the photographer know his camera was haunted? It could be ominous, if the image is in the right eye (or if the pen is in the right hand!). The mind turns inward and finds a garden, mottled now with age. What have those roots accomplished? Let us revisit the apple:
It has withered there, surrounded by beauty and hidden in the most obvious places, until we stop to look; shuddering, we return to our world of pretend. All is well, we think. Repeating a mantra. All is well, all is well, all is… until we are bound by the thread of imagination.
What next, we wonder, as some sparkling gem flits by and we are ripe with jealousy, absolutely, enviously filled to the overbrimming green, and here it rolls around again, that little apple, bruised now and a bit warped under the weight of our constant coveting, greed for things to which we do not belong, until we are small, bug-eyed fish-eaters in the deep dark, searching for a flash of gold and waiting.
Take up your pen and show to us the dark forest inside your heart, planted there forever ago by what seed only you will know…
How these roots have grown!
Submissions
If you use this prompt, please copy its link to the bottom of your story so the editors know you found it inspirational.
— Should be 2,500 words or less (if your story is extraordinary, we might accept longer)
— Can be Poetry, Flash Fiction, Short Story, and Experimental forms
— May be genres: Horror, Magical Realism, Scifi, Weird, New Weird, Fantasy, Romance, etc., but should match the dark & weird theme in some way.
— Entries will be published between October 19th-31st. Submissions accepted through October 22nd.
For more details on submission, visit our announcement page, and utilize the Submission form found there.
