Chased by Shadows

6:00 AM Elizabeth Seckman 37 Comments

WEP Blog hop 
WriteEditPublish (Yolanda Renee and Denise Covey) hosts a prompt each month for creative types to hone their skills on. I thought it would be fun to post something for Halloween.
My brain dated it Oct 19-31st...or else my failure to put on reading glasses misread the date. 
Either way, I put it on my calendar for today, but the hop was the 19th-21st. 
So, here is my 406 word short I wrote for the Halloween Boo hop...posted one week late. 
You know...my blog, my rules. 
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Have I lost my mind? I’m not sure I am qualified to answer that question.  
Desperate? Yes. But crazy?  
I don’t know. I’ll let you be the judge.  
It started about a year ago…the shadow haunting.  
I could see them out of the corner of my eye, lingering. At first I thought someone was trying to sneak up on me. But when I looked, no one was there.   
Photo credit Simonwijers Pixabay
Maybe I was going blind—peripheral vision fading first. I made an appointment with my eye doctor. He gave me a thumb’s up. 
Then, I thought maybe my brain was gearing up for a stroke.  
The neurologist disagreed. He said my head was fine. My CT scan showed no tumors, no weak spots, no clots. Nothing out of the normal besides a small spike in the activity level in my medulla oblongata.  
“Could this cause me to see shadows out of the corner of my eye?” I asked the doctor.  
He laughed and said, “No. Though, I could make the argument that you’re a caveman. That area of the brain controls our primal instincts and yours is running in high gear.” 
That should have been good news, but it wasn’t. Not for me—a guy who’s being stalked by shadows. 
They're always there. Morning, noon, and night.
I can't take much more, but I'm not going down without a fight. That's why I’ve got one more appointment before calling it quits. 

Photo credit BogdanaLS Pixabay
My next stop is a visit with a self-proclaimed kick-ass nun who casts out demons on weekends. She seems like a real nice lady. I found her with a Google search of how to get rid of shadows. I got her number from her website and gave her a call. She assured me I wasn’t crazy. She said my shadow figures were low level demons that were sucking away my energy, creating my foul mood.  
Shake the demons, shake the bad mood. 
Keep the demons and eventually, I could be that guy who shoots up a grocery store. 
I begged her to help. She agreed to squeeze me in for an exorcism. A full spiritual cleanse for $666, plus I earn my next service free with my All-Hallow’s Eve BOGO coupon.    
Okay, so now that I say all that out loud, I can see why you’re looking at me like you’ve decided I’ve lost my mind. 
 Maybe, I have. Maybe the nice lady is nothing but a scammer, and I’m about to pay a bunch of money for nothing. 
But you must understand-- I have nothing to lose. Nothing. 
It’s either cast off the demons or go off the ledge…literally. 
Don’t worry, I’ll make it look like an accident. My insurance doesn’t pay out on a suicide, and I do have my family to think of.  
See? I’m using logic…and the use of logic eliminates the possibility of insanity, right?  


Join the goals hop!

Thanks to our hosts LexaL.G, and Tonja  for this weekly good things check in! 




37 comments:

  1. Nothing worse than sitting in the airport overnight.
    Creepy story. Hope the exorcism works.

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  2. This was so interesting and good to read, I must admit seeing shadows would almost certainly put doubt in ones mind but glad everything turned out well with tests.

    Happy week-end
    Yvonne.

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  3. Logic can win out, at least sometimes unless the brain isn't too far gone. Then crazy is fun haha maybe not that kind of crazy though. Great story. Ugg to delayed flights.

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  4. Yay on the clear mammography! I had a biopsy once and yikes, it was bit painful, but all clear here too. Sorry about your son sitting in the airport all night. That's not fun.

    Loved the story. For the first several paragraphs, I thought you were talking about yourself! Silly me.

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    1. LOL. I probably didn't intro it very well. I am the queen of confusion.

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  5. Tara Tyler gets to hang out with all the cool bloggers/writers (I swear I've seen pictures of her with at least five of you guys over the last few months). Fight the jealousy! There, so happy for you Liz and company. The green eyed monster won't get me. Unlike that guy in your story with the shadow problem. I wish him the best but very skeptical about the expensive nun. Glad your mammography went well Liz, thank goodness. At least Caleb's safe and enjoy your bookish weekend my friend.

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    1. I should fly to Jamaica to see you. That would be simply awesome.

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  6. This was nice. I enjoyed it a lot. Seeing shadows would have scared me!

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  7. Congrats on the good mammogram. Definitely a cause for celebration.
    And I loved your story, especially the nun's fee schedule. $666 plus a coupon - how original. :)

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  8. Logic and insanity -- ha! Great job with this short story.

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  9. The short story has a great voice! Good job! I have zero word count for the last 6 months and yet my rump would be the envy of any self-respecting elephant. I'm glad your health is good, your son got home okay, and that you'll get to enjoy the fair with some awesome book buddies! Have a good weekend and Happy Halloween!

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    1. But you have been prepping and marketing an excellent book. I can't wait to read it!!!

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  10. Yes! Excellent news about the mammogram! And love the reference to 666. I wonder if the exact price makes a difference? Must, eh?

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    1. Yeah, it's the most unlucky number...maybe that's not a good thing for our hero. Hmm.

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  11. Creepy story. It's clear that nobody is holding a Hallowe'en vigil for those souls in Purgatory.

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    1. Hopefully he can send his demon hanger-ons on over to Purgatory.

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  12. Love the story. $666 sounds a bargain! Good luck with your goals for November.

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  13. Great story! I definitely wonder how it ends. ^_^

    Best of luck with your November goals!

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    1. You know me, Misha- queen of the happy ending. If a positive ending is possible, that's where I lean :)

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  14. Hmm, sounds like the nun might be a little suspicious! But a BOGO coupon would entice me too! *LOL* Happy Halloween! :)

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    1. I do love a good BOGO myself. In my mind, she's hardly your typical nun.

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  15. The church needs to investigate that Kick Ass Nun. $666? But maybe there's something mystical about that figure. Whatever you do, don't jump off a bridge. Keep using logic and maybe get some glasses. You've got me hooked into the story so much, I'm going to need more.

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    1. Maybe next Halloween there could be a continuation...that gives me a year to plan.

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  16. Ha, I love the dark humor in this story! It wouldn't be the first time a BOGO coupon got someone into trouble...

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    1. They get me in trouble all the time. I have more shirts that I'll never wear because they were BOGOS. All I wear is tees...those are never on BOGO.

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  17. Great job. VERY spooky!!! I have crazy mammograms every year, too. This year they only had me come back once for something suspicious they saw. I may have my ob/gyn not even mark that I have problems every year next year. All that seems to do is confuse people! I thought it might stop the "OMG we see something it might be cancer come back so we can gloom-and-doom you" reaction I was getting from the mammogram people the first couple of years! I'm just lumpy, that's all.

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    1. I've already decided, no matter how panicked they sound- I'm going with needle biopsies from now on. It i the oddest thing- mine are always just nothing- not fibromas, cysts, or what-not. I think they keep removing the last of my firm breast tissue- all the rest is broken down already.

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  18. Enjoyed your flash fiction! And thanks for the mammogram reminder... And, I hear you on the big word count = big rump! I've gotta get more exercise, too. ~Tui

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    1. Make sure to get that mammie!!!

      I never get enough exercise. Blame the writing addiction.

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