Recycling: A ghost story in fifty words
We never know what will emerge in our lives as inspiration, do we? For me, it might be a penny sitting alone on a sidewalk. Or a melody, an overheard conversation, a well written-passage in a book, or a memory of my best friend always getting a packaged Hostess brand treat in her lunchbox, while my "dessert" was a baggie of raisins.
In this case, it was the image below that sparked my mental tangent into the frightful back woods of a dim forest. I looked at it and thought: "Under what circumstances might one find an abandoned junker in the woods with its lights on?" And it came to me.
And here it is.
Source: Pixabay image by DarkMoon 1968
Recycling: a ghost story
Joe stepped through tendrils of ghostly fog.
He had followed the voice, so reminiscent of his friend Mick who died in the war. He remembered their favorite pastime — cruising town, chasing girls.
“Come, Joe. See my new form.”
Form?
When he found the abandoned car, its lights flashed on.
Thank you so much for reading my short story. This story is for the weekly 50-word challenge. (We have a lot of fun. You should join us!) The prompt word for this past week was "ghost." Check it out. Even better, give it a try.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://jaynalocke.com/2018/10/26/recycling-a-ghost-story-in-fifty-words/
Loved it! It made me remember King's Christine although this time it was some sort of transmutation instead of demonic possession.
The image you propose is strong and stays with the reader, like the equivalent of a killer hook:
Argh, goosebumps :0
Thanks for sharing, @jayna :)
Thank you, @marlyncabrera! It was was fun to write, and was definitely inspired a bit by Christine — one of King’s creepiest storylines.
Eeehh! This is quite spooky! Maybe Mick did not die in the war but rather in the car and with the whole family trying to cover it up for some apparent reason.
Hi @mydivathings! I'm so glad you found it spooky. That makes me smile! Interesting theory about Mick. If I decide to make a longer story out of this, I may have to toy with that as a possible twist. Thanks!!
Forget about transformers, this is the real thing :)
That leaves room for so much speculation, the possibilities of transmutation into a loved object...
Ha ha, yes! I guess it's another take on transformers. Thanks so much for reading my story and sharing your thoughts, @hlezama!