Lone Vigil : A Short Pessimistic Horror Story For Halloween.
Greetings. Here's a horror story I've been sitting on for a long time. I am posting this piece to the Steemit blockchain as part of a few contests.
First, The Harbringer, @calluna's Tell A Story To Me #11
Second, @thewritersblock's Halloween Contest
There's a number of halloween contests on Steemit, and that's great since I love horror and enjoy writing the genre.
To any reader, I hope you enjoy it. This is basically my inspiration from Thomas Ligotti.
Lone Vigil
By T. Dalton
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The funeral lit hallway reeked of garbage. A compulsory smell, pungent, sweet and rotten. It wafted out from the apartment next door. Management had taped a notice over the handle. I could read the Korean Hangul but the meaning was lost. I figured the occupant, an old man in his seventies, had split. He probably didn’t bother to pay his last month’s rent and left food rotting in his room. Soon enough I had the opportunity to be wrong.
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"I returned and found him in the corner eating ramen noodles from a cup."
Nice twist to the haunting.
A great time of year for horror stories! Nicely done! Good luck in the contests!
hi. thanks for reading
thanks to @curie for their vote, btw!
This is just filled with your usual brilliant turns of phrase, I really enjoyed the difference in tone in this one, giving a more offhand, casual feel to the telling which works so well with the story itself. Having him drunk for the encounter with the body, follow by the vivid descriptions, not too detailed, just enough to make the point perfectly. I always love some realistic horror/life experience in a character. I particularly loved the smoking aspect, the slow suicide and how it makes him think about life. The progression he goes through at the church, the levels of being taken more seriously, only to be turned away. The ghost itself, choosing to haunt him, and then the note, and the ending. Perfectly encapsulating a sense of random meaningless in life, that tied up so well in him returning to him smoking and soju. A horror story, although fictional, of true horror.
The winners of round 11 have been announced and round 12 is out - would love it if you found time to enter this one!