This weeks challenge is to write about the red lipstick. Maybe it was a stain, or the wrong colour, an unwanted gift, or perhaps the mark of something darker.
Here’s mine:
I knew, because the door was open. She always left the door open. Tempting any one who dared, to enter her lair. The glow of her signature rouge emanated from under the belly of the door.
I touched my fingertip to my mouth. She’d smothered that red across my lips two nights ago.
I took a deep breath and pushed the door open, knowing she’d fallen off the wagon. Knowing I wouldn’t want to see what was inside.
My heart thudded against my ribs. As I surveyed the room a straight jacket of panic crushed the air out of my lungs. Why did this feel familiar?
I slammed my eyes shut. I couldn’t look anymore.
But images still flashed through my mind. The bed. The floor. The red.
Blood. Everywhere. White sheets and walls splattered with the artwork of a murderer.
I crumbled to my knees. My hands falling into something wet. I squeezed my eyelids harder. I didn’t want to look. Bile clawed at my throat and I heaved into the air.
I swallowed hard when the wretch ing stopped. I’d believed everything she’d said. I’d let myself fall into her arms while she told me how beautiful I was and that my kind of beauty should last forever.
I shuddered. Ice collecting on my spine.
She was here.
I blinked. Fixing my state on the room. Only this time, when I gazed at the red ocean covering the furniture, a strange ache gnawed at my insides and the room no longer smelt acidic. It smelt like dinner.
I touched my lip again, memories oozing into my thoughts. My fingers slipped to my neck.
It had never been lipstick.
The smooth curve to her voice wrapped around me, and told me she was smiling. Of course she was. She’d won. I looked at the bed, the shadow of a body still imprinted in the blood. My blood. My body.
“I told you, your beauty should live forever,” she said, draping her arms around my neck. Her breathe stank like metal but it made saliva pool in my mouth.
“Hungry?”
I was. I really was.
***
Now to last weeks writespiration and drowning.
Helen joined in with a gorgeous piece of flash
She gasped for air, her hands clutching and sliding on skin as she fell. Her eyes closed as she sank down, softness and warmth all around. She managed another breath, her senses reeling, consciousness receding as things went dark and all that was left was sensation. There was no more air, her body buffeted, prey to forces beyond her control. She could not cry out, her mouth sealed, stars bursting behind her closed eyelids.
Then light returned and with it breath and she was cold all over. Trembling, she reached out her arms, wanting oblivion.
It came with another kiss and she was gone, drowning once more.
***
Geoffle has a killer entry this week, with a killer ending!
It was the fourth pint when Derrick understood, for the first time, the reason why it was called drowning your sorrows. As he stared at the glass of lager he imagined he saw Colette reflected in the surface, tears on her cheeks as she covered her mouth with her hand to hide the horror of what she had just witnessed. It was his life flashing before him – that’s what happened when you went down for the third time, wasn’t it? It was that fateful moment when she realised the truth. He studied the face of the only women he had ever loved. How could the surface of frothy beer be so life-like? How…? Derrick’s head jerked back as Colette’s fist met his temple. On the floor he winced as her stiletto pierced his aorta. ‘You lying fucker,’ were the last words he heard as the blood entered his lungs, drowning him far more effectively than any amount of shit beer.
***
Next, Sarah, with one hell of an ending, and I don’t know about you, but I’m desperate to know what happens next.
Lady of the Lake by Sarah Brentyn
At the end of the dock, Phoebe dipped her toe in the lake. Her grip on the post so tight, it left indentations in her palms. She watched the still water. No girls floated by in bikinis, sunning themselves. No guys ran down the dock and jumped high in the air shouting “cannonball!” No children sat in the sand, slathered with sunscreen, digging with plastic shovels.
Not today.
Everyone was out walking, searching, calling. Looking for Phoebe’s sister, Kaia. They wouldn’t find her. She was gone. Drowned. Of this, Phoebe was certain. She hadn’t let go until Kaia sank.
***
Hugh’s up next with this cracker of a piece with an awesome ending.
Alan was drowning. He was drowning fast and there was nothing anybody could do about it.
The moment the water first hit his lips he could feel the drowning sensation all over his body. Panic set in and nothing he could do would stop him from drowning. Not even the call from his wife mattered!
“ALAN!”
He put his glass of water down as soon as he heard his wife slam the front door.
“YES!” he screamed at the top of his voice.
The writers block had finally given way and he was drowning in words again.
***
Jane now with a stunningly vivid piece that leaves you wanting so so much more, check it out here.
He didn’t know she was watching him. She’d have died if he’d turned and seen how her eyes were running all over his swimmer’s body, lapping at the muscles sliding beneath his white skin like a cat at a saucer of milk. He raised his arms, flexed his knees and plunged, powerful and graceful as a big cat, a cat with no fear of water. The waves broke and closed over his head, his white body sliding beneath the green with scarcely a splash.
She let out her breath slowly; afraid the slight ripple of the air might dispel the magic. She watched the ocean, the oil-smooth surface, for his reappearance. The shouts and laughter of the other bathers on the family beach further along the coast barely reached her consciousness. Rocks. A sliver, a crescent moon of silver sand. Ocean. And him, the boy with a shock of jet black hair and skin white as milk, swimming through the darkness, easy as a seal.
The breeze lifted a lock of her hair and flipped it into her eyes. She shook it back and peered intently at the empty waves. She was holding her breath again, and anxiety nestled in the pit of her stomach. The sun had shifted, she was sure. How long was it? Far too long. He must have had an accident, a malaise. She should get help.
She leapt to her feet, scattering sand; ran to the water’s edge. Foam fizzed about her toes. She raised a hand to shield the sun from her eyes and scanned the water, further and further, impossibly far out towards the shining horizon. Breath came short and sharp, in little staccato bursts. She saw him at last, far, far away, a round black point amid the wave glitter. Her heart leapt and settled back with relief, pounding in her ears. But the bobbing head was joined by another, and another. Not human then. Seals.
She ran along the strand, slipping on half-concealed rocks, splashing through the shallow water, yelling when she was within earshot of the coast guard.
“Up at the cove, you say? A black-headed boy, skin the colour of new milk?” The coastguard shook his head. “He’ll not be back before morning.”
“But—”
“Don’t you worry about him. He’s safe where he is.”
In bewilderment, she watched as the seals played, rolling and diving, and the sun sank slow and red. She half-knew what the coast guard meant. Knew what she wanted to understand at least. The breeze blew colder now and whined about the rocks with a different voice. She shivered in her cotton jumper, but she would wait until the morning. Just to see, to know for sure.
***
Next, Ali, with a sneaky peak from her first novel Conor Kelly and The Four Treasures of Eirean (The Tir Na Nog Trilogy Book 1)
Conor felt himself flying backwards through the air, much as his wheelchair had done before him. He landed with a loud splash somewhere in the middle of the lake. The coldness of the water forced him to exhale. He felt the water close over his head, as he plummeted down, down through the icy water. He looked up, and saw the surface way above him.
How can this tiny patch of water be so deep?
When he looked down, all he saw was a black void. No sign of the bottom.
Is this how my life is supposed to end?
The pressure was building up in his lungs. He needed air. In a few seconds, he would have to take a breath, it was a reflex he knew he couldn’t override. But he was afraid.
Will it hurt to breathe in water?
Then he remembered a promise made to him in a dream, and he felt the warm tingling rush of magic inside.
Lugh, are you here? I have come to join you.
“I am always here for you, Conor,” replied Lugh, swimming along beside him and smiling. The silvery whiteness of his hair lit up the gloom of the water.
“Have courage, it’s not much further.”
I can’t hold on any longer. I have to breathe.
“Not just yet. We are very nearly there.”
Conor felt his feet scrape the bottom, his body landing gently on the lake floor.
“Take it!” said Lugh urgently.
What?
“Reach out with your hands. It’s your only chance.”
Conor scrabbled around in the silt. His hands closed around something hard, narrow and flat.
Is this it?
“Yes. Take it, and all will be well.”
Conor grasped the object and tugged feebly to dislodge it from the sucking mud of the lake bed, but it was too late.
He opened his mouth and took in a big gulp.
Much like his first ever breath, the pain and the shock of it convulsed his body. As his consciousness drifted away he was vaguely aware of someone, or something, pulling him by the hair. Far away, someone was saying his name.
Then there was nothing.
***
Last, but by no means least, Kim, with this atmospheric piece, that leaves you wondering. Catch it here.
A gush of steam from the coffee machine startled me out of my thoughts. Perched on a high stool in The King of Hearts, a lukewarm mocha on the ledge in front of me, I stared out of the window, waiting for Rosemary, a girl I had met at university ten years ago. In the background, the hum of voices: a mishmash of customers, staff and snatches of popular songs from the radio. On the opposite side of the road was Fye Bridge, which I recognised from a ghost walk: the bridge where they used to duck witches.
I checked my mobile for texts and the time. Rosemary was fifteen minutes late, true to her nickname from our uni days – the late Rosemary. It didn’t matter. I was on a week’s break and had plenty of time. Rosemary, on the other hand, could only manage forty minutes for lunch. That was okay too, as we had planned a film and a meal for the end of the week, before I returned to London.
A gurgle from my stomach reminded me that I hadn’t eaten. My sudden appetite was whetted by the aroma of home-made French onion soup and toasted sandwiches, and I twisted on my stool to catch the attention of a member of staff. The place was empty. No customers, nobody behind the counter – and a chilling silence.
Turning back to the window, I was confronted by a mass of faces pressing against the glass. I spotted the woman who served my mocha, and an elderly man who had been reading a newspaper in the far corner when I first entered. Their faces were distorted with hatred and fear, all eyes on me. I pulled on my jacket against the sudden chill. A tall man in a long cloak and a black hat stood inside the door, staring at me.
I squirmed on my stool. I felt numb. My heartbeat quickened. There was a strange buzz in my ears and, although I could see their mouths opening and closing, I could not hear the crowd. I figured out the words from the shape of their lips, ‘Witch! Witch! Sink or swim!’
The dark figure shifted from the threshold of the café until he stood beside me, digging his steely fingers into my upper arm.
‘It is useless to struggle. You must come with me.’
My tongue clove to the roof of my mouth. Words congealed in my throat. I tried to resist but I was dragged out of the door and onto the bridge. No cars or buses. No hum of distant traffic. Just the menacing mob filling the bridge and spilling onto the river banks.
As rough hands pushed me onto a wooden contraption – a ducking stool – I peered down at the murky water below me. It looked deeper than I remembered. I felt the burn of stiff rope pulled tightly around my wrists and ankles, a twist of trepidation in my gut as I was lowered into the river. The undercurrent dragged at my jacket and droplets ran from my hair and eyelashes. I rose to the surface and was ducked again. And then, from out of nowhere, a hand gripped mine and pulled. Above me, the crowd erupted: ‘The witch has a familiar!’
Through the water I could just make out a face. It was Rosemary’s, a small crowd of customers and café staff behind her. I emerged from the water like a half-drowned cat. The woman who had served my mocha came forward with a blanket, which she wrapped around me, and Rosemary gently guided me back into the warmth.
This one is short and not so sweet, Sacha!
http://writinginnorthnorfolk.com/2016/01/06/red-lipstick/
Awesome thanks Kim will check it out in a few days when I do next weeks ??
What a lot of good writing this week! I won’t comment on yours except to say it made my flesh creep. Horror stuff gets right to the place where the shivers come from.
I know I couldn’t believe how many people entered and such high calibre it’s so humbling when people join in ??
Ha, thank you, I didn’t even realise I’d written horror till the end! It just sort of puked out onto the page! ?
That’s the best way—when the story takes even the author by surprise 🙂
Absolutely! ??
Wow, what a treat. Great writing!
Thanks Gulara everyone is so talented it’s an honour they participate ?
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
Feast your eyes on these great stories – why not send YOURS to Sacha for inclusion in her #WRITESPIRATION Series and demonstrate your writing talents for the world to see (it’s a great way to do Marketing) 😀
Thank you Chris, a thousand thank you’s ? hope the new year is treating you well so far?
So far so good Sacha – BTW – I left the same intro in a comment by mistake 😀
Hehe have deleted it for u? glad it’s treating you well ?
May 2016 bring everything you need and the best of the things you desire Sacha 😀
Thank you Chris – big plans this year ?? fingers crossed :s
Wow Sacha, your story was brilliant! I was gripped from start to finish despite all the blood and gore!
The ones from last week were all fantastic too, I enjoyed every one of the, some of them even had me taking in large gulps of air!
Aww thank you Judy what a lovely thing to say ??. Lots of compliments to the writers this week they produced such good stories ?
Yes, you all did a fantastic job 🙂
Now I’m blushing!
Wow! Love your story Sacha! Great ending! And some fab talent from last week, too.
Thanks Ali. Means a lot ?
Great story, Sacha!
Thank you Rachel appreciate it ?
Some excellent stuff Sacha though muesli isn’t improved by blood soaked mattresses I can attest. Well crafted as ever.
Lipstick is red
Dead lips are blue
Put them together
For a ghoulish one two
Muesli?! lol, she wasn’t eating museli ??
LOVE that little poem. Thanks geoffle ?
Amazing story, Sacha! The atmosphere… the confusion but being intrigued at the same moment… great!
Thanks so much Erika <3 your so kind. Your words mean the world to me.
You are very welcome, Sacha! ?
Ooh…tempting. ?? Awesome flash. You got me. Thought it was a murder. Well, technically… But vampires? Fantastic. These Writespirations are great fun. Some amazing entries last week.
Hehe thanks chick – and yeah vamps- I wondered if anyone would get that!! I so wana write a teeny vamp story but it’s so over done!
Doesn’t matter. It’s how you write it. Save it if the market is saturated. Then… Go for it. ?
True that. It actually on the two digit list of books I want to write!!
Wow, Sacha, riveting. That was a bloody one. What a thriller! Well done.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Made my day Diana ??
What great stories and I love this prompt. Conjures up all sorts of images instantly 🙂
Thanks Esther – this week had sooooo many good entries. Haha, was a random prompt – but it was the picture that gave me my story really!
The police broke down the door leading into the trap house and no-one could quite believe what they saw when they got in there. The drug smugglers, the ones they had been trying to catch for years were all dead on floor, each one of them killed by a single bullet shot in between their eyes. The police officers were stunned, they’d been tracking the smugglers for years and just when they thought they got to them in time, someone else beat them to it. Amongst the drugs, the huge sums of money and the paraphernalia found, there seemed like there was no trace of the person responsible for killing the crooks. Although there were guns found in the house, none of them were deemed to be the murder weapon. As heads were scratched and the gravity of the situation set in, one of the sergeants suddenly shouted “you need to come and look at this lads!” from the bathroom upstairs.
One by one, the squad saw what he was shouting about, strewn across a large mirror and all the walls in the bathroom, messages were written with a red lipstick laying inside of the sink. The mirror which was smeared with scarlet had in capital letters the words “you made me do this” on it, the writing slightly incoherent. Another message in large writing said “I’m sorry for doing this but they left me no choice” and another message by the window said “soon I will be free and we can be together again”. Mad scribbles of words were all over the walls, nothing seemed to make sense. It was clear to those who saw those messages in the bathroom that the madness of the situation had taken a twisted turn.
Hope you like it Sacha.
ooh thats dark, like, REAL dark. I like it, so twisted and gory. Proper vivid. Thanks for joining in 😀 <3
Gripping horror, Sacha! Very rich and sultry as well as murderous and frightening. Great collection of drowning responses, too. I’m inspired by your red lipstick prompt to use it as another excuse to explore my logging story idea and the possible characters.
1918 Red Lipstick by Charli Mills
Mattie’s face was pale, and Jen figured it was the result of the twit’s recent regime of lemon juice. Her sister sagged when she climbed out of Clyde’s truck and held on to the door like she needed support. Jen stood on the boardinghouse porch in her denim jeans, Pa’s old belt and a red flannel shirt. She wouldn’t give in to the girl’s dramatics. Taking off to Spokane with the camp mechanic was folly, and Jen wasn’t about to coddle her sister. Seventeen was old enough to know better.
Mattie reached into her coat pocket and pulled at what looked like a brass vial. “I got it,” she said and waved the brass at Jen.
Jen crossed her arms and leaned against the porch pillar. “You need to talk to Hilda. She’s none too pleased you ran off to Spokane for two days and left her alone to wash all the bed linens.”
“Oh, please. She can manage. Or you can help, Jen. You never help out around here anymore.”
“I got my own job, Mattie.”
“Playing in the woods.” Mattie smiled wide and opened the brass vile to reveal red. She then used the side mirror of Clyde’s truck to apply it to her lips. She smiled broadly at Jen. White face, red lips.
“You look like child’s doll or worse.”
Mattie sulked. “You’re just jealous because you look like a boy.”
Jen shrugged. “I’m strong, Mattie. I’m not afraid to bump knots with an axe and do the work now that half the boys have run off to Belgium to fight.”
“Stupid boy-girl.” She stepped away from the truck door and collapsed to the dirt in a full swoon.
Mattie never regained consciousness. It took three days for the sickness to kill her. She’d gone to Spokane for cosmetics despite the influenza warnings. When they buried Mattie beneath the rocky soil outside the logging camp, Jen tossed the red lipstick in her sister’s grave as if it were a rose.
###
Thanks for such lovely comments Charli, I’m all blushing and stuff! Your piece – WOW. I was completely sucked in, and then BOOM. That ending. I was like, wait WHAT?! brutal, poetic, beautiful. In just two short pieces, I already love Jen. I cannot wait to read this whole book. I also, love that you are exploring it through flash fiction. Its funny because my drowning story from last week was a character study from my first novel! I have a habit of writing back story and history in flash – things that might influence the novel but not be in it. Anyway, I am waffling. AWESOME piece.
Funny how Jen is coming to life over here. 🙂 I’m finding that flash fiction is a great tool for exploration and creation. Thanks for the Writespiration!
Wonderful writing, Sacha!
Best
Heena Rathore P.
Thanks so much Heena, I really appreciate your kind words ??
Look, I’ve dedicated a whole post to this challenge, Sacha 🙂
http://hughsviewsandnews.com/2016/01/08/lipstick/
Message me
Tyler split his eyelids and the first migraine of the morning exploded on his retina. He needed to cut down. Rolling out of bed, Tyler crawled to the door, feeling carefully for the beaker of water. Nothing. He always left a beaker for the morning. Frowning as much as his hangover allowed he crawled towards the bathroom and stopped. A memory flicked through the sludge of the previous night. There’d been a girl. He pulled himself up onto the toilet and pissed, trying to remember some detail. Any detail. This was not unusual except he knew this girl meant something more.
Desperate for water he stumbled to the sink and bent to drink from the tap.
A flash of red caught his eye. He stood back and squinted at his chest. Written across it in red lipstick
You’re good!
An outline of a girl’s face flickered and disappeared. Was he? Who was she?
He needed coffee and industrial amounts of pain relief. He turned and headed into the hall. He had taken the first step downstairs when he stopped and stepped back onto the landing. On the glass of his framed degree certificate, in the same hand he read
Was I?
Yes he was sure she was. With more urgency now he headed downstairs. Only at the bottom did it register she must have been here. He glanced at the front door, sure she must have left; it didn’t surprise him now to see another belipsticked message on the glass
Want more?
Yes he certainly did. He took a breath and nearly gagged. God his mouth tasted like cat litter. Coffee. Kitchen. The kettle sat on its stand, its shiny surface covered in yet more script
Black, one sugar
He flicked it on and watched the words blister and shrink. Without thinking he pulled out two mugs and registered with slight disappointment there was no other message. Next the paracetamol. Nothing. Where was she?
Click. The water had boiled. He spun the cafetière and smiled. Around the glass cylinder she had written
In bed, stupid.
He scooped out the coffee and added the hot water, adding one sugar to her mug. Once it had brewed he poured two cups, picked them up and turned. She stood facing him. Across her inticingly bare chest she had written.
Skip the coffee. Kiss me.
That was fucking awesome. I sort of hope its true – except minus the images I am trying not to see now!
I have to say, I was gripped, I raced through reading it and I REALLY loved the line ‘industrial amounts of pain relief’ had a giggle at that – been there, got that t-shirt.
also – thought you participated with your little jingle all the way up there!?
I know, Soz I was being greedy but as I’ve said before your prompts are just sooooo morish
Well isn’t that just the loveliest thing you have said. ? well I bloody loved your story. And hey, the more the merrier ??
Eerie and intriguing in true Sacha style! Great prompt. I’ve read quite a few of them who took your great challenge. Yes, I know, I know, I promise when I catch my breath to take part again. For now, I enjoy reading them. xo 🙂
Hehe no pressure at all ? I’m honoured you take the time to read them. My reading catch up day today, so will be delving into your posts ?
Always a treat to visit your page, and honoured to have you grace by mine when you get the chance!! <3
Oh man, I just know if we met in real life we would be hugging the shit out of each other!!
Ya think? Ya, you bet!!!!! <3
Wow the prompt really hit the spot, amazing pieces of writing from everyone. 🙂
Thanks Marje ??
Ooh you are naughty! What a horror story.
Lol, my bad!