Hello, Friday fiction friends! I hope you’ve enjoyed all our posts so far this year of books from off the beaten track. My blogging team and I have loved sharing them with you. And since it’s almost Halloween, I thought I’d share a fun and creepy flash fiction story I wrote from these writing prompts; a snowman and a blind date.
Enjoy!
The Snowman
Jim carried two mugs of cocoa to the coasters on the coffee table, then joined Mara on the couch.
“Thank you.” She grabbed the steamy mug and practically hugged it. “I normally don’t fall apart on a date but the snow is a trigger.”
“Snow. Really?” The unexpected snowstorm yesterday had dumped a few inches in a hurry. Not like a blizzard. Though lots of snowmen had been built in Mara’s neighborhood.
“Well, not exactly snow.” She glanced out the window and shuddered. “I don’t know if I should tell you.”
He leaned closer. “Go ahead. It’s okay.”
She stared at the window, her voice barely above a whisper. “It’s snowmen. I hate them. No. I despise them.”
“That’s unusual.” He hid the desire to laugh out loud. “Why?”
“Do you remember two weeks ago, when we had our first snow of the season?” She set the mug back on the table. “I—I built a snowman. You know, carrot, coal, scarf, stick arms, the whole shebang.”
“Yeah? And?” Didn’t seem too freaky to him.
“I finished and snapped a pic to upload to Instagram. And when I looked back at it, I—I could have sworn it leered at me.”
His eyes widened. Oh, no. A wacky date.
She frowned. “I know it sounds crazy. Later that evening, before I went to bed, I took Poochie out to do his business. I swear the snowman had moved.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I built it by the tree and it was like a foot closer to the house.” She shook her head. “It freaked me out so bad I did something stupid.”
“What?” Something about her unnatural fear was weirding him out.
“I knocked it over. The head rolled and stopped, face up. Pure hate stared up at me. I ran inside the house, grabbed the coffee pot, and—and I melted him.” She shivered. “It was horrible.”
“I bet.” Jim stood and walked to the window. How could he bow out of this date without seeming like too much of a cad? He peered into the front yard.
There, near the flowerbed, in a semi-circle, stood an army of snowmen. And it seemed like they were leering at him…
