Morning all. I don’t know about you, but yesterday seemed to completely evaporate on me. I think it’s because I have a long list of small things to get done before I can relax into the holiday. I’m constantly doing things but as they are all small things it doesn’t feel like I’ve accomplished much. Until I look at the checked off list anyway. Then I feel sort of vindicated. I suspect today and tomorrow will be about the same. So let’s get the day started with a writing prompt. It’s the mental breakfast of champions. Timers up? Then lets begin.
I can see the beginnings of a really spooky horror story coming out of this. Oddly enough I don’t usually write horror stories. I like reading them, but I never seem to write them. maybe I’ll give this one a shot.
Oh and here is your reminder, Smashwords End of year Book sale, still going on until January 1st. My books are 50% off with some even available for free and there are many other authors besides me available if my books aren’t your thing.
Tuesday, December 22nd: The bell kept ringing.
The bell kept ringing. He could hear it loud and clear, but couldn’t tell where it was coming from. It echoed off of the hard surfaces around him making placement impossible. He stumbled towards one of the open doors and tried to determine if the sound was getting louder in that direction or not. He couldn’t tell. He moved across the room to the door directly opposite and tried his experiment again.
Nothing.
Adam moved to the center of the room and closed his eyes. He concentrated on the sound and tried to see if without sight he could identify the location. There was a slight click and the ringing of the bell went up in volume. He still couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but now it was coming in louder. He wondered if the sound would keep increasing until he managed to find it.
Deciding standing still wasn’t helping, he opened his eyes and picked a door randomly. He strode through it with ground eating strides. The corridor was long and straight and he hoped that at the end of it he might find the bell or at least an indication of where the ringing was coming from. He wasn’t sure he could take the sound at this volume for very much longer let alone anything louder. His ears were already buzzing as though they were trying to create their own white noise to block out the ringing.
The corridor reminded him of the hallways in his highschool. The floor tiles were whit squares flecked with gray, the walls were cinderblock painted an industrial gray and the ceiling was the white squares of drop panels. He always though they were designed to muffle sound, but if these were here to serve that function they were failing miserably. As he walked, Adam was surprised to find that there were no lockers. Somehow this seemed like a corridor built for lockers. In the wall to his left he saw a set of doors. Thinking that the corridor might actually be ending at some point soon, he moved to them and turned, stepping inside the room. To his surprise it was a lunch room. Even more surprising was that there were other people there. They were already staring at the doorway when he arrived. They all looked at him. As he stepped over the threshold of the door, the ringing stopped.
“Took you long enough,” one of the men standing nearest him said. His voice came out soft and muffled as though Adam’s head was filled with cotton wool. He wondered if the ringing would cause permanent deafness.
“What? Adam said.
“I said it took you long enough,” The man repeated, clearly yelling to be heard. “I thought we’d have to send someone to get you just to get the ringing to stop.”
“Where are we?” he asked. Truthfully Adam couldn’t remember anything except waking up to the sound of the ringing. Anything that came before, including how he got here was a mystery.
“The lunch room.”
Adam frowned. The answer was less than helpful. Before he could ask for clarification, the man turned and walked away.
Ten til Midnight 