Bodies
Sharing some darker fiction...
I recently attended a brilliant writing workshop with Tania Hershman called “Permission.” During the session I realised that I’ve been holding back from my darker side, and my writing had become a bit vanilla. One of the writing prompts from the workshop resulted in this piece. I’ve decided to embrace my dark author and share more of this kind of thing. I hope you enjoy!
Bodies
The darkness concealed their ages, backgrounds and… well, any defining characteristics.
Harold knew that the bodies around him, some of them barely breathing, were all younger than him. One lad was probably nine or ten, the rest maybe teenagers.
He didn’t need to count them. There was no way out or in until tomorrow, so the number wouldn’t have changed.
He shifted slightly to ease the ache in his left buttock. The shackle on his wrist was causing some irritation, possibly even bleeding, but he was used to that by now.
Seven of them, including him. An odd number. Odd numbers were good. He enjoyed the fact that by his admission to the dark cell, he had converted an even number into something better.
There was a low moan from the body to his right and he shifted again, trying to see if he could make out the shape of the human next to him.
Clearing his throat and resisting the urge to spit, he formed words which he hoped would be reassuring.
“It’s ok mate,” Harold said. “It’s all going to be ok.”
Murmurs around the cell indicated that the others were waking up too. The chloroform was starting to wear off.
Now the games could begin. He made a bet with himself how long it would take this particular batch to figure out which one of them was responsible for their capture and confinement.
Previous collections had ranged from a super-fast seven minutes, to an almost irritating 49 hours.
He’d handpicked this lot and hoped for about four hours fun, so he could get home in time for dinner. Keeping his mum waiting with hot food on the table was historically not a good idea.
Photo credit: Photo by AHMAD BADER on Unsplash