Do you need, desire or crave a new challenge?  Are you open to sharing your dark side?   Then read on.

Do you have a dark side?

Or, think you may have one. Or indeed worry that you might have one. Or, for that matter, worry that you don’t and would like one? If so,  join me here each week for dark | side | thursday.

Over a period of 52 weeks, I am writing a story. A dark story that will unfold as the weeks pass. Each Thursday, at 13:00 UTC, I will post a new chapter. Each chapter will be exactly 500 words long, and will be accompanied by a photograph. You can catch up on the story so far by clicking here on dark | side | thursday

Share your dark side?

I invite you to join me either by writing your own dark story, week by week, or, if that is too much, by dropping by, now and then, perhaps when the mood suits you or, perhaps, when it doesn’t, and by sharing a photograph, poem or a suitably dark piece of prose. To cross over to dark | side | thursday create your post, tag it dark side thursday and link to it by clicking on the dark | side | thursday badge below, where you can also find all the contributions so far. Or you can simply share your link in the comments section of my weekly post. And, should the mood take you, you can add the badge to your post.

dark | side | thursday | eighteen

He had tripped, turning to look back at the couple staring down at him, seeing her empty expressionless face, those chilling, blank eyes. And their hands entwined.

He shook his head, he had landed painfully at the foot of the staircase, narrowly missing the large candle which had burned as he tripped but now smouldered, thick black smoke twisting upwards.

The pain in his arm had returned, he reached into his pocket, hoping to find the flask, needing a shot to revive him, it was not there. The key was though. He looked again, back to where the couple had stood, they were nowhere to be seen. His mind was reeling, the events of the past hours had become too much to bear. He wavered on the edge of insanity.

Picking himself up, his body shaking he began to climb back up the staircase.

The man, the woman, the stone figure had vanished. The trestle tables remained scattered across the room, the white plates with their bloody imprints remained.

How could she have survived? She had been dead when he found her, when he carried her into this hellish chamber, when he had dropped her lifeless body in front of the man and the impassive stone figure. And then? Then she had appeared standing, with him, the man in black, her hand in his, that part hurt the most, seeing her hand inside his.

He staggered on toward the table that contained the bundle of rags, something cold and oily turning in his belly as he approached. The pain in his arm intensifying, his breathing ragged, his pulse thready.

He knelt before the table, reached out and touched the bundle of rags, as he did so he felt something shift inside, and heard a faint sound, barely human, almost feline, a low croaking, mewling sound. He began to unwind the rags. The filthy layers of cloth falling apart as he continued to unwind.

And there, it was.

The body the size of a new born child, but it was no human child. Its emaciated frame was covered in dark matted fur, black and streaked with blood, the creature’s limbs were pulled tight in against the thing’s body. Each of the limbs ended in a ragged bloody claw. A tail curled tightly underneath its ragged form. The creature’s head was tucked into its chest, the eyes closed. He could see the thing’s chest moving as it tried to breathe, the sound hideous. And it smelled of things unspeakable, dark things that should not be encountered in the light of day.

He reached out and took the creature in his hands, it was warm, but barely so, he could feel the lungs desperately trying to expand, could hear that croaking, mewling sound, a sound he would never be able to forget.

Then the creature began to lift its head, the eyes sprang open, eyes running with a viscous black fluid.

Opening its fang filled mouth, it hissed, and spat in his face.

The portal to dark | side | thursday opened on the twenty first day of may in the year twenty hundred and fifteen and will remain open for fifty two weeks.

eighteen | fiftytwo

Do you need, desire or crave a new challenge?  Are you open to sharing your dark side?   Then read on.

Do you have a dark side?

Or, think you may have one. Or indeed worry that you might have one. Or, for that matter, worry that you don’t and would like one? If so,  join me here each week for dark | side | thursday.

Over a period of 52 weeks, I am writing a story. A dark story that will unfold as the weeks pass. Each Thursday, at 13:00 UTC, I will post a new chapter. Each chapter will be exactly 500 words long, and will be accompanied by a photograph. You can catch up on the story so far by clicking here on dark | side | thursday

Share your dark side?

I invite you to join me either by writing your own dark story, week by week, or, if that is too much, by dropping by, now and then, perhaps when the mood suits you or, perhaps, when it doesn’t, and by sharing a photograph, poem or a suitably dark piece of prose. To cross over to dark | side | thursday create your post, tag it dark side thursday and link to it by clicking on the dark | side | thursday badge below, where you can also find all the contributions so far. Or you can simply share your link in the comments section of my weekly post. And, should the mood take you, you can add the badge to your post.

dark | side | thursday | seventeen

He stumbled across the threshold. Her body heavy in his arms. His heart full of grief, a grief he had never imagined possible, a grief so strong he could not breathe, his fingers numb, his chest tight. He found it hard to think, his mind full of dark clouds and conflicting claustrophobic imaginings. The stone floor beneath his feet cold and unyielding, like the body in his arms. A body that he had known when it was warm, soft, yielding, alive. A body, a person, a woman he would never know again. He missed her. And what she had meant to him. Once. He would miss her for the rest of his days. He would regret words spoken, unspoken, deeds done, not done.

The door had opened of its own accord. The chamber he had entered was rectangular with rough stone walls. Scattered across the room were rows of wooden chairs, six rows of six chairs, plain wooden seats, high backs, narrow spindly legs. He walked around the chairs, at the rear of the room a wooden staircase spiralled up to another level. Carrying his terrible burden he began to climb the steps, each step drawing on his depleted reserves, breaking his spirit, deepening his despair.

At the top of the staircase lay another chamber. At irregular intervals he saw narrow trestle stands, some low, some high, some with three legs, some four, at the top of each a square wooden platter. On each platter lay a white porcelain plate. Each plate bore the imprint of a hand, an imprint fashioned from fresh bright red blood. Small hands, large hands, slim fingers, coarse fingers. Each one splayed out on their white porcelain frame. The effect was overwhelming, nightmarish.

And across the room stood two figures.  One a man dressed in black, his face hidden in shadow, the other a stone figure with a featureless face and open outspread hands. Both stared at him. In front of them, on another trestle table, a bundle of rags which contained something he dared not imagine.

He inched forward, his heart pounding, his breathing forced, his arms hurting from the sad burden they supported. A pain ripped through the front of his mind and down, down through his arms. He dropped her body, she fell with a dull thud, dust rising from the stone floor.

His mind reeled, nausea overcame him, he turned, ran back to the spiral wooden staircase, descending in terror he tripped, as he did he saw a large burning candle beneath him, plummeting towards it he knew he would feel the flame of the candle, feel it catch his feet, his legs, the fire searing and burning him as he fell.

He turned, looked back up the staircase, a veiled shadow, a woman, looked back at him, her arms folded across her chest.

Her face turned down to look at him, her expression empty, her eyes blank, and at her side, a man dressed in black, her hand in his.

The portal to dark | side | thursday opened on the twenty first day of may in the year twenty hundred and fifteen and will remain open for fifty two weeks.

seventeen | fiftytwo

Do you need, desire or crave a new challenge?  Are you open to sharing your dark side?   Then read on.

Do you have a dark side?

Or, think you may have one. Or indeed worry that you might have one. Or, for that matter, worry that you don’t and would like one? If so,  join me here each week for dark | side | thursday.

Over a period of 52 weeks, I am writing a story. A dark story that will unfold as the weeks pass. Each Thursday, at 13:00 UTC, I will post a new chapter. Each chapter will be exactly 500 words long, and will be accompanied by a photograph. You can catch up on the story so far by clicking here on dark | side | thursday

Share your dark side?

I invite you to join me either by writing your own dark story, week by week, or, if that is too much, by dropping by, now and then, perhaps when the mood suits you or, perhaps, when it doesn’t, and by sharing a photograph, poem or a suitably dark piece of prose. To cross over to dark | side | thursday create your post, tag it dark side thursday and link to it by clicking on the dark | side | thursday badge below, where you can also find all the contributions so far. Or you can simply share your link in the comments section of my weekly post. And, should the mood take you, you can add the badge to your post.

dark | side | thursday | sixteen

The grating turned slowly, then came free. He lifted it and, with care, laid it on the sand next to the hole that now lay beneath him. A fragment of lyrics from a long forgotten song ripped through his mind without warning

‘Want an axe to break the ice Wanna come down right now..’ ^⁠1

Looking into the hole he had opened, he took a step forward. One small step for a man. Or, as would realise, much later, perhaps a giant leap. Into the dark.

Falling through the freshly opened hole, the sandy floor flashed past his eyes as he fell.

She lay still. Unmoving. The gentle movement of her breast stilled as her breathing had ceased. Wherever she was now she was beyond caring, beyond help. Beyond pain. Gone.

He hit the bottom. Ahead of him a sandy path. His arm hurt, again, the impact as he hit the unforgiving ground had ripped into him, hurt him in places that already hurt too much. His thoughts muddled, he lifted himself, one foot in front of the other, he set off, the only way he could. Forward.

The path twisted ahead of him. The walls narrow, the passage tight, constricting, claustrophobic. The path seemed to angle towards the right and upward. One foot in front of the other, no thought, just one foot, then the other, over and over, over and over. Again and again.

The path spiralled upward, ahead of him he saw glowing sickly yellow light. The walls opened around him, he was in a chamber, a circular portal in one wall looked down into the spherical chamber he had just left through the grating. The path he had taken had wound around the outside of that sphere. In the chamber he now found himself in, the floor was rough stone and uneven. At the centre, another box, a casket, fashioned from dark splintered wood. At the head of the casket a wooden carving, a figure with empty birdlike eyes and a crooked broken nose stared lifelessly back at him. In the wall on the far side, a heavy iron door.

He walked to the casket. Again took the key, slid the key into the narrow opening at the head of the casket. It vibrated in his fingers as it turned, the mechanism clicked. Once more he raised the lid.

This time she was there.

Grief welled inside him as he took in her shattered lifeless form, ragged finger nails, torn and stained white shift. Eyes wide open frozen in terror. He bent down, kissed her cold cheek. Tears stained his face, he made no sound, he was beyond words, beyond any pain he had ever felt.

He bent into the casket, his arms around her, he lifted her broken body. Standing, his back wrenched, he held her body in front of him, and staggered across the rough stone floor, towards the door. As he approached, the metal door began to swing open.

He stumbled across the threshold.

¹ Lyrics from Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie

The portal to dark | side | thursday opened on the twenty first day of may in the year twenty hundred and fifteen and will remain open for fifty two weeks.

sixteen | fiftytwo

Do you need, desire or crave a new challenge?  Are you open to sharing your dark side?   Then read on.

Do you have a dark side?

Or, think you may have one. Or indeed worry that you might have one. Or, for that matter, worry that you don’t and would like one? If so,  join me here each week for dark | side | thursday.

Over a period of 52 weeks, I am writing a story. A dark story that will unfold as the weeks pass. Each Thursday, at 13:00 UTC, I will post a new chapter. Each chapter will be exactly 500 words long, and will be accompanied by a photograph. You can catch up on the story so far by clicking here on dark | side | thursday

Share your dark side?

I invite you to join me either by writing your own dark story, week by week, or, if that is too much, by dropping by, now and then, perhaps when the mood suits you or, perhaps, when it doesn’t, and by sharing a photograph, poem or a suitably dark piece of prose. To cross over to dark | side | thursday create your post, tag it dark side thursday and link to it by clicking on the dark | side | thursday badge below, where you can also find all the contributions so far. Or you can simply share your link in the comments section of my weekly post. And, should the mood take you, you can add the badge to your post.

dark | side | thursday | fifteen

The key turned. The screaming filling his head. The cold, foul smelling water seeming to rise.

As the lock clicked he bent over the box, and with both hands carefully raised the lid. The hinges along one side groaning, rank fetid air spilled out of the box.

Then, the screaming stopped.

Removing the key, and placing it back in his pocket, he threw the lid back roughly against the dripping wall of the corridor, and looked inside.

Trapped, exhausted, fingers bleeding, mind broken, she stopped moving. She heard a sound, oh so far away, a metallic grating noise. Her breath caught in her throat, her heart pounding. The darkness pressed against her face. Hope mixed with terror. Her hands clenched, her fingernails digging into the palms of her bleeding and bruised hands.

The box was dark, darker than hell. And it was empty. And not merely empty, the darkness seemed too intense, seemed endless. Then in the gloom he saw. As his eyes adjusted to the murk, he saw a flight of ancient stone steps leading down into the dark. Without thinking he stepped into the open box, the rank air filling his nostrils, making him gag. Holding the sides of the box, the splintered wood piercing his palms, he reached down with his foot to the first step, letting go, he began to descend.

The noise had gone, she could hear nothing. Only the pounding of her heart in the confined and terrible space. Dark clouds of despair filled her mind. She was stuck, there would never be any escape. Here in the dark. Alone.

The steps were cold, so cold his feet became numb, and wet, filthy water cascaded from the roof, from the open bottomless box. He reached the bottom. The floor was sandy. He raised his eyes and as he did so the gloom seemed to begin to disperse, two faint circles of glowing sickly yellow light flickered high above him from what seemed to be windows in the curved wall. He was in a circular chamber, as the gloom lifted he realised he was inside a hollow sphere, in the centre of the sandy floor a circular grating.

He turned, and there in front of him, the faceless figure stood once more. Blank face seeming to look toward the grating. The palms outstretched in supplication. The air in the chamber was foul, a brew of the familiar acrid anaesthetic and something rotten, something long dead. His mind reeling, he turned toward the grate in the floor.

The dark surrounded her. Her body cold, wet, unmoving. Her mind began to close down. Then, another sound, still far away, she heard another metallic scraping sound, a sound of ancient metal, screeching.

He had reached down, slid his fingers into the lattice of the grating and began to turn, following instinct, or some long buried memory. The grating groaned, the rusted metal screeching as it turned in its base. Finally, it was open.

Slowly, he lifted the grating.

The portal to dark | side | thursday opened on the twenty first day of may in the year twenty hundred and fifteen and will remain open for fifty two weeks.

fifteen | fiftytwo