Spooky Short Stories are back!
I'm baaaaaack.
I'm ready to get back to the swing of writing related things and really working on my presence as a writer, so here's what you can expect in the next couple of months:
October: Spooky Short Stories! Going to post some spooky short stories to get you in the spooky time mood.
November: NaNoWriMo updates
December: I'll have a singular Christmas themed post for December - then off for the Holidays.
January will kick off regular monthly posts.
Okay - enough with the announcements. Now on to the story.
For those of you who are just now reading my blog, Spooky Short Stories is something I do every October. There are some rules:
I usually use a prompt for these flash fiction pieces (though as you'll see I don't follow them all that closely), and these are always the first draft with no edits.
Sometimes I'll take these and work with them and turn them into something I may want to submit somewhere, but for the most part, they just live here on the blog.
This time around I'll include the prompt so you can participate too if you want :)
Prompt: At 3AM you wake up out of a very sound sleep. You hear the ice-cream truck outside and you realize the sound that woke you up was your daughter going outside.
The Ice Cream Truck
Millie was 10 years old. Newly 10 years old. Her mom made her invite all of the girls in her class. This was okay for the most part. Millie was proud to say that she was friends with most everyone in her class, boy and girls included - except for Angie. Not on purpose. Angie was just...different. She never played with other kids at recess, she got in trouble for 'spacing out' in class, and got picked on a lot. But Millie's mom told her she had to invite everyone or no one.
The party had been a success so far. Everyone had been getting along and trying to include Angie whenever possible. They tried to play pictionary, but Angie cried when it was her turn to draw. They tried to play charades, but Angie's only hints were shoulder shrugs. Millie was starting to get frustrated.
"I'm sure she's just not used to being around this many people. She'll probably be more comfortable once you're all in your PJs and watching a movie."
"Yeah...I guess so." Millie said. The screen door slammed. Millie's mom sighed.
"Can you tell your friends to please not slam the screen door?"
Millie walked out to her front yard to see Angie standing at the edge of the grass - practically in the street.
"What are you doing out here, Angie?" Millie asked.
"The ice cream truck is coming." She said.
"What?"
"I can hear the ice cream truck." She said.
"Angie, it's September. The ice cream truck hasn't been around for almost month. Come inside and have some pizza."
Angie followed Millie back into the house. The rest of party went as planned. The girls ate pizza, ice cream, cake, and played a few more games (Angie watched) and once the sun set they got into their pajamas and settled down with a large late night bowl of popcorn and a movie. Angie stayed quiet most of the night -aside from the occasional comment about hearing the ice cream truck.
Eventually though, all the candy caused the girls to crash and they were fast asleep. Millie woke up to the sound of the screen door slamming. Her mom was going to be furious. She looked around the room and saw that Angie was gone. Millie put on her slippers and went outside. Nobody was out there.
"Millie, what are you doing out here? It's 3am!" Her mother was indeed furious.
"Angie is gone." She said.
"What?"
"Angie is gone." She repeated.
"Let's go inside." Her mom said. "We'll figure this out." Millie followed her mom up the porch steps but stopped at the door. She could hear an ice cream truck in the distance.