Category: 100 Word Stories

#281 Creatures of the Night

Made of porcelain limbs and head with a soft stomach, its stitching, thick black thread along the spine, was concealed by a white blouse and yellow dress.

Ingrid handed the doll to her granddaughter. “My grandmother gave her to me. It was handed down to her and now it’s time for you to have it.”

“She looks like momma,” the little girl said, smiling up at her grandmother.

“You miss your momma?” The girl nodded, a tear in her eye. Ingrid cut the thread and inserted a photograph with the others before sewing it. “She can be your momma now.”

#280 Creatures of the Night

A map marked the spot of along since abandoned building; Twin Toads. Two Field Laborers were chosen to uncover the treasure for a rick man known as Mr. Sockets.

“What do you reckon we’ll find down there?” Field Laborer #1 asked, wiping his brow as they decided to break for lunch.

“Well, I heard ‘him’ talkin’ bout some sort of goggles our ancestors wore. I even seen pictures. Silly lookin’ things over their eyes. Called Peepers,” Field Laborer #2 answered. 

Tap. Tap. Tap. A wooden stick making contact with the ground made them stand at attention.

“Get back to work!”

#279 Creatures of the Night

Alarm goes off and she rolls on her side to tap her left temple twice. Her left iris lights up. “Start my day,” she whispers.

Coffee machine starts percolating. Shower turns on to the perfect temperature to wake her up. Bread is lowered in the toaster. Curtains are pulled back in her bedroom to let the sun shine in. Her favorite radio show comes on in the kitchen as she steps into the shower.

“Malfunctions in Optical ZT5. Do not use or get wet. Report to Headquarters immediately.”

ZAP. THUD.

There’s a blackout and a body on the bathroom floor. 

#278 Creatures of the Night

He sat beside the lamp, waiting for it’s familiar glow to warm his hands and protect him from the night creatures. He cupped his mouth with both hands and blew as hard as he could to keep the circulation flowing. 

The lamp did not light. His only means of escape from that which walked these woods at night. 

His home was not far and he almost made it back before sunset had he not been distracted by birds singing in the trees.

A branch snapped in the distance. The creatures were surely around him, smelling fear. Then, the lamp ignited.

#277 Creatures of the Night

Panting. Running. Racing. Being chased. Through the woods. Felled trees. Leap. Trip. Fall.

She rolls over onto her back. Pain shoots down her spine. Peeking through the trees at the night sky she can see the moon. The full moon. She has to get up and keep moving.

Crunching sounds behind her. They’re close. She must hide. For their safety. Fight or flight? Fight!

She stops running. Starts chasing. Low growl. Throws her head up to the sky and howls. Long and loud. And proud. She can’t fight it. Can’t escape the moon. Down on all four, she’s more alive.

#276 The Twilight Zone S4 E11 3/14/1963

WELCOME TO THE PARALLEL. YOUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME.

Sid sat in the execution chair, goggles dangling around his neck, wearing sensory gloves and shoes. His family even splurged and got him the full body sensory suit as well. If they were never going to see him again they wanted him to at least be comfortable.

Soon he would join the hundreds of others in the room who were hooked up to their parallel, and spend the rest of his life seeking redemption.

More humane than being put to death for his crime. He reclined and put on the goggles.

#275 The Twilight Zone S5 E27 3/27/1964

“For committing unspeakable crimes against humanity, you have been found guilty. Punishment is death by hanging of the neck till broken. Do you have anything you’d like to say?”

I scanned the room for the first time since I was tried for this murder. I saw the family of the victim, my own family, and then the judge. None of them have any idea what they have just done.

“I am the night. You cannot cast a shadow here.”

“Take him away,” the judge said. “He hangs at sunrise.”

“COLOR ME BLACK!” It’s been one hundred days without a sunrise.

#274 The Twilight Zone S4 E5 1/31/1963

“The boy hasn’t uttered a word since he was rescued from the fire,” whispered the doctor. “From what we gather from neighbors, his parent’s kept to themselves and never spoke one word to anyone.”

“That doesn’t sound strange. I don’t know that I’ve ever spoken to my neighbors,” the social worker said.

“They never heard them speak to each other, either. The nurses are concerned. I think it’s his eyes.”

The social worker looked through the pane glass window at the boy who was sleeping on a hospital bed.

“Can we go home now?” he asked.

“Soon,” she answered. “Soon.”

#273 The Twilight Zone S3 E18 1/19/1962

Hector Renaldo Fuentes III had murdered me for the tenth time. With my dying breath, for the tenth time, I vow I would return. He would not be rid of me so easy. 

My body is tossed into the river and I float down stream. My carcass decays with the passage of time. I make friends with the fish that pick at me as they swim by.

I wash up onto an embankment when my eleventh resurrection sits on a nearby stump. 

He sees my shoes first, they always do. He steals them and puts them on. 

I am him. 

#272 The Twilight Zone S5 E36 6/19/1964

Arguing every night is what drove us to spend so much time at the pool. As the older sister I shoulda known it would be trouble. 

So, when the strange boy appeared in the middle of our clean and clear pool, my dumb brother jumped! I had to go in after him! Little did I know we’d end up surfacing in a different place.

There are other children here like us. They’ve been here a really long time. I wanna go home but my brother wants to stay. Less arguing here.

The old lady here seems nice, offering us gingerbread.