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Image result for scarecrow moon

like cataracts on a grey old dog a light fog lay over the low, amber moon a stiff breeze blowing but next to the ground only so the layer of fog stayed put above eerily ... hauntingly I had walked the dirt road for miles flat farmland stretching into the night only one other barn had I seen in the last hours crumbling into the October grasses like salt into the sea my car had broken down but the weather being decent and only a few miles from destination I had decided to walk it, but was getting weary it came from behind, the voice at first I thought I'd dreamed it, but ... "I'm hungry" it whispered clear as a fog horn despite the wind I spun quickly, in reflex for there had been nothing but corn stalks for miles I looked - nothing there ... just corn and the road fading into the darkness I turned back around and continued my walk "I'm hungry", again whispered, yet unmistakable I spun back, studying - just dead corn forever and ... a scarecrow, between me and the moon, oddly it wasn't there before, I thought, but I must have just missed it in my own world walking ... thinking of home it was an odd scarecrow, arms dangling in inhuman ways pointed hat like a witch face shielded in darkness legs hanging backward and ... did it MOVE?? that surely was my tired eyes, longing for sleep better get going, thought I, so I started walking again "I'm hungry!", again the ethereal but deadly clear voice as though right beside me I spun to it again, and nothing ... then back to the moon and the scarecrow, only ... the scarecrow ... was GONE ... just the four-by-four stake where it used to hang, limbs akimbo I picked up my pace, and after a while started to forget it tired and weary, I just needed sleep, and passed it off as fatigue thinking then of the warm hearth and bed awaiting me how long it had been since I'd been home how achy I was, how weary and hungry and ... "I'm hungry!!" that time it was in my ear and a growl ... an evil, gut-tearing, hideous growl ... I spun again ... just in time to see the black, empty face and the white, pointed, gnashing ... teeth.

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Andrea Dietrich

Date: 3/8/2020 1:13:00 PM

ooooh, very STephen King- like, Greg!!! What inspired this one? It was not a contest here, was it? I knew where this one was going but I enjoyed the ride!!

Eileen Manassian

Date: 3/8/2020 9:09:00 AM

Yikes!!! Spooky! You spun that story well. Too well! ;) Thanks for the visit to my work.

John Watt

Date: 3/6/2020 1:47:00 PM

Ooh, a campfire horror story on Soup! Delicious! Well written in its anticipation and growing fright... the scarecrow coming and going and speaking - it gives me chills! Great write, Greg as always ~ John

Gregory Richard Barden
Date: 3/8/2020 7:04:00 AM

Thank you so very much, John, I greatly appreciate the kind words, my friend - it means a lot. 33 hits and only one comment, this is the way things are going for me lately ... very discouraging, but that's life, right? I work very hard to create high quality writing, hoping that when I get these really busy times that folks will keep coming by and commenting if the quality is worthwhile, but that's not what it's about. Much appreciated, Bud.