Photo Copyright-John Nixon
Her eyes shot open when warm breath touched her neck.
She pushed off the fallen, decaying log at her back, and ran into the heavily twisted trees. Branches scratched and clawed at the bare skin of her arms and face. An unknown beast’s footfalls thundered behind.
She burst into a clearing, and sprinted for the heavenly light across the grass.
Gnarled fingers snaked around her ankle. She reached for a figure in the light as she tipped forward. Her head smashed against the ground, and her world faded to black.
Her eyes shot open when warm breath touched her neck.
—–
This story was written for Friday Fictioneers. The title is a reference to Sisyphus in Greek mythology, in case you didn’t pick up on that.
Adam Ickes 
March 28th, 2014 at 9:02 AM
Creepy – and made so much more so by the cyclical events. Nice one! 🙂
March 30th, 2014 at 8:23 PM
Thanks.
March 28th, 2014 at 9:18 AM
Love the description!
http://www.awordofsubstance.wordpress.com
March 30th, 2014 at 8:24 PM
Appreciate it!
March 28th, 2014 at 9:20 AM
Nice one.
March 30th, 2014 at 8:24 PM
Thank you.
March 28th, 2014 at 10:26 AM
Really scary! Angels and demons perhaps?
March 30th, 2014 at 8:25 PM
I was thinking either her own personal hell or a trapped in purgatory kind of thing.
March 31st, 2014 at 11:00 AM
Ahh it all comes clear now!
March 28th, 2014 at 10:41 AM
Ooh . . . a circular nightmare this week–nice.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one, Adam. Since I’m home sick today without any Nyquil to chug, you don’t get a drunken rant this time–not even a half-drunken one–just accolades.
*Raises beaker of hot tea*
Cheers!
MG
March 30th, 2014 at 8:25 PM
Thanks, but make sure you stock up on the Nyquil for next time! 🙂
March 30th, 2014 at 9:50 PM
It’s almost 9:00pm here, and my wife is trying to feed my DAYquil . . . Oh brother!
March 30th, 2014 at 9:59 PM
Good luck sleeping tonight…
March 28th, 2014 at 11:52 AM
I loved the circular nature of this piece – very sinister.
March 30th, 2014 at 8:25 PM
Thanks, Sandra,
March 28th, 2014 at 12:31 PM
I love the description. It feels like a very bad dream. Nice one!
March 30th, 2014 at 8:26 PM
If it is a dream, I hope she wakes up soon… though I don’t think she will.
March 28th, 2014 at 12:37 PM
Oh, it’s like Pete and Repeat! 😉 Excellent tale – very exciting in an edge-of-my-seat sort of way.
March 30th, 2014 at 8:26 PM
Thanks, Judah.
March 28th, 2014 at 1:33 PM
Very creepy tale. I agree with Amy, it has a really nightmarish feel to it.
March 30th, 2014 at 8:27 PM
Indeed it does. Poor girl.
March 28th, 2014 at 2:58 PM
It was not my warm breath touched her neck! Get that out of your mind right now!
March 30th, 2014 at 8:47 PM
Methinks thou doth protest too much.
March 28th, 2014 at 8:15 PM
Do NOT want to be stuck in a cyclical story of this sort. Yuk!
janet
March 30th, 2014 at 8:47 PM
Very few people would want to. Although some people might enjoy being the unknown beast.
March 28th, 2014 at 9:32 PM
The second time she felt the breath on her neck I felt the hair raise on mine a little. Great job!
March 30th, 2014 at 8:48 PM
Thanks!
March 29th, 2014 at 12:43 AM
I wonder what she did or who/what she crossed to get stuck in that cycle of horror? Great story!
March 30th, 2014 at 8:48 PM
I don’t know, but I wish I did so I wouldn’t make the same mistake.
March 29th, 2014 at 1:52 AM
What goes around did come around again. CREEPY GOOD! Excellent story! Thanks, Nan 🙂
March 30th, 2014 at 8:49 PM
Thanks, Nan. Glad you enjoyed it.
March 29th, 2014 at 2:35 AM
I’m afraid these images will be stumbling around in my head tonight as I attempt to fall asleep. I’ll have to make up my own fairy tale ending, like…”As she gazed into Prince Charming’s baby blue eyes…” or some such nonsense. ha, ha. Good one!
March 30th, 2014 at 8:53 PM
Let me finish that for you… “As she gazed into Prince Charming’s baby blue eyes staring up at her from the mound of dirt beside the log, the knowledge that he wouldn’t be coming to save her settled in and the overwhelming fear was left to run rampant through her crumbling mind.”
March 29th, 2014 at 7:03 AM
The circular structure was a nice touch… a metaphor, perhaps, for the inability to escape? Great story!
March 30th, 2014 at 8:55 PM
Thanks.
March 29th, 2014 at 8:19 AM
Excellent use of that bookending line! Intense writing!
March 30th, 2014 at 8:55 PM
Thanks, Helena.
March 29th, 2014 at 1:09 PM
Adam-excellent creep. Exactly the image of this photo, the inescapable nightmare, stuck on loop. Fabulous.
March 30th, 2014 at 8:56 PM
If only she could reach the light. Maybe then the nightmare would end… or she’d just be tossed into some brand new hell to suffer through.
March 29th, 2014 at 2:18 PM
so creepy! i like how everything just goes around in circles
March 30th, 2014 at 8:58 PM
I like to think she’s been through it several thousand times and she’s still trying to get to that light that signals safety… even though she has no idea if what’s in the light will actually be any better.
March 30th, 2014 at 5:43 AM
Dear Adam,
The cyclical form this even more sinister than it already is. No sweetness baton for you this week. Good job.
Shalom,
Rochelle
March 30th, 2014 at 8:59 PM
I’ve decided to do my best to shun the sweetness baton for awhile. I think the other hundred odd fictioneers deserve a chance with it. 🙂
March 30th, 2014 at 8:06 AM
Well done, Adam. I like the way it circled around too. BTW – I do think it was Perry’s warm breath on the back of her neck.
March 30th, 2014 at 9:01 PM
I think the same thing. He’s sunk to a new low trying to get the ladies to stick around.
March 31st, 2014 at 4:44 AM
Very well done. I love your imagery…
March 31st, 2014 at 6:54 AM
Wow, creepy. Great bit of tension 🙂
March 31st, 2014 at 10:36 AM
so she dreamed something was happening, and it did not go well, scary enough to startle her awake, but she awoke the same way she did in the dream. that’s how i see it – and she sees no more. well done.
March 31st, 2014 at 9:59 PM
Sounds like she has it worse than Sisyphus 8^). Well done.
April 1st, 2014 at 5:40 AM
You accomplished in 100 words what Stephen King took 7 — no, 8! — volumes to do. Good movement. Well done. :>
April 2nd, 2014 at 7:15 PM
Creeeeeeepy!
April 3rd, 2014 at 11:24 AM
Oh my – repeating that first line – sounds like she’s in a never ending nightmare!
April 5th, 2014 at 8:51 AM
Good story as usual, Adam. Sorry I just now came to it. I’m catching up with my emails because of my computer being repaired.