horror writing prompts / 64. horror in broad daylight.
THE DAY WAS BLISTERING WITH OMNIPRESENT HEAT. their only solace was to seek shelter in the alcoves of tree canopies ahead, avoiding the sun's unforgiving gaze. he'd already produced from his bag ( ever full of supplies ) the trusty sun lotion, lathered it generously over his shoulders and even more generously over max's before they'd gotten ice cream. summer was ripe and filled with sweetness, their skin dappled with rays splintering between overhead leaves. the raspberry slush of his ice pop stains his lips ; when he grins you can see it on his teeth. these are the lovely days.
❛ don't say i never give ya nothin' ! ❜
he gestures at the frozen treat of her choice ( no doubt an apologetic gift for some previous comment void of tact - but the air is cleared and fresh and summery ! ) and laughs with reckless abandon, not a care in the world. a splotch of red drips from his pop, the molten sugar cold and sticky on his thumb. he swipes at it, not a single bit wasted - another splotch drops. this one is warm, darker. thicker.
he feels at the rivulet marring his hand, hot and viscous between his fingertips. another falls past him, making him blink with surprise as he realises its direction. the red drips are falling from overhead. slowly, dread tensing his nerves, lucas looks up . . . the remnants of his ice cream fall to the earthy ground beneath them, his hands slack and shaking.
❛ max . . . don't . . . move. ❜
his voice is but a murmur, eyes transfixed on the creature feasting above them. a carcass hangs limp in the branches, seeping crimson and steaming with the sun as its witness. its captor is large, skin pulled tight over an unnatural frame, claws like sickles reaping the crops of its meal, mowing through meat as smoothly as if it were butter. it ( it can only be an it, a thing, a cruel anomaly not of this world ) pauses its ministrations, tendons hanging like bunting from its teeth . . . and looks right at them.