Horror Prompts’ Gillian Church is hosting a horror drabble challenge this January: 31 prompts for 31 creepy tales throughout January that clock in at around 100 words.
The Prompt:
Cough
The Submission:
It’d started with a cough; nothing major, just a tickle at the back of Sly’s throat. He’d popped some pills, assumed it was allergies or the sniffles, and carried on with his day; those reports wouldn’t run themselves, after all.
By mid-day, he was hacking away almost uncontrollably. Worried glances started turning his way and he had to excuse himself multiple times to try and get it under control, and Sly had grown more and more concerned when he’d steadily escalated from coughing up phlegm to globlets of blood.
In the end, Sly had excused himself, much to the relief of his co-workers, he headed home. It was a half-hour drive, one made all the more difficult by his constant coughing, the raging fever that burned through his veins, and the maddening itching at the back of his neck.
Sly was so desperate to get home to bed and a bowl of steaming hot chicken soup that he didn’t notice the army vehicles troubling past him, the cars pulled over at the side of the road, their occupants heaving blood-filled bile onto the grass verge…
What did you think to the prompt for today’s drabble challenge? Did you submit anything for it? Have you ever written any flash fiction before? I’d love to know what you think to my snippets and writing prompts, so feel free to sign up and let me know what you think below or leave a comment on my Instagram page. You can also follow Gillian Church to take part in her Weekly Writing Prompt challenge.
Dr. K's Waiting Room 