Friday, October 18, 2013

Flash Fiction Friday





(I ran this Flash Fiction piece last year and I'm bringing it back with an invitation to add a sentence or a paragraph to finally let the world know what happens next!)



Beware The Gris Gris
By:  Donna L Martin



Low hanging spanish moss made it difficult for the piroque to cut through the trees of the swamp.  The air is humid and smell of rotting vegetation.  Lee scratchs his arm where a mosquito bit him and he's glad he is up to date on his shots.  Swamp fever is a deadly thing to catch and can lay a man low for months even if he is lucky enough to survive the fevers.

The light is fading fast and there is just enough time to make it to the cabin before night.  Lee sure doesn't want to be on the water after dark.  He has heard the legends of the gris gris and he isn't taking any chances. 

Old man Boudreaux even saw it once; standing about seven feet tall and covered in grey moss.  A creature born of the swamps and known to tear a man limb from limb if he was dumb enough to be on the water after dark.  The old man was rushing to get home one hot summer night when he saw something move among the trees.  At first he thought it was just a gator; could even hear its deep croaking in the distance but this thing was too big to be a gator.  Rising out of the swamp, the creature quickly moved toward him and the old man almost had a heart attack when he realized he was looking into the evil eyes of the gris gris. 

Lee wipes the sweat from his brow and looks nervously around him.  He can almost make out the front porch of his cabin.  He just might make it home safely after all.  Old man Boudreaux was lucky that night he got caught in the swamp.  He made it out alive and days later was telling anyone who would listen about the swamp creature that almost got him. 

What is that?  A sound Lee has never heard before.  Almost like a low moan and getting louder.  The hair on the back of his neck rises as he realizes what is making that sound.  The last thing Lee remembers is the smell of death and the shock of the swamp water as the creature rises out of the deep and reaches for him...

10 comments:

  1. This shouldn't be part of this story....." Lee thought he saw the blur of a bullfrog whiz by his head and land on the creature's face...."

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    1. Lol, Janet, but maybe that is JUST what Lee need to see...;~)

      Thanks for stopping by and come back any time!

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  2. WOW! That's intense! Gotta throw in some humor (adding onto Ms. Janet's line) "... and then a rubber chicken hit the Gris Gris... and a hard-boiled egg... and an unboiled egg..." ;)

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    1. Hi Erik! I grew up with tales of the Gris Gris coming to get me so yeah, it IS pretty intense...;~)

      Thanks for stopping by and come back any time!

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  3. To eschew obfuscation and to avoid floccinaucinihilipilification I will clarify. Ever since my galactophagous infancy until the day I kick the oxygen habit with 'return to sender' chiming in the background my abstemiousness will cease. I may be as old as the Dead Sea when it was ill but I firmly believe exaggeration to be a million times worse than understatement and do try to be more or less specific. Now if you are as baffled as Adam and Eve on Mother's Day and question the relevance to the story blame Janet, she started it! Just one question though: why is experience something we don't get until just after we need it?

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    1. Hi JP! I busted out laughing when I read your comment. And I love the phrase "I may be as old as the Dead Sea when it was ill..." and "...baffled as Adam and Eve on Mother's Day..."

      Thanks for stopping by and come back any time!

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    2. HEY! JP, don't go pointing the finger at me. I...I...I forgot what I was gonna say. Never mind. Nice to see you're doing well.

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    3. :) I'm busier than when I was actually earning money

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  4. but misses and Lee is able to get into his home and is locking the door as the ugly thing pushes against the door. Lee goes to get his rifle off the shelf and just as the gris gris shoves the door open Lee fires and the gris gris is no more.

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    1. Hi Gladys! Unfortunately the only thing that can actually destroy the Gris Gris is a bullfrog. I asked my sister if a rifle could kill the beast and she said, " Only if you can shoot a bullfrog through the barrel." ;~)

      Thanks for stopping by and come back any time!

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