The Sacrifice: A Sample of My Horror Novel

Months ago Jade hosted a Writing Circle and the genre was horror. I was so excited. However, being the horror afficianado that I am it was hard to find an original yet, spooky plot line. I find that the scariest movies or novels are the ones that {in my opinion} can actually happen. So without further adieu here is a tidbit of my horror novel {that I will complete after retirement, but before I die}. 

*Any reference to actually places and people are purely coincidental.

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Why is she on this side of town?

This is the part of town that people like her drive around, take the extra 10 minutes on the Interstate to avoid. One could get car jacked or murdered here.

And yet here she sat.

The heater in her over-priced gas guzzling SUV cranked out the heat, even though sweat was dripping down her brow, she was still shivering. The intense heat magnified the new car smell that permeated her nostrils every time she opened the door. She shivered again, an endless chill that no amount of heat could steal from her bones.

Against her will her mind wandered again to that fateful day. It started just like any other fall day. Bright and sunny, blue sky greeting her and the crisp cool air taking up permanent occupancy in her lungs meant the coming of winter. But that morning‘s hustle and bustle didn’t leave her time to cherish the beauty of that day, and later in a blink it turned ugly oh so ugly.

She ruminated over every detail. How she buckled them into their car seats, how she had to take her husband to work that day because his car was in the shop, and how that annoyed her because it meant she would be late again, always late. She had argued with him “Just let me drive, it will be easier,” she bargained. He reluctantly conceded, so as not to perpetuate another argument when their mornings were such a hotbed of emotions. Too much rushing, too much to do, and never enough time.

She didn’t see the car. There was no time to stop.

Then the impact, crunching of metal on metal, and the screams that escaped from her own mouth. She remembered the glass from the passenger side window shattering and how she closed her eyes, the last image of her husband looking at her. The car tousled like a rag doll. Landing upside down and her hanging precariously the seatbelt her only security, she tried to look in the backseat, to check on the children, but she couldn’t turn her head and all she heard was silence.

Nothing but silence. Until the sirens screamed their arrival.

Sirens again only this time permeating the darkness in the seedy side of town, and she need not be afraid of murders, because after tonight she will be one.

Of course there are many, her mother-in-law, her neighbors, her PTO group that already think that she deserves that title – MURDERER. For it was her that was driving that day, that terrible, terrible day that has cumulated in this night on the wrong side of town with a medieval looking knife glinting in her Coach handbag and the manila envelope staring back at her from the passenger seat.

Who would have thought it would have been this way, but she would do anything to bring them back. Those yesterdays of  the mundane, policing sibling disputes and dumb arguments of who would empty the dishwasher. None that matters anymore she just wants them back.

She wants to feel the strong arms of her husband and hear the laughter of her children again.

According to the book this is how it’s supposed to be done, and once she received the envelope there was no turning back.

There he was, the photo in the envelope, headed into the alley. He will be her first, but not her last. As she steps out of the car and walks slowly behind him, she knows she will kill him, because killing him will mean she’s one step closer to getting back her family.

It was written on the page “Seven souls to return those you love.”

And seven souls it shall be.

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Want to write and share with a wonderful group of women?
There are still Writing Circle dates available. Head over to Bigger Picture Blogs and check it out.
You never know, a novel might just be in your future too.