Followers

Wednesday 7 October 2015

Youthful Frights vs Adult Fears



As I considered all things frightening for this month's blog hop, I realised it is not the supernatural that scares me. There is a supernatural God who is bigger than all of that. No, here in Queensland, it is the natural world which leaves me gasping and cringing:  Opening the pantry to see a master cockroach scurry away; walking through a clinging spider web and not knowing EXACTLY where the spider is; watching a grass snake make its way toward my back step. These are what send chills through me. And so for this month's blog hop I thought I'd share a humorous piece about something perfectly natural and something which could be potentially horrific: an overseas holiday.

Mort blew the formaldehyde from his nostrils and breathed deep of his new location. The consequences of a quiet night at the morgue hit him completely now. Twenty five words or less had moved him from the clinical, orderly and dead to this seething mass of life. The woman leading a cow, the man on his bicycle selling coconuts, the snake charmer playing his hypnotic tune, vibrant fabrics and the smell of parrotha bread cooking. It all became a single jostling and colourful entity around him.
Twenty-five words or less was also the full extent of his Hindi vocabulary. Someone pushed him; another shoved something exotic and unexplained in his face yelling ‘Arey, Dost. Arey Dost.’
Mort shook his head, palms up, ‘No.’

‘You are English.’
‘Australian.’

The little merchant repeated the word and became animated. He continued to repeat it as he dragged Mort into a shop. ‘Australi. Australi.’

The fellow gestured and called people to him. They came as swarthy spectres to envelop Mort. He remembered a nightmare that felt like this. All the bodies in the morgue had risen to threaten him. Like swirling zombies they pulled at him, drawing him to their side of eternity.
Someone picked his pocket. He saw them dash away and dissolve into the dust of the market place. Mort wriggled his way to the door gesturing and pointing. ‘Dekkho. Dekkho. That kid took my wallet.’

His futile chase ended when the culprit, and one by one, the surging shadows, disappeared. Alone in the marketplace, the colours about him blurred and the smells were replaced. A new miasma filled his nostrils as the monsoon arrived to mock him. If he ever made it home, he would cancel his subscription to ‘That’s Life.’


19 comments:

  1. Good creepy Halloween zombie story. Makes me wonder how Mort died. That was definitely not a good trip.

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    1. Thanks Deborah, Mort lives to travel again, if he is game!!

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  2. Hey Rae, I don't think Mort died, did he? Just vowing not to enter free holiday competitions. It would be pretty scary to find yourself in the midst of a full-on Indian marketplace with his twenty-five words of Hindi! Maybe now his job in the morgue doesn't look so bad!

    Thank you for participating in WEP for the October Halloween challenge! Always so good to have you.

    Denise :-)

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    1. Always fun to be part of blog hop as usual, Denise. No he is very much alive and richer now that he has cancelled his magazine subs!!

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  3. I can relate to your fear of the normal things in life. I too find crowds and tight places flight inducing. I feel for Mort and hope he doesn't give up his pursuit of new adventures, but it might help if he learned a bit more of the language first. Just say'n! :)

    But even though I don't believe in the supernatural, it does make me very uncomfortable. Still you story was a great read and a wonderful submission to the WEP Halloween Challenge.

    It would have been horrific to be in that maddening crowd! Well done!

    As Denise said, thanks for participating! Hope you'll return for the Holiday Challenge in December!

    Happy Halloween!

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    1. Thanks Yolanda. I think Mort will be an armchair traveller after his experiences!

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  4. I also find crowds and enclosed places (and noise and odour) confronting to the point of horror. Poor Mort. Perhaps 'That's Life' is a safer way to experience things... Keep that subscription, and stay at home.

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  5. I love scary stories: zombies, vampires, werewolves, monsters, creepy killers. The creepy killers are the scariest for me, as they actually exist. Yes, I fear the real world more than the occult. Large crowds, strange places, losing everything; very real scares. Well done Raelen :)

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  6. Thanks Donna. Lots of things in the real world to scare us, let alone those other worldly monsters. Thanks for reading.

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  7. I fear the idea of supernatural things more so than real things. Perhaps because they're concrete, could happen, so I know that and it didn't bother me as much?
    In any case, I absolutely cannot stand crowds so this likely would freak me out. Poor Mort! Great story!

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  8. Poor Mort, I would feel exactly the same.

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  9. money lifted
    none understands
    a hell of a time
    in a faraway land

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  10. I truly hate cockroaches and I've seen pictures of those spider webs. Ugh! I too am far more afraid of living monsters disguised as CEO's. Great story.
    Nancy

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  11. Agree that real life is sometimes way more scary than the supernatural...Great story. Hope Mort makes it back home safe and doesn't cancel his subscription...Such a pity to give up the pleasures of travelling, both armchair and real!

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  12. Any holiday can go very wrong, as can any flight. You must prepare yourself and be aware. Travelling alone also has its dangers if you don't have a guide or trusted friend. I don't like cockroaches either, having grown up in the US south. A weird and strange story that captures the imagination - is he alive or is he in the afterworld??

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  13. Crowds are frightening, even more so in a foreign land. Now he has to make arrangements to get back home without his wallet - that indeed is scary stuff.

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  14. Well done. I look forward to reading more of your work.

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  15. Ha- I love your ending. This creepy story made me smile. Great work.

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