Ravenous

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@shaka's back! And his #LMAC contest is on again! In this round, I combine my collage for @shaka with a story I wrote for #finishthestory contest.

As is the case with every #FTS episode, one author writes the beginning of a story, and a second author picks up the theme to 'finish the story'. This week the remarkable and talented @brisby served up horror, so I tried to match that.

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My collage for @shaka is a bit creepy, which I hope matches the blended @brisby and @agmoore story. The collage began with @shaka's great photo:

I superimposed greenery from a Pixabay picture:

All the rest of the elements, insects and plants, came from Paint 3D. The GIF was made using a GIMP plug in.

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Thank you, @shaka for running your contest again. I do love making these collages and being part of your creative community.

@shaka's contest may be found here. You really should check it out. Amazing art and skill are on display.

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Finish the Story runs just about every week. It is sponsored by @bananafish and may be found here

Congratulations, @brisby, for writing a story that was really, really creepy. And very well crafted.

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Shiro

by @Brisby

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Shiro paid the street vendor for his lemonade, unfazed by her curious glances to the glove on his hand. Any other day, he would have answered the unspoken questions of the smiling woman with a light quip. A bit of banter went miles in getting people to overlook his many...eccentricities.

Today though, he couldn't muster anything witty. Throngs of people were milling about the square, mindless to those who were in a hurry. His quick errand run had become a snail-paced slog behind wandering looky-loos. The brown jacket he wore was sodden thanks to the blistering bake of the summer sun. He'd give anything to shed his sweaty layers but the memories of what had happened the last time...

Compounding his exhaustion were his ever-present traveling companions. Their desperation for his attention had begun fraying his nerves since he left home. Ignoring their antics and way they clung to him had worn his energy to a hair's breadth. Sheer obstinance was all that kept him from screaming at them in the middle of the crowd.

Shuffling aside to savor the crisp drink in the shade of the over-sized umbrella, Shiro felt something crunch beneath his heel. Dammit! Whatever he had broken, it sounded expensive.

Behind him a voice shrilled, "You're paying for that!"

Shoulders slumping as he fingered his wallet, he turned. "Sorry! I didn't know...", his voice choked to a halt. Not because the person was intimidating. The blonde slip of a girl glaring daggers at him wouldn't have been able to frighten a hamster. Nor was it due to her beauty, as she had been graced with an unfortunate nose.

It was the reaction of his companions that stole his breath.

Gone were the shadowy undulations and static flickerings who had doggedly followed Shiro since he was a child. What remained were swirling vortices of crimson and pitch. Amorphous, they writhed. They wailed. The air thickened with the depth of their need.

Without warning, unctuous tendrils sprang. Shiro cried out but it was too late. Oozing with hunger, his companions snaked to envelop the girl. Her wide hazel orbs rolled to the heavens before she collapsed to the ground.

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My Conclusion

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Ravenous

by @agmoore

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Shiro did not fear the crowd. He knew that when horror strikes one person, the others flee. All that was left was the girl, and her whimpering.

The whimpering would haunt him, as would awareness of others who suffered because of him. This burden he had carried since he was fifteen.

Those many years ago he had made his mistake. Everyone in the village knew the forest was possessed by demons, that to venture within would be to disappear, or to return changed, forever. But Shiro was stubborn. Once he set his mind to something...

And so he intruded where no one else dared. Vegetation so dense, he could not see ahead. He stumbled. What was it that tripped him? His hand caught on a vine. When he tried to pull away, the vine tightened on his arm and dragged him forward. With his usual stubbornness, he defied it. But the vine was not like his parents, or the villagers. It was not like anything.

Soon he was entwined. Arms. Legs. Torso. The vegetation smothered him. He gasped. And then the sound came, carried by a swarm of gnats that traveled on the wind.

"You are here, Shiro, and you will stay, forever.

"Please, let me go!"

"You were warned to stay out of the forest."

"I'm sorry. Let me go home, please..."

"If you leave, there are terms you must satisfy. We grow hungry for flesh. Villagers no longer stray into the forest. We are denied our precious human meat. The young ones need the protein. If you go forth, you take them with you. Once a week, you let them free to find their prey."

"Where will I put them? I don't understand."

"They will hide themselves under your clothing. You must always be clothed in public. They cannot abide the sun, so you must cover them carefully."

"But my family..."

"This is your family. If you try to return home, not only will you perish, but all you love will be devoured."

"I can't...it's too horrible ...."

At that moment pain seared through his hand. Shiro looked at it. Innumerable grotesque creatures were feeding calmly upon his fingers and working their way up his wrist.

"Stop! Stop! I'll do it."

From that moment Shiro carried the demons. He wandered the earth. Once a week at night he let them free. Sated, they would come back docile. Only once before had they broken free and attacked without being released. He lived in fear of another outburst. Today that fear was realized.

Shiro stood helplessly as the girl was consumed. It took but a few moments. The creatures were ravenous. The weekly feeding was due.

When they finished their grisly meal, Shiro opened his coat. He closed it over his charges and walked away, far away, where the story of the girl and what had befallen her would not be told. Or at least, would not be believed.