Nightmare fuel, Day 11: a Week of Death

This is another one little scrap of dark whimsy. It's fun to set up patterns, but only if you find a way to break them later. The breaking of the pattern, in addition to what is implied in that empty space, often gives power to part of a story or film. 

One example from a different medium, is the moment late in Neil Gaiman's _Sandman_ comics when  Cain is about to kill his brother Abel for about the millionth time, but has his hand stayed for the only time we've seen or ever will see. It adds gravity to what was already a heavy, emotionally dense part of the book. 

This is nothing as deep as that; as I said, dark whimsy, but fun in a way. The image prompt comes from the one and only Andrea Trask herself
, hostess for the Nightmare Fuel project.


A Week of Death

Dinner time. Monday evening.

"How was your day?"

"I saw dead worms today."

"In school? Are you learning about animals?"

"No, daddy. On my way there. Mommy said it rained last night, and the worms drown. It's so sad."

"They're just worms. Who cares about them? What happened in school?"

"Math, spelling, gym."

--
Dinner time. Tuesday evening.

"How was your day today?"

"I saw a dead bird.on the sidewalk."

"You know what I mean. Your day at school."

"It was all twisted like a broken doll. There were flies all over it."

"What.happened.at.school?"

"We had reading and art."

--

Dinnertime, Wednesday evening.

"How was your day?"

"I saw a dead dog. In the sump near the park."

"You shouldn't go there. And you know what I meant. What happened at school?"

"Math and writing."
--
Dinner Time, Thursday evening.

"How was your day?"

"We saw a dead deer."

"You know what I meant. What did you do in school?"

"We had a field trip. I saw it from the buss window. It looked sad and broken."

--
Friday evening.

"How was your day?"

"Fine. We had music and art."