Monday Morning Flash Fiction Challenge - Week 1

If you will remember on Monday I posted about this:

Amy C over at Romance Book Wyrm and Dottie over at Tink's Place
have come up with the idea for a Monday Morning Flash Fiction challenge.

And here is the first prompt picture.




Here is my story.

The Wait is Over

The House stands as a monument to those who perished within. The town is divided right down the middle - with half wanting to burn it to the ground, and the other wanting to restore it - in the hope that a shiny coat of paint will erase the past. Cooper Samuels is in the first camp. She wants nothing more than to see that house go up in flames.

Twenty years ago, NewYears Eve, Cooper Samuels and her family were invited to a huge party at The House. Two year old Cooper has no memory of the party - or anything that follows for that matter. All she remembers is one foster family after the next - until the age of five when she was adopted by the elderly Grant and Sarah Samuels. Cooper loves her adoptive parents - but she can’t talk to them about how she feels about The House. She can’t talk to them about the nightmares.

Cooper wakes in the middle of the night with her heart beating out of her chest. She feels the evil that has crawled into her mind - into her dreams. It wants her. Has waited for her - and will not stop until it has her. Cooper can’t take any more, so she decides to take matters into her own hands.

Cooper pulls her fathers old pick up to the curb and cuts the engine. Sitting in the seat she can feel the evil inside The House. The evil is awake, alive and oddly enough - expecting Cooper. Taking a deep breath, Cooper gets out and gently closes the door, reaching into the back for the five gallon gasoline can.

Walking quickly up the front steps, Cooper splashes gasoline over the door and around the frame, walking backwards as the gas fans out in front of her. She douses the steps and the rails and throws the empty gas can onto the porch. Then Cooper grabs her box of matches and lights one - flinging it onto the steps. The gas catches quickly and Cooper watches as the flames run up the steps to the door - spreading from there onto the old, rotted wood of The House.

Stepping back, Cooper stands in the middle of the yard and watches as The House is consumed by the hungry flames. Feeling free at last, Cooper climbs into the pick up and heads home.

Cooper wakes in the middle of the night, heart beating out of her chest and feels the evil surround her.

“Finally, you have freed me. I’ve been waiting so long.”

Cooper can't fight, can't draw breath to scream as the evil presence evades her body - taking control. She leaves her bed, dresses and heads out into the night. Searching...

The End.

M