NYC Midnight Challenge: Prompt 1

I’m already stressing out over the first prompt for the writing challenge.

Genre: Horror

Location: A Hill

Object: A Map

They describe Horror which is helpful. Here is the description:

Horror

A story intended to provoke an emotional, psychological, or physical fear response in the audience. Horror stories frequently contain supernatural elements, though not always, and the central menace may serve as a metaphor for the fears of society. Common elements: eerie atmosphere, morbid themes, heightened suspense, focus on death and evil, uncanny situations and persons. Horror books include Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Stephen King’s It. Horror films include The Exorcist (1973) and Poltergeist (1982).

Luckily for me, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorite books that I was forced to read for school. I’m hoping to channel Franks ghost to help me write this one. In general, I do not read or watch Horror because I scare very easily. I have one day and about fifteen hours to write a 1,000-word story. I have a few ideas. None are sticking that well yet. This is where I start the What If process.

Example:

What if my MC (the main character) were following a digital map to a hill where he had hoped to find a missing loved one. Only to be pulled underground into a grave next to her.

What if my MC was a babysitter, watching a creepy kid that drew her a map (because kids are always creepy). Her friends thought it would be fun to follow, only it leads them to a hill that disintegrates their bodies, starting with their shoes.

What if my MC is the nemesis, plotting ways to bring people into a trap he created on a hill. He would go around leaving maps in people’s mailboxes. Then he eats his victims that are stupid enough to come.

What if my MC was a runner, someone who traveled the same path every day. Though one particular day he is haunted by an image from a dream. Struck by deja vu, he follows his dream up a hill, where he finds an evil doppelganger that has murdered his wife.

What if my MC was an old woman who senses the dead. A spirit leads up a hill, begging her to help free him. She discovers a spirit-sucking demon that fuels itself on dead souls. She must try to destroy the demon in order to allow the souls of the town to rest.

Hmmmm. At least I have ideas. Now just putting one of these in motion. Like anyone particularly? It may be none of these, it may be one of these.

Let the creative process flow. Happy Saturday! Eeeek!!

PS. Fellow writers, want to play along and share a 1,000 word story with the same prompts? I would LOVE to read it (after I complete my own). Hook me up with Pingback so I can follow your story.