Two people investigating the shadowy figures that haunt a mountain cross paths, just as one of them may have made a major discovery.
Music: “Fire Dungeon” by Benjamin Carr
[Video Description: “They Stand. They Watch. They Wait.” Trailer. Duration, 30 seconds. Music, “Fire Dungeon” by Benjamin Carr. Digital drawing. The silhouette of a person facing forward stands at center with arms to the side. The eyes glow with the color of the sunny halo behind the figure’s head and torso. The figure stands on ground that is cast in dark shadows. The ground fills the bottom fourth of the image. Scarce shrubbery is visible to the left of frame. A bush or small tree is visible at the right of frame. All in shadow. The sky fills the top three-quarters of the image and is streaked with sunset colors. Title card with the words “Short Story” and “Genre: Urban Legend,” is displayed at top. Tagline is displayed at bottom. It reads: “Two people investigating the shadowy figures that haunt a mountain cross paths, just as one of them may have made a major discovery.” Title card and tagline fade. A watermark of the word “storyfeather” appears over the image. Lines from the story appear in sequence: “Don’t look at them directly. Don’t try to speak to them. And don’t approach them. As long as those rules were followed, they were not dangerous.” Site URL appears at bottom center offset right throughout and fades at end. As the last line disappears, the image blurs, the story title appears at center, and a text card appears at top that reads “Available to Read Now storyfeather.com.”]
Welcome to Year 9 of Storyfeather
Every year’s short stories (mostly) follow a theme. This year, I will turn the Wheel of Fiction to help me decide what to write. There are thirteen spokes on this wheel. Eight are occupied by the eight themes from the previous years of stories. One is a prompt to turn the wheel again. One is a wildcard (hmm…curious). And three are covered only in question marks. I suppose I’ll find out what’s beneath those questions as we go along.
Welcome to the WHEEL OF FICTION
The Wheel of Fiction landed on Creatures (after first landing on Turn Again). On searching “urban legend creatures,” I came across an article (okay, it was the top search item) of the scariest urban legends in each state in the U.S. I’d only started reviewing the infographic when the entry on the Dark Watchers caught my attention. The warning not to acknowledge them in any way, along with no explanation as to why, gave my imagination some initial images. Two people driving in a car. One of them asking, out of context, what would happen if she were to look. The driver stopping the car and in both fear and anger warning the passenger that if she’s unable to follow the warnings then she’s putting both their lives in danger and he will turn the car around. I started my brainstorm by answering the question of how the shadowy figures came to be and what would happen if someone were to break the rules on encountering one of them..
[Video Description: Duration, 9 seconds. Choice wheel made on the Spin the Wheel application. Thirteen spokes or slices in various colors, labeled as follows, clockwise from the top: Objects of Power (the “of Power” is not visible), Prompts, Definitions, Turn Again, Elements, Creatures, S.T.E.A.M., Wildcard, Revisitation, Music, Challenge, Draw!!!, Traveler. The title at top reads “The Wheel of Fiction V4” and below that the words “Spin the wheel.” Below that is the date of the spin, 4/30/2022. At top left corner is a flag icon labeled with the letter “F.” This represents a function of the application which interferes with true randomness by reducing the probability of receiving the same choice twice in a row. The wheel turns and lands on Turn Again, turns again and lands on CREATURES. As the wheel stops spinning, a shadowy human figure that fades into nothing below the knees appears and flutters at top center of wheel.]
Genre: Horror, Mythology
Tags: ADIRA, DUSK, MILES, PATRICK, SHADOW, SOUL, STAND, SUNSET, WAIT, WATCH
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