What Lies Beneath


This week's prompt for the 100-word challenge is a picture.





Last night a ripper was on the loose. Guts lay in slimy pink piles in the corridors. Last night also a friend's toddler plunged head-first down a stairwell while in my care. And then I lost my teeth and my daughter.

Why should a mind, placid in daylight, unleash such horrors at bedtime? By day we are anchored by deadlines, smalltalk and teabags. At night, when darkness swallows the reassuring props and the mind is uncaged, we are reminded that the comforts we cling to are frail ones and that we are all perched perilously above the unknown.


Comments

  1. Rachel Selby25 September 2012 at 22:03

    Brilliant concept and excellent writing. So true and sobering for all of us. I used to have the losing my teeth one all the time - each night convinced that this time it was really true.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adventures of a Middle-aged Matron25 September 2012 at 22:04

      I have horrible nightmares every night and almost always lose all my teeth. Can't think why. That ripper one last night still terrifies me.

      Delete
  2. Jane @ northernmum25 September 2012 at 22:23

    fabulous writing! but scared to sleep now x

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  3. Anonymous26 September 2012 at 02:45

    Scary! At first I thought the first paragraph was real-world stuff - then it appeared to be all a nightmare. And finally? I'm not sure. Well written!

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    Replies
    1. Adventures of a Middle-aged Matron26 September 2012 at 07:35

      It was actually the very nightmare I had on Sunday night from which I'm still recovering. Dream such horrors almost nightly and am bemused as to why.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous26 September 2012 at 05:24

    Whoa ... that got my attention right away, like a kick. I'm glad the first paragraph yielded to a musing on the nature of dreams. The two work well together and made me read the whole thing through once more. Cool idea (rollercoaster for my stomach. :) )

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  5. Delft26 September 2012 at 06:39

    The uncaged mind. I like the sound of that.
    Nice one!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Older Mum26 September 2012 at 11:11

    Great, great writing - I'm in awe - I still sometimes have dreams about losing my teeth and falling dreams, which can be very unnerving!

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    Replies
    1. Adventures of a Middle-aged Matron26 September 2012 at 12:24

      Gosh, thanks! The falling dreams are the worst. Especially without teeth!

      Delete
  7. A Little Light Work26 September 2012 at 17:29

    Apparently dreaming of wobbly teeth is an omen of bad health. If they fall out (in your dream), it's an omen of death.

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    Replies
    1. Adventures of a Middle-aged Matron26 September 2012 at 18:17

      I know that. I found it out when I started dreaming it 30 years ago! Obviously a long-range forecast...

      Delete
  8. Anonymous26 September 2012 at 18:03

    A few people have written the prompt about dreams; you must all have seen something I didn't in this picture! I often think that my brain lets me down when it gives me scary or dull dreams.

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    Replies
    1. Adventures of a Middle-aged Matron26 September 2012 at 18:18

      It makes you realise how little we know our own minds. I only thought of the subject from the prompt cos I'd had that awful ripper dream and the toddler one the night before.

      Delete
  9. Unknown27 September 2012 at 11:36

    Great take on the prompt and so true

    ReplyDelete
  10. Iota 27 September 2012 at 13:29

    I've always thought that dreams are where our minds DO face the awful realities of life, but kindly doing it in a way that minimises their potential to ruin daily mundane existence.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Iota 27 September 2012 at 13:29

    I've always thought that dreams are where our minds DO face the awful realities of life, but kindly doing it in a way that minimises their potential to ruin daily mundane existence.

    ReplyDelete

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