Beware the Blood River (1st Place)

I remember it clearly, that I feel I could reach out and touch it. That wouldn’t be far from the truth. I’m guessing that a decade has passed since my entry into this dream world. It could be an hour for all I know.

“The dream world” it sounds so nice doesn’t it? Most people think of sunny days, walks on the beach, shady trails, adventures. Yes, that’s here. People can fly too. But the other things…. No one wants to talk about those. They make me shiver just thinking about them. What you think is what you get. So calm. So terrifying.

Today I found a bottle floating on the lake. It seemed rather innocent. I plucked it from its watery predicament, and popped the cork. I had every intention of looking inside but before I could, a tiny, white worm crawled to the lip. That wouldn’t be all that odd, but this worm had a moustache. He wiggled it when he looked at me.

“Hello,” it said, “Thank you kindly for releasing me.”

“No problem. You wouldn’t happen to know how to get out of here would you?”

“Well, there were these two kids. They rowed up the blood river. They were never seen again. Guess you could give it a try.”

“The blood river?”

“Yep. Just over that hill there.”

I peered where the worm nodded. An uninteresting grassy knoll stood there. I’d never noticed it before.

I strolled toward the top of the knob. Looking down, my head felt like it was spinning. My knees gave way and I rolled headlong down the embankment. Falling… Falling… until splash!

Sickening red all over my clothes. My chest ripped open.


“Doctor, we’re losing him!”

“The heart is in bad shape. I don’t think we can revive him again.”


300 Words



Flash story -- Limited to 300 words
Must contain the line: "They were never seen again."