Well, I was hoping for a better position but being an Honorable Mention / Special Recognition winner of the Writers Weekly Fall 24-hour short story contest is okay. I’ll take it!! I did a search to see how many, on average, submit to the Writers Weekly contests and AI told me they have a limit of about 500. I was hoping it was more. ha! Anyway, I love the 24hr format and will try again in the Winter contest.
For your entertainment, here’s my entry.
The Blood Moon
Two brothers, Lloyd and Wyatt Bernard, sat in decrepit folding chairs on a sagging porch. The boys were tired after a day of fixing the family still. They took turns swigging from an old crockery jug. This part of Kentucky had once been a moonshining capital and a business legacy for the Bernard family going back generations. Now, business was slow.
The rotting porch faced a well-used dirt road, and beyond lay a field of rotting pumpkins. Behind, to the west, stood a ten-acre wood of pin oak and felled trees mostly covered with overgrown kudzu. Posted signs every ten feet read: No Trespasin, and we mean it! The thicket made access to the shack housing the ancient still nearly impossible.
Lloyd pointed to the sky. “Oh shit, Wyatt, look at that.”
Wyatt nodded. “Yeah, we better get inside soon; the moon is turning.” He handed the jug to Lloyd, who slung it up for a swig in a single smooth motion. He sat the jug on the bleached, splintering floorboards between them.
Lloyd agreed. “Oh yeah. That bigass blood moon is gonna be turning orange soon.”
Wyatt’s eyes squinted as he tried to adjust his eyesight. “The hell is that?”
Lloyd strained to see, then echoed, “The hell…?”
A young girl was skipping down the dirt road singing. She looked itty bitty and rail-thin. Couldn’t be more than 9 years of age with golden hair and a white dress that glowed in the moonlight.
Wyatt turned to his brother, “Who’s that?”
Staring, Lloyd said, “Don’t know.”
The girl lifted her chin and cast her arms out wide and belted out, “And there’s a blood moon way up in the sky. Blood moon orange…”
The girl froze mid-lyric. So did the boys. She blinked first, then grinned broadly and shouted, “Hey fellas. How y’all doing tonight?”
Lloyd made a doubtful wave. “Hey.”
Without fear or hesitation, she ran toward them. Both men leaned back, as if a freight train was coming their way. Wyatt grasped the metal armrest of his chair, bracing himself.
She seemed to be ready to charge the porch, so Lloyd held out a hand. “Whoa, little lady. Where you goin?”
Skidding to a stop, she giggled and pointed to the porch. “I wanna sit up there with y’all and watch the eclipse.” Ducking her chin and batting her eyelashes she asked, “May I please?”
Wyatt stuttered. “Uh uh, we only got two chairs here.”
“Nuh-uh.” She pointed to a broken-down rocking chair that would probably hold her where it wouldn’t stand a grown man.
Before either could stop her, she dragged the rocker over beside Wyatt, who was avoiding looking at her. Then, quick as a whip, she snatched up their jug.
“Mind if I have a drink of your shine?”
Lloyd, astonished, had no reply.
Wyatt, glancing nervously between her and Lloyd, said, “Uh, you ought not be drinking that! And who says it’s shine?”
She took a second drink, then handed the jug to Wyatt, who quickly handed it off to Lloyd, who placed it on the floor beside his chair.
“My mama told me about you boys. She said y’all’s family makes shine.”
Lloyd asked, “Who’s yor mama, girl? I aint never seen you before…”
“Donna Nell Jones.”
Under his breath, Lloyd said, “No way.” Louder he said, “Well, yeah, I know your mama; we went to grade school together.”
“Well, alrighty then, that’s my Mama!”
“She know where you at?”
“Nope. Her and Daddy are fighting. Again. So, I left for awhile. They’ll never notice.”
Lloyd cocked his head and squinted. “Where you go to school, girl?”
“I don’t; Mama homeschools me.”
“Donna?” Lloyd laughs. “She weren’t smart enough to rub two sticks together.”
Drawing herself up, she countered, “Well, she’s the one told me about the lunar eclipse tonight. Who taught you two?”
The brothers looked at one another. Neither wanted to admit they’d knew nothing about any eclipses.
Lloyd shrugged.
“I bet you don’t even know. Do ya? Ya want to?”
The boys shook their heads, no. But that didn’t stop her. She told them all about the sun and the moon and all the magical powers released when they pass over each other and how it could do crazy things like even make those pumpkins out there come back to life.
The boys were spooked but listened and studied the eclipse anyway. After it was over, she jumped up and announced, “Time to go! Bye now!” She ran off the way she came, her fluffy blond hair looking like a halo.
Wyatt said, “Well, that was crazy.”
Lloyd nodded. “Yeah, sure was. We didn’t even get her name. So strange.”
The next morning in the kitchen, Lloyd grabbed the well-worn phone book, and the wall-mounted handset and dialed.
A woman answered, “Hello.”
“Hey, this Donna Nell?”
“Yeah. Who’s this?”
“Hey Donna, it’s Lloyd Bernard.”
“Well, I’ll be. Hey, Lloyd.”
“Hey. I just thought I’d check to see if your girl got home safe last night.”
After a long pause, in a quavering voice, Donna replied, “The hell is wrong with you, Lloyd?”
“Wait, wha…”
“My baby girl died exactly a year ago. Is this some sick phone prank? Screw you!”
Before he could answer, the sound of the dial tone let him know she’d hung up.
Then, Wyatt, shouting from the porch, “Hey Lloyd! You seen these pumpkins?”
Love it! Very creepy!!