This challenge is produced by GirlieOnTheEdge with the following simple rules:
Write 6 Sentences. No more. No less.
Use the current week’s prompt word – DISTRACTION
Click here to hear the author read his words:
Night Noise
Every night has its own sounds.
We hear internal noises, the creak of the water pipes, the groan of the heating system as it cools, and sometimes the drip of a tap, difficult to ignore.
There are also external distractions common to apartment blocks everywhere, like the click of heels in a corridor, the far-off music of a long-dead jazz pianist, doors being closed too loudly and, through the shutters, the wail of a cat hoping to escape the rain.
A motorbike engine sixty metres away drowns out the wind, now rustling silently through the parasol pines and plane trees that surround my home, my sanctuary.
Normally none of this disturbs my peace or, in fact, has anything to do with me.
But tonight, I realise with mounting horror, there is another noise, and it does.
Perfect description of those nightime apartment and dwelling sounds, CE. Then along comes that unknown sound at the end… yikes.
As you say, you pay no heed to the familiar sounds, it is the strange ones that stand out. You wouldn’t believe what I heard at 03.23 this morning.
Damn, C.E.! This is one of my favorite Sixes to date. You and your lullaby voice, with it’s comfortably sleepy cadence instilling the reader with a relaxed sense of peace.. until you round that corner at the end like Ken Miles in his GT-40, lol.
Oh, eerie and well done! If the prompts allow, please continue.
Oh my! You paint this comforting blissful scene and then completely unravel it with one, final sentence.
Superior Six!
A chilling story read by the women who doesn’t live well alongside noises in the night!
Egad there’s always the chance that the noise that stands out may be dangerous
I wonder what that noise is, but it may be revealed in the next story. Nice description of the routine sounds one hears during the night.
It is those unexpected noises in the middle of the night that disturb one’s sleep sometimes for the rest of the night, but I am imagining your subject with a pounding heart, trying not to scream and reveal where he is to the creator of the noise.
Good imagery, followed by a question mark 🙂
good suspensful six. good use of the cue.
Something wicked this way comes..? Great Six!
Ooh, I was just being lulled into the safety of the poetic description of night noises when…!
One sentence to turn it all on its head.
Excellent twist.
And such rich language in the story.
Ends on a disturbing note. Not to be ignored. 🙂
Love the suspenseful ending as much as the descriptive prose that pulls you into the moment of sound. Lovely story!