An unexpected horror flash fiction for Macabre Monday. It might be folk horror, I’m not sure.
Jonah was tired to death. Was it the booze, or the extra chores he had at the farm now that Annie was gone, or maybe it was her betrayal which caused him many sleepless nights, but Jonah found himself lying on the muddy ground powerless, sleeping with his eyes open. They said she’s no good, but Jonah wouldn’t listen. They gossiped she slept with that good for nothin’ dirty Dan. Jonah didn't believe until he saw them in the woods.
He waited until the two parted. Jonah hunted Annie down when she was alone and let the blade of his huntin’ knife do the talking. A year had passed since that spring night.
Wasn’t this the place where he slid Annie’s throat and watched the earth drink up her blood? Jonah was too drunk to tell; the woods all looked the same. Nobody missed the whore; he buried her good.
Jonah laid with something tingling under his back. The bare earth awaited for the first touches of the springtime sun. But beneath him dark grass stems murmured their curses growing out the land, and into his warmth. Sharp as an army of thousand tiny blades, the grass tore his clothes, pierced his skin, dug into his flesh, ripped his blood vessels apart, while Jonah’s inhuman cries disappeared swallowed by the silence of the woods. The hungry grass drank up his blood, a thirst once awakened by blood could never be quenched. The grass grew, until Jonah was bleeding no more.
Thank you for reading!
Awesome! Works as a flash, but could also be extended to a full-length story.
I don't think it's evil weeds. I think it's the earth taking out the trash.