Daily Flash Fiction

Another Victim

Rain pummeled against the rickety cabin, wind howling like a tormented beast. Alice huddled by the fireplace inside. The flickering flames casting grotesque shadows on the grimy wall. Her research team vanished in the storm. She was alone and trapped in Coal Trove, a ghost town haunted by the legend of miners buried alive.

The power flickered, bulbs groaning like dying animals. Every creak, every moan, felt like a hungry predator closing in. And then the lights went out.

Thick and suffocating darkness, swallowed the cabin whole. Alice fumbled for a match, her hand scraping against something cold and clammy. A bone. Panic clawed at her as she remembered the miners' restless souls.

Rhythmic tapping echoed from the next room, claws scratching wood, growing louder, desperate. This wasn't wind. This was something trapped, yearning for release.

Driven by primal fear, she smashed through the boarded-up doorway. Dozens of glowing eyes stared back from the pitch black, cold and hungry.

A bloodcurdling shriek tore through the night as Alice stumbled back. The tapping stopped, replaced by a sickening scrape. Something dragged itself towards the doorway.

She scrambled for the doorknob, but a cold, bony hand clamped onto her shoulder. One last scream, lost in the symphony of whispers, echoed before the darkness claimed her.

The next morning, the storm had passed, leaving an eerie silence. The ransacked cabin, the open door, revealed only emptiness. Coal Trove had claimed another victim, its secrets buried beneath the restless soil.

And sometimes, on the wind, a faint tapping could be heard, a chilling reminder of the darkness that never sleeps.

WORD COUNT: 266 Words
WRITTEN FOR: "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge"  | "Winner for 1/25 and prompt for 1/26"  
PROMPT: Write a story that includes the phrase “and then the lights went out”