Only the Roses Remember
The Vignette Gazette Edition #165
VIGNETTE | WRITING PROMPT | FICTION
Only the Roses Remember
The Vignette Gazette Edition #165
Non-Medium members, click here to read for free.
The King’s Castle — Flickr free image by Russ Quinlan — Adapted with PowerPoint Designs.
Our task was to write a ghost story, of between 150 and 300 words, in the first person. The story didn’t have to be horror; it could have been comical like Ghosts on BBC & CBS, magical realism, romance, etc.
*The magic words: Haunt and house.*
The roses still remember my hands.
Every dawn, pale mist drifts across the garden behind the old Victorian house in Bangor. I wander through thorny rows with pruning shears that the living can’t see.
Decades ago, I was the gardener here. I was hired to tend the climbing roses and ivy before my heart stopped in the garden. Although they took my body away, I stayed.
Then Stephen King and Tabitha King moved in with their three children. They were a wonderful family, and many stories echoed through the ceiling to my writing space above.
They knew I was there. They heard me almost immediately.
Not with their ears, mind you. Writers listen differently.
At night, while the family slept beneath the groaning rafters, I whispered stories into the walls. Tales from Derry. Murmurs from Castle Rock. A story about a fireman from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Strange dragon tales from Gogan, and “the Fairest,” a city Owen couldn’t name, but could describe. Even Tabitha heard stories from Nodd’s Ridge.
They started referring to me as their “muse.”
Stephen typed furiously after midnight while I dictated stories into his fogged imagination. Joe muttered thanks for making him a writer after his appearance on Creepshow. He said, “…I was terrible. Oh, was I bad.” Owen left cookies on the back porch for me every Halloween.
Yet, time got away from us all. Now the family is gone, there’s nothing but the echoes of my footsteps and the whisper of ivy scratching at the windows.
Still, I remain.
By day, I tend the roses — by night, I haunt their email.
Sometimes, just before dawn, their laptops awaken to the ping of another story hitting their inbox.
Some say Stephen is finished writing. But I’ll bet a button from Dinah’s Hat, he’s not!
Thanks to Michael John Scott and the Fiction Shorts editors for their support of the daily challenge. 👇👇👇
Discover how to participate in the Random Word Vignette Gazette (This is the updated update, which was updated on 13 March)
Check out Dark Lore Digest. If you’re into the macabre, it could be your sweet spot
Recent unforgettable vignettes from other writers on Fiction Shorts
[embed]Whispers In The Haunted House The Vignette Gazette Edition #165medium.com
[embed]The Ghost Who Jingled The Vignette Gazette Writer’s Prompt #165 | Haunt & Housemedium.com
[embed]The Tale of the Haunted Crossing The Vignette Gazette Edition #165 | Haunt & Housemedium.com
ICYMI, this was my last vignette
[embed]The Lost Temple of Hamunaptra The Vignette Gazette Edition #164medium.com
[embed]The Haunted Castle The Vignette Gazette Edition #165 | Haunt & Housemedium.com
[embed]The Ghost Who Hangs Around The Vignette Gazette Edition #165 | Haunt, Housemedium.com
That’s all for today. Come back tomorrow for another random word vignette.
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Stephen Dalton is a retired US Army First Sergeant with a degree in journalism from the University of Maryland and a Certified US English Chicago Manual of Style Editor. Also, a Top Writer in Bitcoin, Business, Investing, Nutrition, Travel, Fiction, Transportation, VR, NFL, Design, Creativity, and Short Story.
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Tagging some random friends — Randy Pulley— Bruce Coulter — Julia A. Keirns— Jerry Dwyer — Paula Shablo — Nevena Pascaleva — Emma Vincent — Dixie Dodd ♡ — Denée King — Karen Schwartz — Kelly Corinne Elliott— Michael Rhodes— Jonny Masters — John Hansen PAL — Maria Rattray— Anna Soldenhoff — Trisha Faye — Jeannie.Chambers— Steph Thompson — Holly Emery — Kim McKinney — Miriam Connolly— Annelise Lords — Marilyn Flower— Gayle Kurtzer-Meyers — Ted Czukor— Nancy S Rust— Amy Wolf — FarMan — Mary Acton — Sudarsan K Das — Val Francis — Miyabi's Movie Diary — PAUL FLURRY — Pooja Vishwanathan 🦋 — Arpad Nagy — Carole Olsen — Meta Marvelia — Anu maheshwari — Noriko Yanyan — Canute Limarider — Claire Noire♡ — Vipul Maurya— Anhad Sandhu — Jairam R Prabhu — Mypen Soul Writes — Stefan Pasek — Do Capozucca — Robbi Walls — Pavel Piatrou — Sunita Chakraborty — Kaili Bisson — Lynn L. Alexander — Nancy Oglesby.
Don’t want to be tagged anymore? Want to be tagged? Let me know in the comments! I won’t be offended either way! I approve of anyone tagging me with your short stories, so I won’t have to look for them.
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