Tuesday Tales: Kestrel 3-24-2015 by Flossie Benton Rogers

Photo by Alicia
Photo by Alicia

Tuesday Tales is a weekly blog featuring diverse authors who post excerpts from their WIPs based on word and picture prompts. Today’s prompt is catch. The snippet is from a dystopian work. Please visit the other fabulous authors at Tuesday Tales.

Kestrel jumped out as soon as the car stopped, before Sam could open the door. Pete, a tall painfully skinny man with pale watery eyes that bulged, motioned them toward the back of the house. She had left her emergency tool kit in the car but gave a nod of appreciation to Sam. He had thrown her magical bag over his shoulder.

Near the dock sprawled a huge cypress tree, its knees gnarled and wet. From a low limb hung three bodies with ropes tight around their necks, all women, one elderly, one middle aged, and the last a teenage girl. The vanilla cream coffee she’d had at the last rest stop threatened to gurgle up. She swallowed hard.

Iris stood close to the tree and motioned them closer. Her short platinum hair lay sleek against her scalp, her brow furrowed, and her gray eyes serious. She answered Kestrel’s question before it could be asked. “They’ve been here about eighteen hours. Kids came in from fishing and found them.”

Kestrel noticed Iris’ clipped words and heightened Scandinavian lilt. The accent tended to deepen in times of stress.

Kestrel moved in for a closer look. The women were all nude, and their breasts had been painted with red swirls. Sam handed her a pair of plastic gloves. She didn’t plan on touching the bodies if she could help it, but she put them on just in case.

“Blood.” Iris’ voice held a note of suppressed outrage. “They are painted in blood. Do you catch the significance of the symbol?”

“Shells of the goddess, labyrinth of the womb,” Kestrel answered, her tone tight and hollow. She tried to avoid the faces of the corpses with their sightless staring eyes and mouths that had been sewn shut.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please visit the fabulous authors at Tuesday Tales.Tuesday Tales 

Cheers & Happy Reading!
Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic with Paranormal Fantasy Romance

By Flossie Benton Rogers

Paranormal romance author who loves to shake the edges of reality.

18 comments

  1. I’ve got a part in your story 🙂 LOL

    Seriously, I’m hooked as well, although I’d hope for it not to be too gruesome. Interesting snippet today!

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