Flash Fiction #21 - Archway
- Jacob RD Johnson
- Oct 25, 2025
- 2 min read
Picture Prompt:
Photo Credit:
300-500-word Flash Fiction
Post # 21
Week Ending: 10/31/2025
Genre: Horror
Title: Archway
“I'm not going with you!”
“C’mon, Fiona, it'll be cool. Nobody else has been brave enough to do it.”
“There's a reason for that, Sierra.”
“Seriously, we'll just walk through and look around a bit. We’ll be the only two to confirm the truth about the archway.”
“It's creepy. You go first. If you’re okay, then I'll think about it.”
“Fine, coward.”
Sierra turned toward the shoddily-built stone wall. The rough gray blocks, paired with the gargoyle statues on the pillars, did nothing to detract from the rumors about the circular archway. Hesitantly, yet determinedly, she approached the iron gate. She noted there was nothing locking the gate closed. It couldn't be that bad if it wasn't locked. Could it?
Sierra took one look back at Fiona, who was in tears with fright. She steeled herself and pulled the gate open. One step beyond the threshold she knew it was all true. She suddenly felt as though she had become weightless and, just as quickly, became weighed down many times greater than the earth's gravity. It pulled her down onto her knees. Not on auburn thickets of weeds as expected, but hot, gray rocky ground with an orange glow that shone from below, through the cracks.
She turned back in a panic in an attempt to draw comfort from Fiona, but there was no longer a gate, nor archway, and no Fiona.
She found herself surrounded by red and black, four-legged beasts. They didn't have what could be described as teeth, but many sharp pincers inside their mouths. It looked as though they would rip and tear flesh, rather than bite through it. With no place to run or hide, Sierra realized Fiona would be the only one returning to the others to confirm the awful truth of the archway.
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