Keepsake Exchange

/ Liz H

green eyeballHenry peered between the slats of the alleyway fence, leaf green eyes nearly popping out of their sockets in horror at what appeared to be carnage of the most brutal kind. 

Guts were scattered and spattered on the walls of the garbage nook, the poor creature’s top knot having been sliced and tossed to the side as Trevor dug in deep, scraping and whistling tunelessly until finally, there were no more innards to make outwards and he held the hollowed skull in front of his face, grinning as he pondered his next move.

Henry winced, and wiped hurriedly at tears that leaked down his cheeks, like sap during maple sugaring season; he’d had many fine conversations with the victim — name of Petra — as they’d watched the sun rise together, close by the vine and before Trevor and his family started their day.

Whooping with savage joy, Trevor picked up a sharp kitchen knife and drove it into Petra’s face, again and again and again, only stopping when he was breathless and Henry was muffling his whimpering beneath the rattling October leaf-fall. Petra lay still and cold on the ground as Trevor dug in his pocket to pull out a small, flat candle, placing it inside her head and shouting, “Mom, the pumpkin’s ready but I need a-borrow your Zippo!”

As the boy ran off to fetch the lighter, Henry was seized with a wave of rage and sorrow as he slipped between the slats, plucked out his own goblin eye and lovingly placed it in the damp triangle that he supposed was meant to be a socket, and reached in between the hideous lips to grab the candle end in fair exchange – and fair warning! — for his own eye.

© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2021)

The challenge? Write a story in 6 sentences, no more & no less, and if you’d like, share your creation or just visit and comment on others’ ideas, with GirlieOnTheEdge, Denise. The prompt is “KEEPSAKE”, and here’s where you join the party: Six Sentence Stories     

26 thoughts on “Keepsake Exchange”

  1. So, of course, having had a long, hard day and not being at my sharpesy, I actually pictured a candle inside a skull and was scarified by terrible Trevor. I even managed to overlook the word ‘pumkin’, imagining it was just the vicious killer trying to be funny! I even fitted the word ‘Mom’ into my horror scenario. I’m so relieved to understand that it was a pumpkin! Although I did enjoy the horrific tale. And now for an early night, I think! Excellent story.

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  6. I was so glad to discover that Petra was a pumpkin, although I’m not sure exactly what Henry is other than perhaps Halloween decoration come to life. Clever take on the SSS prompt just in time for the weekend.

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  8. Damn!*
    What an excellent sharp-angle close to your story. Sadly amusing (for most) and intriguing in the implication of victim’s revenge (for a few).

    * compliment for a Six that grabs the Reader by the optic nerves and calms the thrashing only with the promise of brevity… lol jokes on us!

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  10. Beautifully, elegantly horrific, Liz! I love how we root for Henry at first and shudder at what Trevor is doing… then the wicked twist! Bravo, I read this three times already and it keeps getting better 🎃🎃🎃

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