Welcome to a new ‘Flash Friday’ post!

The idea behind this series is simple – I’ve been entering flash fiction contests on a website called ‘voice.club’ in an effort to both regain my writing confidence and to meet fellow writers. You can check out their regular competitions here.

 This week’s story was the second entry for the ‘Dawn’ competition I entered – it wasn’t shortlisted, but I’m still super proud of it. I went back to my roots for this one, and write a horror/fantasy inspired piece. Let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Z x

Theme: Dawn
Word limit: 350 words

 Bedrock

 Her fingers caught against the rock, her flesh tearing.

 Lillith kept crawling. Behind her, she could hear the clamour of the yowling demons that pursued her.

“Lillith!” they cried in voices that grated like rusty metal. “Lillith! Come back and play, Lillith!”

Their laughter screeched in her ears. She kept going, the weight of a hundred thousand tons of earth all around her, the tunnel barely big enough to squeeze through. Her knees were raw and her hands bloody.

Please, she thought, please let me get out. Let me see the sky and taste sunlight.

Dirt fell all around her, causing her to cough. The demons shrieked in delight and she sensed them speed up, their long claws scrabbling against the rock, the tremble of their great wings causing more earth to fall. 

Lillith renewed her efforts, every muscle straining as she pulled herself forward inch by agonising inch. Sweat poured from her brow. She was so close, she knew it.

The demons – perhaps sensing her desperation and how close she was to her goal – screamed louder. The earth around her began to shake as they closed the distance between them with frightening speed.

With a desperate scream, Lillith punched through the soil ahead. A cool wind played over on her fingertips. Almost dizzy with relief she scrabbled and clawed her away through the last of the dirt and emerged, gasping, into the fresh air. From the hole she’d just heaved herself out of came the wails and curses of the thwarted demons. 

She lay on the cool grass for a moment, staring up at the sky. The air tasted all the sweeter for being imprisoned below the Earth’s bedrock for a thousand years. Slowly, she stood up and gazed at the rolling hills around her. About a mile away she could see a lake, it’s waters calm and unruffled. Beside it, a white church stood tall and proud. 

A smile, as beautiful and as cold as winter, spread across Lillith’s face as the sun began to rise.

It was a blood-red dawn, and the Devil had come to Earth.