Photo Credit: A Mixed Bag – 2016
“…18 Mississippi…19 Mississippi…20 Mississippi. I hate this game.”
Pete slid the barn door open just enough to slip through.
“Ugh! It stinks in here. Buddy, come on…just come out!” Silence.
“Buddy! I’m not kidding. It’s creepy in here! I’m going to count to ten and if you aren’t out by then, I’m leaving.”
“…8…9…10…okay…bye!”
Pete plopped in front of the tv. After several hours, his mom called from the kitchen. “Hey Pete, didn’t you say you were with Buddy today?”
“Yeah…I played with him. That lame game of hide and seek!”
“Well, I just got a call from Buddy’s mom. He hasn’t been home all afternoon. They’re starting to worry. Where did you say you last saw him?”
Pete slumped under a feeling of dread. “We were in the woods by that old barn. He wouldn’t come out, so I came home.”
Hours turned into days, days to weeks. They never found Buddy. It was years before the authorities were finally able to connect Buddy’s disappearance to a pattern of abductions in the area.
…And years before Pete could come to terms with the guilt. He never played hide and seek again.
kat ~ 9 January 2016
(200 words)
Al Forbes has provided the creepy photo above for this weeks Sunday Photo Fiction Challenge. You can read some of the other stories, or try writing your own by click HERE to visit Al’s page.
like mercury colliding... 
January 10th, 2016 at 11:07 am
Wonderfully creepy, and sadly, like reading the news 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 11:16 am
Did anyone ever look up? They always forget to look up! Enjoyed very much. I used to pride myself, as a boy, that I could spell Mississippi! It has a great resonance when you say it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 12:11 pm
Unless you are in the south and they say “missippy”! I’m a transplant from the Midwest and like saying all four syllables! 😊
LikeLiked by 2 people
January 10th, 2016 at 12:11 pm
Seek and ye shall not find. A sad tale that’s all too common.
Check out my Photo Fiction!
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 12:14 pm
Nice story Keith! I am a lover and believer in faeries myself! 😊
LikeLike
January 10th, 2016 at 12:50 pm
All so innocent…
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 1:27 pm
Yes..sadly innocence lost.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 2:30 pm
How sad and creepy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 2:49 pm
It was a creepy photo this week 😕
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 11th, 2016 at 3:09 am
Some pictures simply make the writing dark.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 2:52 pm
Hi Kat, got here through Sunday Photo Fiction. Great story, creepy too, and they never found out the killer….. You could make a sequel on this one
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 2:59 pm
Hi Charly! Thanks for stopping by…and for the follow. I returned the favor. 🙂 So many of my flash pieces are cliff hangers. Maybe one day I’ll take our parlay to the next level! Peace! 😊
LikeLike
January 10th, 2016 at 3:00 pm
Better be soon that one day that you take it to the next level. Was a very good read.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 3:01 pm
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 4:50 pm
OH! that one is very dark!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 4:55 pm
I know…the photo prompt was very dreary and foreboding…😶
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 6:45 pm
😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 5:12 pm
This a very sad and creepy story. I feel horrible for Buddy who was kidnapped and killed and almost worse for Pete who feels a sense of responsibility for what happened. Not a good thing to live your life knowing. Well written.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 5:35 pm
Thank you Mandibelle. I can only imagine how horrible this would be.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 5:18 pm
This all felt very real. A sad story, but well written. Gripping.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 5:36 pm
Thank you Steve. Though this is fiction, it’s horrible to think this sort of thing does happen…🙁
LikeLike
January 10th, 2016 at 5:27 pm
I can imagine the guilt great story
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 6:08 pm
Great story. Dark and creepy and worrisome .
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 10th, 2016 at 6:24 pm
Thank you Graham. 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 11th, 2016 at 11:01 am
A sad tale wonderfully told.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 11th, 2016 at 12:10 pm
Thank you Mike. It was a dreary photo to be sure. 🙂
LikeLike
January 11th, 2016 at 12:36 pm
Such a sad story! Sad that Buddy was abducted and sad that Pete has to live with the guilt of leaving his friend.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 11th, 2016 at 12:38 pm
Yes…I know. I keep telling everyone, the photo made me tell it!
LikeLike
January 11th, 2016 at 12:42 pm
I understand. That was a very foreboding photo!
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 11th, 2016 at 1:59 pm
Ooh, chiming in with everyone else — great job writing a story that’s even creepier than the photo! I agree, the photo really inspired dark stories this time around. Now I don’t feel so bad about how depressing mine was. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 11th, 2016 at 2:15 pm
I really enjoyed your story Joy. Especially the ending and how torn she was at wanting to see him while hoping she didn’t! 🙂 Yes. It was a dark photo.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 11th, 2016 at 2:25 pm
Thanks Kat! I struggled with those last few lines for far too long–glad they worked. Hopefully next week we’ll all be inspired for happier tales, though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 11th, 2016 at 4:02 pm
They were really poignant. 🙂
LikeLike
January 11th, 2016 at 5:13 pm
Very gripping and sad! 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 11th, 2016 at 6:25 pm
It is. 😢
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 13th, 2016 at 2:14 pm
That had a creepy feeling from it at the beginning, but connecting it to a real life thing (and not a ghost story) really added to it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 13th, 2016 at 2:39 pm
Thank you. Of course it helped that the photo had that creepy feel to it. It’s a parent’s worst nightmare…but rarely do we look at it through the surviving kid’s perspective. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 13th, 2016 at 3:17 pm
Very true. And now that you say that, I think that is exactly why I liked it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 13th, 2016 at 3:36 pm
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 14th, 2016 at 10:34 am
I like that Kat. I thought something was odd, either he had run home already or something worse. The fact that it went on for years. Very creepy 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 14th, 2016 at 1:11 pm
Thanks! Yes…so sad when things go on for years…
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 16th, 2016 at 8:16 am
It is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 15th, 2016 at 7:57 am
Excellent read! Good job.
LikeLiked by 1 person
January 16th, 2016 at 3:47 pm
Thank you Carolyn!
LikeLike