Truly chilling! Even uncomfortable! I loved the way you built the tension throughout the story and kept returning to that one image of the walls rippling and bulging. This is exactly the kind of "fear of the unknown" horror that keeps me awake at night!
Your post has been selected as a candidate for the Ernie Award.The award is made monthly for the best article/story/post for the month.The only rules are: 1. Must be an original work (not created by AI) 2. Tasteful AI graphics are allowed. 3. No inappropriate, graphic, sexual references. 4. Your post must be open to comments from non-paid subscribers. 5. Writer must be at least a free subscriber to TexasErnieLee.Substack.com.
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This is exquisite - slow horror where grief turns a domestic space into something sentient and alive. The language is tactile and bureaucratic simultaneously, making the Residuum tech feel eerily plausible. That final deadbolt click was a masterstroke: the sound of inevitability, of someone else being quietly absorbed into memory.
Loved this - you're definitely in your wheelhouse here.
Damn, I knew I hated the paint colour 'Magnolia' for a reason... love all the sensory details here that draw the reader in slowly, before the horror sets in -- you can't get away!
Gary... this is going to haunt me in the best possible way. I really didn't expect the second half and I was progressively leaning further and further back from my screen in fear.
Really liked this. The opening image with the numbers slipping away like wet leaves grabbed me right away, and that damp handprint on the wall stuck with me, kinda eerie but in a quiet more subdued way. The mix of ordinary details with the uncanny works really well. I especially liked lines like “cool as a page” and “smiled over the edge of the fact.” Your writing has a slow-burn creepiness that lingers with you!
Gary, this story haunted me long after I closed the tab. The pacing, the slow drift from nostalgia into horror, feels like watching condensation turn to rot
Truly chilling! Even uncomfortable! I loved the way you built the tension throughout the story and kept returning to that one image of the walls rippling and bulging. This is exactly the kind of "fear of the unknown" horror that keeps me awake at night!
Thank you very much! Glad it resonated.
Interesting concept.
Your post has been selected as a candidate for the Ernie Award.The award is made monthly for the best article/story/post for the month.The only rules are: 1. Must be an original work (not created by AI) 2. Tasteful AI graphics are allowed. 3. No inappropriate, graphic, sexual references. 4. Your post must be open to comments from non-paid subscribers. 5. Writer must be at least a free subscriber to TexasErnieLee.Substack.com.
5.The Award recipient receives a $50 award.
Congratulations, the award will be announced on or soon after November 1st.
Oh wow. Thank you very much!
This is exquisite - slow horror where grief turns a domestic space into something sentient and alive. The language is tactile and bureaucratic simultaneously, making the Residuum tech feel eerily plausible. That final deadbolt click was a masterstroke: the sound of inevitability, of someone else being quietly absorbed into memory.
Loved this - you're definitely in your wheelhouse here.
Thank you Tom, I am really enjoying the horror mixed with the psychological
Damn, I knew I hated the paint colour 'Magnolia' for a reason... love all the sensory details here that draw the reader in slowly, before the horror sets in -- you can't get away!
Gary... this is going to haunt me in the best possible way. I really didn't expect the second half and I was progressively leaning further and further back from my screen in fear.
I'm enjoying writing more horror. Glad it did what it was intended to do.
Really liked this. The opening image with the numbers slipping away like wet leaves grabbed me right away, and that damp handprint on the wall stuck with me, kinda eerie but in a quiet more subdued way. The mix of ordinary details with the uncanny works really well. I especially liked lines like “cool as a page” and “smiled over the edge of the fact.” Your writing has a slow-burn creepiness that lingers with you!
Your comments are much appreciated.
WELP, that was beautifully written and chilling to the bone. You write nightmare fuel like how van Gogh painted. It's pure art, but terrifying!
Thank you Kelly.
Gary, this story haunted me long after I closed the tab. The pacing, the slow drift from nostalgia into horror, feels like watching condensation turn to rot
Thank you. I played with the pacing, glad it came across.
Loved this! How enticing the wall is and how comforting. Then how deadly. Expertly done!
Thank you Liz
Thank you Wendy.
Thank you!
Thanks Hadean.