Nothing sinister or suspect.

Samson looked out at the row of bungalows. A car drove past, a dog barked, the trees swayed in the breeze.

He stepped inside the house, walking through the hallway, glancing in each room.

No signs of disturbance.

She lived here alone. Late last night, a call from neighbours reporting screaming.

In the backyard a huge oak tree dominated. Samson walked up to it, feeling the cracked bark.

He walked round the wide trunk. His hand felt a sticky, dark excretion. His fingertips were red. He looked up.

A large hollow. He had found her.

tree-sandra-crook
Copyright Sandra Crook

Written as part of the Friday Fictioneers challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (more details HERE). The idea is to write a short story of 100 words based on the photo prompt (above).

To read stories of 100 words based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.

Read more stories featuring Detective Samson: THE DETECTIVE SAMSON STORIES

111 thoughts on “IN THE HOLLOW TREE”

  1. Nicely done, Iain. I see we went along the same lines here and suspect FriFic will be littered with corpse-filled trees before too long. Perhaps I should have done the weeping reindeer after all. 😉

    Liked by 5 people

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  22. The way you painted a picture of suburban normality at the beginning lowered my guard and although I knew something must be coming, I didn’t twig what it was until you told me. Very well told.

    Liked by 2 people

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  31. ‘Nothing sinister or suspect.’ Love that opener, as I know fulle well this is not going to be the case with your fiction! A great set up and the creepiest of pay offs. But how did she die and how did the killer get her up into that tree? Good beginning to a crome novel Iain

    Liked by 1 person

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  35. It did seem like she had come to no good end, and indeed, bloody and up a tree counts as “no good end.” What a gruesome ending! The tree in the photo does look a bit like it’s bleeding, now that you mention it.

    Liked by 1 person

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