Each piece of art will be paired with a short story of 200-1000 words. The art will be at the bottom of the chapter.
The prompt list I'm using can be found here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CUSzT18LbFp/?utm_medium=share_sheet
It was November when I finally got the keys to Lucie's apartment. The police had gone through it already, looking for clues, but I heard they hadn't found anything that suggested foul play. It didn't give me much hope. Lucie's not the type of person to just go off the grid for a month. Whatever happened to her, she would have contacted me if she could.
I inserted the keys into the door, stepping into the entryway, and flicked on the overhead lights.
It looked the same as it always did. The living space was cluttered with knickknacks, the shoes by the door as unorganized as I would expect from her. I took a deep breath, inhaling dust as I did so. Ugh. It was time to get to work.
Lucie's landlord wanted her stuff out by the end of the week. Something about having people already lined up to rent it already. I hadn't been paying much attention, too busy trying to remember where she kept her moving supplies.
I opened the hall closet on a hunch. There, I found some clear plastic crates, still labeled with painters tape. That was good at least. I picked up the first one, not caring what order I packed stuff up in.
The label read "tapes & cds", so I headed towards the entertainment center.
It was probably the most organized space in the entire apartment. Shelves of VHS's and CD's stood to the side of her tv, the remote to which was sitting on the arm of the couch. I got to work, gently packing away my best friend's passion.
Just as I was about to finish, I realized I hadn't checked the VCR. I went over and bent in front of the TV, pressing the eject button.
What popped out was a bit of a surprise. A completely unmarked VHS tape. I looked the thing over, turning the smooth plastic over in my hands. The thought suddenly struck me that this could have been the last thing she watched.
I quickly shoved it back into the player, fiddling with the playback controls. Eventually, with a bit of guessing, I was able to get it to play.
The sound of rain beating against a roof played through the speakers as the video played. It was... a feed of a dark hallway? I fast forwarded the tape. Nothing happened.
The camera looked like it was being held by someone, but they didn't move or make a sound through the entire runtime. Nor did anything about the hallway change. eventually, I couldn't stand it anymore. I was beginning to feel sick. I ejected the tape.
What the Hell was that? I looked down at the tape in my hands, and realized they were shaking.
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