Tentacles (a #31ShortHorrors special selection)

Darkness surrounds her

Fog swims in her ears

See flailing, flayed open thoughts

Tentacles sliced top to tip

Writhing and thrashing

Gelatinous overflow blurs thin jagged borders

Slimy trails of entrails

A broom a mop a sharp edge

Flip and flop and gather and miss

And the edges slide under

Rolling slithering slime escapes and

Covers, darkens the cold cement

Frantically, panicking limbs try to scoop

And a mouth sucks and slurps but the

Entrails spilt from filleted tentacles

Squirt and slide and roll away

A dark trail of sick leading away in a web

Catching touching grinning licking

The fishnet of horror bleeds away from the center

Contaminates, cuts the darkness

Shrieks of crimson strike bolts of ice and

The gentle fog drops sharp as hail

Tentacles dry up, wind up, curl tight, thin, empty

Skins await the growth and bubbling expansion

Of another metastatic matched set of agonies and fears

And the wheel spins and the moon rises

And again she hopes to cleanse another year.

Copyright 2017 Shannon Cooper