Hot Blood & No Reflection

Writober 2025: Day Five Blood>Response Post

🔗Links in the Table of Contents are Jump links to my responses to each of the challenges
🐦‍⬛This is original work created by Maria L. Berg and this post counts as copyright. All rights reserved.

🎃OctPoWriMo 🦇Writober Flash Fiction 👻Halloween Photography Challenge

Today’s Theme: Blood

These are my responses to the prompt post for Day 5 of Writober It’s in Our Blood.

OctPoWriMo

Life Blood

In a sudden and simple slice
our delicate skin splits
every open nerve screams alive
as fresh blood drips, drips, drips

flowing through our thinnest tendrils
squeezed tight under pressure
all of us are born so fragile
barely held together

Writober Flash Fiction Challenge

Behind Closed Doors

There wasn’t a lot for a kid to do in this old hotel. If Dad had his way, I would never leave our room, but these days he’s either staring at people yelling on the tv or he’s sleeping, so he doesn’t know that I sneak out and roam the upper floors. People stay behind closed doors up there.

The first time I peeked was an accident. Those keyholes are at my eye-level. Some light shining through grabbed my attention and I looked. The room was empty, but I could see the bed, the desk, clothes piled on a chair. It was so different from our room. I found that fascinating. It was like a secret little world revealed to me, like those magic sugar eggs with little bunny worlds inside. Since then, I’ve tried to look in every room.

I’m usually back in our room trying to get Dad to eat something before most people get home, so it’s rare for me to see anyone through the keyhole, so today, when I saw her on top of him on the bed, my first thought was to run, but I froze. Maybe I was scared, or maybe it was because she was so pretty—I had never seen a blond Asian lady before—or maybe she made me think of mom and how much I missed her. Whatever it was, I stayed and watched her.

She leaned over him. I heard a sucking noise and smelled something salty and metallic. I figured they were kissing, but when she sat up, deep red liquid dripped from her lips and chin. She licked her lips. I gasped. She looked over and smiled. Did she see me? She couldn’t have, but it felt like her gaze pierced straight into my heart. My pulse beat hard. I felt it in my neck and my wrists. It felt like my blood was trying to get out and go to her. I heard the man on the bed moan and I ran back to my room.

Halloween Photography Challenge

For today’s photos, I was thinking about how Vampires are kind of the opposite of Bloody Mary because they don’t show up in mirrors. Yesterday, I tried to capture the fear of seeing a monster in the mirror. Today, I tried to capture the fear of not seeing anything reflected in the mirror, or some kind of anti-reflection.