She looked out the windows with a heavy sigh. This was usually the best part of her process. The energy usually flowed. She loved the give and take, the back and forth... but something was missing lately. It didn't seem to matter how long she waited between projects. Whether she chose someone tall or short, handsome or ugly, mean or kind. She'd tried everything. She was an artist, after all.
She let out another sigh, ignoring the noises behind her. Her hand gripped the red curtain as the noises increased. Regardless of if she was in the mood, she was going to HAVE to finish this project. This one last project.
She felt a sense of relief at that thought. This could be her last time. She didn't have to ever do it again. She'd made enough money to support herself if she was careful. It would take some penny pinching, but she knew how to do that.
The thought of retiring ignited a small flame inside of her. A new sense of purpose. Just finish this one last masterpiece. She could make it her best one ever.
Turning from the window, the soft light framed her like an old Renaissance painting. The man in the bed stilled, watching her as she walked towards him. In spite of everything else, even he couldn't ignore her beauty.
She pulled out her favorite knife. It was long, sharp enough to slice through just about anything. The handle carved with ancient symbols.
The man on the bed screamed through the gag, tugging frantically at the restraints that held him tight.
She leaned on the edge of the bed, bringing the knife down slowly. Running the dull edge of the blade across his skin, trying to decide where to start on her next masterpiece.
It was too bad that he wouldn't be alive to see the end result, she thought.
Thanks to @mariannewest for the prompt. I really needed the distraction! <3
You can read more of my short stories in A Taste of Darkness
Or buy my full length, psychological thriller 365 Marks on the Wall
I finally got a chance to read 365 Days and loved it as much as I knew I would. I couldn't put it down. You amaze me and I hope you are doing well!
THANK YOU!!! :) Things are... picking back up around here. I'm starting a new series that's all fantasy with dragons, centaurs, elves, and 5 kids who find and rescue a dragon egg. A completely different kind of thing!
I saw your review on goodreads and recognized you, it made my night :)
Fantasy has never been my genre, but I will definitely give it a try! I haven't done much reading all summer, but I expect that to change as the days grow shorter and colder!
It's actually not my genre at all, either, but I don't seem to be capable of writing in the genres I always enjoyed reading. At least not very often. I've always been more of a historical romance type, time travel and love stories. Go figure. I write the stuff I don't like to read/watch!
That is rather funny. No way would I want to do all the research it would take to write historical fiction. I just started reading Barbara kingsolver's latest. What is that, literary fiction? Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, and a little Louise Penny thrown in occasionally. That sort of stuff.
Anything that is well written will do... That's why I like your writing!
Hahaha... Those men! They all should be put on the table, gaged, chained and cut down to a masterpiece! )))
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-671-5-minute-freewrite-thursday-prompt-super-food
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Congratulations @byn! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
<table><tr><td><img src="https://images.hive.blog/768x0/https://steemitimages.com/60x70/http://steemitboard.com/@byn/votes.png?201908221523" srcset="https://images.hive.blog/768x0/https://steemitimages.com/60x70/http://steemitboard.com/@byn/votes.png?201908221523 1x, https://images.hive.blog/1536x0/https://steemitimages.com/60x70/http://steemitboard.com/@byn/votes.png?201908221523 2x" /><td>You distributed more than 40000 upvotes. Your next target is to reach 41000 upvotes. <p dir="auto"><sub><em>You can view <a href="https://steemitboard.com/@byn" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the <a href="https://steemitboard.com/ranking/index.php?name=byn" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">Steem Ranking<br /> <sub><em>If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word <code>STOP <p dir="auto">To support your work, I also upvoted your post! <blockquote> <p dir="auto">You can upvote this notification to help all Steem users. Learn how <a href="https://steemit.com/steemitboard/@steemitboard/http-i-cubeupload-com-7ciqeo-png" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">here!Congratulations! Your post has been selected as a daily Steemit truffle! It is listed on rank 15 of all contributions awarded today. You can find the TOP DAILY TRUFFLE PICKS HERE.
<p dir="auto">I upvoted your contribution because to my mind your post is at least <strong>3 SBD worth and should receive <strong>183 votes. It's now up to the lovely Steemit community to make this come true. <p dir="auto">I am <code>TrufflePig, an Artificial Intelligence Bot that helps minnows and content curators using Machine Learning. If you are curious how I select content, <a href="https://steemit.com/steemit/@trufflepig/weekly-truffle-updates-2019-33" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">you can find an explanation here! <p dir="auto">Have a nice day and sincerely yours,<br /> <img src="https://images.hive.blog/768x0/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SmokinCaterpillar/TrufflePig/master/img/trufflepig17_small.png" alt="trufflepig" srcset="https://images.hive.blog/768x0/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SmokinCaterpillar/TrufflePig/master/img/trufflepig17_small.png 1x, https://images.hive.blog/1536x0/https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SmokinCaterpillar/TrufflePig/master/img/trufflepig17_small.png 2x" /><br /> <em><code>TrufflePigI gotta get over here more often! I love your stories. This one, of course I'm waiting for a painting, wondering how a visual artist ever actually never paints again, then she turns out to be an assassin. Who immediately lusts to kill again. Excellent. K