Copyright Ted Strutz
He placed the sleeping child in the back of the trailer, pulling a blanket round her. She stirred momentarily.
A horn-blast heralded the ferry’s arrival as he closed the door. Plenty of time yet.
Just then a movement at an upstairs window caught his eye and he saw Louise gazing down from her surgery. She was early this morning…much too early.
He waved. Then clutching his jaw, he pulled a face and waggled his head from side to side.
She laughed, beckoning.
He sighed; they wouldn’t pay as much for her as the child, but she might be useful on the journey.
I don’t know what happened to my Friday Fictioneers story today; my post was up and several people commented on it, but suddenly it changed to ‘page not found’. So I’m posting again. Sorry for the inconvenience. And I’ll ask the lovely Rochelle to delete the first link.
castelsarrasin 
Ooh, creepy!
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I’ll take that as a compliment. 😉
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Do!
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Dear Sandra,
There’s a guy who’d sell his own mother into slavery. A chilling end that snuck up me. Well done.
shalom,
Rochelle
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A nice kinda guy then! 🙂 Thanks for reading Rochelle.
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Very apt story – and not far-fetched. It certainly is happening. Great descriptive writing as always.
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There’s a market for everything, if you look hard enough. Thanks for reading, Hamish..
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Cracking story. So much going on around so few words. If only I could hit the like button a few more times.
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Thank you!
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Creepy it is. Great story!
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Creepy is satisfying… 🙂
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This is such a creepy situation… I don’t think I fully get the story but I’m scared to read it a second time in case I do!
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🙂 Thanks for reading.
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Sandra, That was chilling indeed. It sounded so innocent at first, then turned very dark. Well written. 🙂 —Susan
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That was what I was trying to do, but in 100 words there wasn’t really enough scene setting to provide the proper twist. Thanks for reading.
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So sinister….what a great story.
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Thank you!
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Ooh, I didn’t like this guy right from the first “the sleeping child” – I call Sebastian all sorts of things, but never something quite so cold. Chilling stuff, cleverly woven. The only thing I would say is without the picture, I’m not sure it would be so obvious Louise was a dentist and therefore what was going on. But as long as you keep the prompt, it’s fine.
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I suppose I’ve never stopped to think whether a story stands up on its own without the prompt. Instinctively I usually just take one part of the prompt and weave around that, but this was a hard photo to inspire a story other than one that revolved around a dentist. Thanks for reading.
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Wonderful story. Well done.
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Thank you!
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Very dark.
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Dark is good… 🙂
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Absolutely. Most entertaining 🙂
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Chilling story, especially because of the echoes of reality
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There’s a lot of this around … and not just isolated to one type of victim either. Thanks for reading Siobhan.
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Dark and mysterious, makes you wonder what is going on.
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Thank you.
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Think we both based our stories in Weirdsville today 🙂
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🙂 Great minds….
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Well… that was chilling. Nice, Sandra.
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Thanks Ted, great photo prompt. I hope you weren’t the patient there…
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Oh Sandra, that was terrible! And I mean that in the most complimentary way.
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I’m glad! Thank you Dawn.
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Oof! Not a nice person. Twisted bastard.
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A very practical kind of guy.
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Dear Sandra,
You are deeply twisted, but in a good way, as in ‘I would not like to be the bad guy and have you discover that fact.’ In your stories the evil doers among us often seem to be getting away with something, but somewhere in your head I know they’re not. Well done.
Aloha,
Doug
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Few have lived to tell the tale…. and many wish they hadn’t. 🙂 Thanks for dropping by Doug. Hope you partied out on Wednesday.
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After having my daughter, any sinister stories involving children are far too disturbing for me, but I have to admit that you weaved this remarkably well!
Greetings from Greece!
Maria (MM Jaye)
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I know what you mean, Maria. Thank you.
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For a minute there I thought it was going to be a sweet, joyful story – I should’ve known better! Loved the twist, but even better were the funny faces he pulled to make her laugh. Great stuff.
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Sweet? Joyful? 🙂 🙂 Moi? Thanks for reading El.
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such a creep.. I hope the mother brings a scalpel down with her.
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I hope the dentist knows how to defend herself…
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Sandra, your creative world is overflowing with bad guys lol.
Love the funny faces followed by the sudden flip to the sinister.
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There must be a good guy lurking around somewhere… 🙂 Thanks for reading.
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Oh that was a creeper! Am I right in assuming it was child trafficking? Heartbreaking.
Well-done, Sandra! Very much well-done … again!
And one smiley face 🙂 and a laugh-out loud face 😀 (just because I can).
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Hi Kent, it was human trafficking, both at the high and low end of the market. Love your LOL face.
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That was so dark. I was expecting a nice little holiday, then father absconding with child, then I saw what was really going on. Chilling!
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Yes, it worked better when there were more words. the gentle transformation from loving father to trafficker. Thanks for reading.
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Nice! Creepy, sad, and very effective. I like it.
P.S. Sorry for stealing your title. I don’t read anyone’s stories until I’ve finished mine so there’s no subconscious influence, but this time I still ended up picking an already-used title.
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Thanks Melanie; don’t worry about the title, I’ve done that myself before now.
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So much for the peacefule, serene setting. Horror never takes a day off, does it? Just this week we got news of a couple of sick bastards not far from our house who were trying to lure children into their van. I’d like to see them captured by a group of vigilantes and castrated.
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With a dull, rusty knife.
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Horror seldom takes a day off with my muse. 🙂 I agree, the slower the better for these monsters.
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Wow Sandra, great story. Intriguing, creepy and very thought provoking. Well done!
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Thanks Maree! 🙂
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Fascinating story, but I’ve a question. Was the surgery that was apparently on-going to change her face? Or is it a red herring? Or a macguffin, whatever that is? Anyway, nice chilling story.
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I suppose you don’t call it a dental surgery across the pond, do you? What DO you call it?
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That last line really does the trick. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop the whole way through, and did it ever. Not what I was expecting.
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Yes, ‘the other shoe’ figures large in my remit. 🙂 Thanks for reading.
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What a slime! You capture creepy so well. Great take on the prompt, as always. Lucy
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Thank you Lucy! 🙂
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Dear Sandra, What a creepy bastard! I hope he gets his due soon! I’ll drive the getaway car for the lynch mob – if anyone wants to go! Good story Sandra! Nan:)
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Thanks for reading Nan! 🙂
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at first glance, having the character pull a blanket around the sleeping child led me to think he was a kind thoughtful person. i assume the adults knew each other and that would make this scene so much more upsetting.
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It was awkward to set that scene in so few words, then manoeuvre the twist to darkness. It would have been better in 200 words I think. Thanks for reading.
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Sinister tone here and great suspense. Great writing as always, Sandra.
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I reread this a couple of times. I think I was trying for a happier ending. You do this well, Sandra…very well.
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Sandra,
Chilling. And here I wanted to like the guy–he seemed to be taking such care for the child. Creep! Thanks for sharing this one.
All my best,
Marie Gail
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Yikes! I’ll never board a ferry again. And I’ve said that before! I hope in the sequel the lady dentist has got wise to him and will give him free dental treatment – Marathon Man style! I like how well in so few words you were able to have the hero shape shift into villain. 🙂
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So innocent, and then that killer punchline. Wonderfully done.
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Sandra, your stories always seduce me along, even as I know I’m in for a shove. I had a feeling with the sleeping child– you do such a good job of delicately painting in those creepy moments– but Louise is where it really turned. Fantastic!
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