Haunted House

· by · in dVerse, prosery. ·

From the day we got married it went downhill, not even a honeymoon before you told me I am the villain, the cockroach, the beast.

I stayed silent pretending that the sweet days of dating would come back. It did for you, but not for me.

You would come home late bringing with you the reek of sour beer and cigarettes but you said that I am the creature … who smells.

Your darkest thoughts about me fused with the walls of our home. Even when absent I could hear contemptuous voices trickling from cobwebs and dust-moths.

An evening in March I faked an absence with only my bloodstains telling a story with your fingerprints, your DNA laced with your hatred of me.

I followed your court case from my new identity, staying silent about your so-called innocence.

Do you like being hated?

Generated from a photo using chatgpt

Today it is Prosery at dVerse with Merril where we write stories (prose) incorporating a line from a poem using maximum 144 words.

The line to incorporate is :

“I am the creature who smells your darkest thoughts”

from the Jaguar Song by Arthur Sze

July 20, 2026

23 responses to “Haunted House”

  1. I especially like the line you made here: “Your darkest thoughts about me fused with the walls of our home.” It sounds like they both have some issues to work out.

  3. Oh my goodness what a deliciously dark story! That, my friend, is poetic — or should I say, proseric — justice 😉 You might have to cut off a finger to stand as habeas corpus, but it could work…

  6. This is so compelling, Bjorn! Wow! I love the twist you have given us at the end 😀

  8. It sounds like he twisted the plot on her. A crime thriller in the making. When dark meets dark.

  10. I love the way you split the prompt line, Björn, and how your story is complete, especially the thought of the darkest thoughts fusing with the walls and the ‘contemptuous voices trickling from cobwebs and dust-moths’. What a nasty first-person narrator! I’d love to hear the other character’s point of view.

  11. Holy fricking… I love this. And the transition to the new identity of the speaker is so fricking subtly and skillfully done that it stings.

    Sounds like they had a rather “healthy” relationship…

  13. You pack so much into such a tiny piece, Björn, and the masterful splitting of the prompt line … Bravo!

  14. Genius split of the line, Bjorn. Your reply to Melissa: “I think this went almost as bad is it could go” ~ a hearty laugh out loud from me!!!! Great write, great.

  15. indeed a love so contemptuous it brings you to your knees… how quickly we can be tricked into a reality of no return and the only escape is to mirror the actions… especially in a home… to escape is your only goal…. if walls had a voice that all could hear… loved your response… felt a wee bit too close to home for me… it was great to read it in a story…

I try to reciprocate all comments. If you want me to visit a particular post, please direct me directly to that post.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.