Twisted Tales
Cats: Paranormal, Uncategorized|My last couple of posts explored darker topics than I normally blog about. A couple people have asked what types of things you’d use to write a dark story. Not all monsters need to come from a nightmare.
Take this story on the divorce rate in North America. It turns the fact that divorce in the USA is 50% into an urban myth. The truth is, the divorce rate has never been 50%. Just think about this fact for a while.
Let’s say that a couple in love were being pushed toward marrying by their family. Let’s say that they had choices to make. She was in the middle of a high powered job and looking toward a promotion. Maybe He has money and will inherit more, so his family wants a pre-nup.
So, there is nothing wrong here. But, this is where we start looking at the dark side of life. The ‘She’ in our story starts to remember her mother’s life. The abuse that drove her to succeed so she’d never have to grovel at a man’s feet. She panics every time one of the men in the office talk about their mistress.
He starts to look at all the things a high powered woman will not give him, a warm home, family, dinner on the table each night. He starts to fear losing the chance to raise his children in the warm homey environment his mother created for him.
We have two people who fear change in their lives. Nothing horrible. Nothing terrible.
They laugh off their fears. He gives her a diamond ring that belonged to his grandmother. She signs the pre-nup. Everything is back on track.
But, they take precautions. He does a background check on her and finds that she aborted a child - but she hemorrhaged and was losing it anyway. She has a PI follow him, and find that he is still visiting an old college girlfriend whose brother, his best friend, died in a hit and run.
Now suspicion and disgust enters the picture. They each keep their own secret. They keep it secret that they know (think they know) the other’s secret.
This is where the story twists. It can twist in so many way. An amateur may have them kill each other. A novice may have the couple do something insidious.
The professional wordsmith may look into something that is so innocent that it leaves the reader feeling unnerved about their own existence.
The couple realized that something was wrong. They had a weekend vacation planned for two months and decided to go on it. They argued while driving down the road at night. The car crashes.
Do they die?
Maybe they do not die. Maybe they both receive minor injuries. This shocks them into the realization that life is precious. They make up and cuddle together sure that they can now marry without any secrets, any reservations. She snuggles into his arm and goes to sleep. He reassures her that the vehicle has a GPS with satellite hook up. The authorities already know they crashed. He lays his head back and strokes her hair slowly and smiles as he tells her that they will beat the 50% odds because they are the perfect couple. He reassures her that they will be together forever.
The next morning the police arrive. The vehicle has stalled out, but the couple are still cuddled in the front seat. They knock on the window - no response. An officer opens the door and looks in. The couple are dead.
Further investigation shows that torn out weeds and vegetation piled around the exhaust pipe. It looks like the couple beat the odds. They will be together - forever.
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Nothing in the above story is evil. There is no monster except the one that lurked inside. There is nothing to fear, except fear itself. There is no one to hate. What makes this story ‘dark’ is the fact that any one of us could have ended up this way. Each of us could have been within reach of the ‘brass ring’ or the ultimate prize and had it stolen away by nothing more than a fluke or inconsequential act.
