Thank you to everyone who wrote with us at @horrorprompt this year, and to all of you who’ve been writing with us since 2016! Here are the 2021 #HorrorPromptAwards🏆 winners!

January 2021 – @DarkLordMatabu

Come then, the collector,
With your words made of red
And your eyes made of fire
I am readied for your hands,
Your fingers are already here
At the muscles of my throat,
Tattooed in deep and sinful ink
By the teeth of my last death.

Originally tweeted by @DarkLordMatabu on January 10, 2021.

February 2021 – @FortunatusL

When the explosion hit,she felt reverberations of the blast wave in her bones as ears popped, bleeding. The walls fell in blinding light, spitting concrete and broken glass. As she held her arms in defense,the floor gave way, and she was sucked into oblivion.

Originally tweeted by @FortunatusL on February 26, 2021.

March 2021 – @caytlyn_brooke

I learned to lock away my emotions from a young age. Mother was quick to remind me if my mask slipped, beating me until the tears stopped. As I carve her limbs, separating flesh from bone, I try to keep the mask in place, but the urge to smile is hard to resist

Originally tweeted by @caytlyn_brooke on March 26, 2021.

April 2021 – @SkittishR

Fallen way too deep
My dying declaration
Will astonish death

Originally tweeted by @SkittishR on April 12, 2021.

May 2021 – @InkedReflection

She surrendered,
heard creatures gnawing
bloodlust frayed history…

Originally tweeted by @InkedReflection on May 26, 2021.

June 2021 – @ThePuckishPen

innocent fingers
lift music box’s lid
cranking the gears
ballerina spins to
a clockwork song
oval mirror
behind tiny dancer
reflects
mutilated faces
of trapped, corrupted souls
who distort music
to shrieking wails
siphoning youthful life force

Originally tweeted by @ThePuckishPen on June 24, 2021.

July 2021 – @SkittishR

Lonely condition
Overwhelming grief lays low
It rebels in time

Originally tweeted by @SkittishR on July 25, 2021.

August 2021 – @ChaOFarrell

Growing up, we lived near a slaughterhouse.

The squeals haunt my nightmares, 35 years on. That awful sound.

“Do you feel sorry for them?” I asked my sister once.

She shrugged.

“They knew they weren’t supposed to criticise the government. What did they expect?”

Originally tweeted by @ChaOFarrell on August 23, 2021.

September 2021 – @Sia_Writes

The floorboards creaked under his bare feet. His alert eyes scanned the room. I crouched into the dark corner, hiding from his gaze. The clock ticked away, two minutes to 3:00am. I raked the sharp tip of my knife against the wall. Time was running out… for him.

Originally tweeted by @Sia_Writes on September 13, 2021.

October 2021 – @ThePuckishPen

alone at midnight
eldritch howls echoing
across windswept moors

Originally tweeted by @ThePuckishPen on October 10, 2021.

November 2021 – @paulphillips44

The melodies that play in my head are known as earworms,
from the German, no?
But now the real Ohrwurm
worries deeply in my brain,
how those stolen tunes
are strangers to me –
the soundtrack
of necrotic inevitability.

Originally tweeted by @paulphillips44 on November 24, 2021.

December 2021 – @LexiIsAWriter

Cockroach singed in pan
Wishes curdled, lethargy
Alone with the crows

Inner spunk off course
Too quick to trust Nowhere’s train
Afterworld buddies

Originally tweeted by Lexi Lefevre (@LexiIsAWriter) on December 30, 2021.