Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

Pharaoh: On the Banks of the Nile

I stood at the banks of the Nile River and there I saw a sight that made my skin crawl, as though a thousand beetles were creeping across my flesh. Up from the depths of the Nile came a herd of cattle - seven well fed, sleek and healthy animals that simply burst forth from the water and splashed their way toward dry land.

I don't know why those seven animals were under the waters of the Nile, or how they could have survived there, but they, for their part, behaved as though nothing was out of the ordinary. With cheerful lowing sounds they strode calmly through the Nile until they reached the western bank where I stood watching, and began feeding on the lush grass at the edge of the water.

As I continued to watch, an even stranger, more frightening sight appeared before me: once again the waters of the Nile were stirred, and up from the depths came seven more cattle. These were not well fed or sleek; their bodies dripped with open sores, dried mucus clung to their snouts, and they were so thin I could count every rib and joint. They were positively skeletal. Just the sight of these cursed creatures made me want to retch.

But what these monstrous cattle did next was beyond disgusting; it entered into the realm of the macabre. Instead of joining the first seven cattle in a feast of marsh grasses, these gaunt demons approached the plump cattle and, with jaws hideously distended, began feasting on the cattle themselves, until there was not a bone, not a drop of blood, not a single mound of bloody red flesh remaining.

Then, as the reflex to vomit became unendurable, I awoke, screaming at the utter horror of what I had just seen there on the banks of the Nile.

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