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short short storieswriting

Short-short horror: The Dismal Pool

By September 10, 2014No Comments

There was a sound behind them and they both turned to see a small ripple near the middle of the pool, right where the line of distant shadow was reflected in the otherwise still water.

“Oh God!” Sarah moaned, “we’re right back at the pool.”

“Shut up.” Meg turned and picked up a branch from the side of the path. It was partly rotten, but it was better than nothing.

“Can’t you see the faces? Oh my god, the faces…”

“I said shut. Up.” Meg hefted the branch and then, despite herself, at Sarah’s swollen left knee. What was the saying? You didn’t have to outrun the bear…

“What are we going to do?”

Meg looked at the daylight, staging a quick retreat up the distant hillside. She sighed, her eyes flickering one more time to Sarah’s knee. “Okay, follow me.” And she started down the path towards the pool, even as the first ripples reached the shore.


This is a pic I took in Crawford Notch in New Hampshire. There’s a parking lot near a place called Flume Cascade. Usually people are just parking to take pictures of the cascade, but if you look carefully you’ll see a sign that says “Dismal Pool” that points to a small path down a steep ravine. A few minutes walk takes you to the view above. It didn’t really seem all that dismal at the time, but looking at the photo since then I’ve always thought it seemed a little – creepy. Especially with that little ripple in the center. And doesn’t that cliff on the left look a little like a face? 

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