October 2: Check Your Pockets

Welcome to day two of 31 Days of Visual Horror Prompts. Yesterday, we had something strange waiting at the front door. Today, we’re trying to get the laundry done, which already feels like a horror story some weeks. Apparently, though, forgotten tissues and missing socks are no longer the worst things we can find in a washing machine.

I have several concerns about this picture. The hand would be the main one.

There’s something especially creepy about an empty laundromat at night. Those big windows let you see the darkness outside, but they also make you wonder who might be looking in. Meanwhile, you’re sitting under fluorescent lights with your underwear going around in circles. You can leave, sure, but are you really going to abandon your clothes?

That’s an interesting little problem to give a character. They came here to finish a chore. Maybe their washer broke, or they’ve finally found an hour between work and everything waiting at home. They’re tired. They want clean towels. Having a supernatural experience was absolutely not on the list.

Then they look up.

What I like about today’s image is that there are several places a story could begin. There’s the hand pressed against the glass, obviously, but there are also leaves inside the machine and a trail across the floor. Did somebody carry them in? Did they blow through an open door? Your character might notice the mess before realizing there’s something much worse at the end of it.

Try letting that discovery happen slowly.

Maybe they’re annoyed at first. They’ve dropped a clean shirt, and now it’s lying in muddy water. They bend down to pick it up, notice a leaf stuck to the sleeve, and follow the trail with their eyes. We get to stay with them through those ordinary movements until they finally see the fingers.

And then comes the question I would very much like someone else to answer: do you open the machine?

Because a hand could mean somebody needs help. Walking away might be the sensible horror-movie decision, but your character doesn’t know they’re in a horror story. They might think there’s a person trapped inside. They might reach for the handle before noticing that the machine is far too small, or that the hand has been perfectly still for several minutes.

For today’s writing, think about what would keep your character there once they wanted to leave. Their laundry probably won’t be enough forever. A familiar ring on that hand might be. So might a voice they recognize, muffled beneath the sound of the other machines.

Today’s writing prompt:

You’re alone at the laundromat when your washing machine stops halfway through its cycle. Your clothes have disappeared. Behind the glass are wet autumn leaves and a hand wearing a ring you buried with someone years ago.

Start wherever you feel that first little tug of curiosity. You can change the ring, the setting, or whose hand it might be. The image is here to give you somewhere to begin; you get to decide what belongs in your story.

If you have ten minutes, spend them on the moment your character notices something wrong. Let us hear the machines and feel the damp shirt in their hands. You don’t need the whole explanation yet. I’m happy to be scared before I understand why.

And if you feel like sharing, tell me what you’d do. Open the washer? Call someone? Leave every last sock behind?

I think I can live without those towels.