What the Scarecrow Fears

Day 5: What the Scarecrow Fears

Your father’s last instruction was strange: leave the scarecrow standing until the ground freezes. You buried him in September. By October, you’d sold most of the farm.

Tonight, something scrapes along the gravel behind you.

The scarecrow is dragging its stake out of the field. Straw spills from its sleeves. Its stitched mouth strains against the thread.

Behind it, the earth rises in a long ridge, moving beneath the corn.

The scarecrow catches your arm. Something inside its burlap head clicks three times before it speaks in your father’s voice.

“Get off the dirt.”

Writing prompt: Your character climbs onto the tractor, but the scarecrow refuses to join them. It keeps pointing beneath the seat. Write what happens next.

Craft challenge: Make the reader fear whatever is underground without showing it. Use sound, movement, and the scarecrow’s behavior.

Set a timer for ten minutes. Start with the scrape of the wooden stake.