Bone Berries

Daily Photo

“Bone Berry gonna get ya” the rasp of her rough voice flicked like a cat’s tongue over my already raw nerves. Staring into the shallow creek bed right below her house I could see them. In the dark of an moonless Autumn night, they gleam like old bones and like the tiny evil skulls they resemble, they clamp hard jaws onto skeletal twigs and wait, still as death… but only if someone watches.

“Best keep your eyes on them. Turn your back and the bone berries drop with the dull thump, thump, thump of ripe acorns and, quick as a snake, they tunnel after you.” Grinning up at me, she fluttered tiny hands swiftly at my face. “Through the shroud of dead leaves, they CHASE YOU!”  Her voice rose loudly at the end.

“Should they catch you, and ooooo, they will catch you, they’ll slide beneath your feet, rolling you off and onto the ground.  Then, while the rest crawl over and under you, the two largest gnaw their way into your ears with their tiny sharp teeth and the last thing you hear is your own screams.  Inside your head, they tear through your brain making tunnels in it, too. Finally, with a loud Pop, they shove from the inside until your eyeballs ooze down your cheeks and onto the ground. Here, the creatures pause, slowed by bodies swollen tight from your blood, their small dark mouths like pupils stare out through your eyesockets while you, screaming out of your soundless, sightless self die so slowly you can linger all night exploring the twists and turns of that painful road.”

I could hear the slick sound as she licked her lips.

“So, sweetie, if you see bone berries on  a dark autumn night,  NEVER EVER take your eyes off them or they will take your eyes out of you….”

She smiled.  “‘Course it’s real hard to watch them from front and back at once.” Inhaling sharply I turned but even as I swung around to look back towards the house, I knew I shouldn’t have taken my eyes from the beasts in the creek bed.

“Bone berry gonna get ya now, for sure,” And with that, she closed the door in my face even as I heard acorns thumping below.

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I feel much better now that I’ve got that out of my head.

By the way, these are another unidentified berry.  I don’t much care to go outside now so if someone could please supply me with the real name of these pale creatures maybe I can supplant this tale with a more reasoned response.