Written for Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative
Challenge #076. I chose Pic #1.
Here’s where the image took me.
Detective Harris had been watching No. 21 for five days from his concealed car across the road.
The sage-green door never moved, yet every morning, without fail, the brass letterbox gleamed. The potted trees flanking the entrance were neatly trimmed. Someone was maintaining this place with quiet, deliberate care.
But nobody ever came or went.
On the sixth morning, Harris noticed the climbing rose. Wild, unpruned, it was slowly reclaiming the white brickwork as though nature was being invited in. A disguise, perhaps …. a way of appearing abandoned to casual eyes.
He pushed open the iron gate and crunched across the gravel. One set of footprints in the frost …. arriving but not leaving.
The detective pressed his ear to the door. Somewhere deep inside No. 21, almost imperceptible, came the faint sound of breathing.
He reached for doorknob.
NAR©2026
This is “House Where Nobody Lives” by Tom Waits
Everything seen here was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.
The Elephant's Trunk 
Very interesting story Nancy.
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