Jim here–I love David Davis. Not only does his feature writing and comic design kick ass, but the guy can do fiction to boot. For the first time we are able to feature a staff writer (had to go through the same blind screening process as anyone else) on HauntedMTL. I bring you something to chew on…
Teeth
The teeth are not like normal teeth.
In the moment they are seen they are shocking.
In this jagged mouth the spacing was all wrong. The top row
of teeth had a gap large enough between the teeth for a tooth from the bottom
row to meet the top gum, and the bottom row had a gap large enough between each
tooth to touch the bottom gum.
Advertisement
The mouth was like a zipper and the rows interlocked in a
uncanny narrow wall of yellow. Rather than two rows of teeth, the grin was an
unnatural singular row. Each tooth, with each closing of the jaw was growing
progressively filed down and sharper. More jagged and snaggled in the mouth.
Chunks of enamel were beginning to flake off and small divots began to appear
between the teeth. The teeth that had been forced into the gums to make the
uncanny pattern would wiggle and tear at the gums, but never quite uproot
themselves.
In the moment the gaps closed there were sounds.
The scraping of tooth against tooth for one. The noise was
repulsive at a primal level, like a bone being dragged and splintered across
another. As each tooth sheared those around it, it was then followed by a wet
squelch of each tooth sinking into the raw and bloody gums in the mouth.
In the moment the mouth closed there was pain.
As the teeth sank into the bloodied gums, fire would roar
from each puncture and spread throughout the entire mouth. Tears would come
streaming down wide and terrified eyes. The pain would cause shortened
breathing, and panic, and even clenching of the jaw. It would only last for so long,
though, as the mouth would need to open.
Advertisement
In the moment the mouth opened there was taste.
The hot scent of blood and the taste of infection and pus
would gush from the gums as the snaggle would untangle itself. Hot streams of
sickness and vital fluid would run down the gums, onto the bloated and bruised
tongue, and down the throat.
In the moment there is a reprieve; I drown in my own
sickness and it will all be over.
David Davis is a writer and illustrator in Southern California who makes comics and creepy things. See more of his work at hpkomics.com.
So here is our last installment of our AI journey exploring the idea of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad wolf being one and the same. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva. Feel free to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this exploration if you missed them.
A non sequitur I know, but I couldn’t resist. If you picked up where we left off you’ll get it.
Seriously?! Again with the cropped off head cop out…
Finally! That was a journey. And not even worth the result, in my opinion.
Anyway, here is a bonus montage I made out of a bunch of additional Red Riding Hood prompts for an article that never happened…
Prompts for Montage:
1.) What if Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf were one and the same being? 2.) Her wolf face peering out of her red cloak, fangs dripping with the blood of another victim, lost in the forest and never found. 3.) Little Red Riding Hood closes in for the kill, lunging from her red cloak, her wolf fangs dripping with blood. 4.) I am Little Red Riding Hood. I am the Big Bad Wolf. I am coming for you. 5.) Howling within, the rage sears forth from the red cloak, discarded in the deep woods. Red Riding Hood succumbs to the lycanthropy. 6.) Heaving breaths. Dripping blood. Red Riding Hood is not what she appears. She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. 7.) Her red cloak masks the fangs hidden below the surface. 8.) It starts with a long sighing breath. Waiting. The wolf within stirs. 9.) Red Riding Hood trembles. She succumbs to the lycanthropy. 10.) The wolf bursts forth from within. It takes over Little Red Riding Hood’s mind, her body, her being. 11.) Red Riding Hood howls. She is ravenous with hunger for blood. The wolf within has taken over. Mind, spirit, body. She feasts on the blood of the moon. 12.) Big Bad Wolf Red Riding Hood ravenous blood moon feast 13.) Blood moon beckons. I. Little Red Big Bad Riding Hood Wolf. Freedom howling night curse. 14.) Beware. Bewolf. BeRedRidingHood. Betwixt. Beyond. 15.) I pad quietly as the forest dissolves around me. Red Riding Hood and Wolf, one and the same. 16.) Wolf within howling dark recesses of the mind, Red Riding Hood lost 17.) Red Riding Hood HOWL wolf bane true existence polymorph within-and-without. 18.) Red howl Riding Wolf dark existence brooding within
Continuing our AI journey from last time exploring Little Red Riding Hood herself as the Big Bad Wolf… All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.
How very… Phantom of the Opera predatory… this is definitely not what I had in mind. Maybe something more cutesy?
Ugh. Maybe not.
Wow, that seems like such a cop out, cropping off the head so you don’t have to depict it. And I don’t want to lose the Little Red Riding Hood reference completely.
So no surprise there, I knew that was too many references to work.
And as promised in Big Bad Poetry, we shall embark on our next AI journey, this time looking at Little Red Riding Hood. I had wanted to depict her as the Big Bad Wolf one and the same, although maybe not so big nor bad. But it just wasn’t happening quite as planned. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.
So I actually like this even better than my original vision, it is playful and even a bit serene (especially given the Sinister style). The wolf is just being a wolf. It’s quite lovely, really. But it wasn’t what I had in mind, so I revisited the idea later to see if I could get that result…