12 Nightmares of the Holidays, Wrong Address

Published

1 year ago

December 14, 2022

It’s day two of 12 Nightmares of the Holidays. If you missed it, please check out Jennifer Weigel’s scary good story.

The package wasn’t meant for Kristi, she knew that. The name on it was Dale Richards. The address was close, floor two while she was on floor five. And yet here it was, when she arrived home from work, a package sitting in front of her door where it most certainly did not belong.

Kristi picked it up and took it inside. She sat it on the kitchen table next to the dying Christmas cactus her mom had given her in lieu of a good present. Then she opened a beer and sat down to consider the thing.

So some delivery guy hadn’t been paying attention, and now she had to waste time on her Christmas Eve to deal with it.

Dale was an asshole, that was part of the problem. Never had a good word for anyone, that guy. Never the kind to open doors or help anyone get their groceries upstairs. If he’d gotten someone else’s box, he’d have dropped it downstairs next to all the mailboxes and left it there, package pirates be damned.

That’s what she’d do, she decided. She’d put the box downstairs and that would be the end of it.

But it was so late, and it was Christmas Eve. And she’d had such a long day at work, waiting on tables of festive, fun families. The box could sit on her table and wait until she got up in the morning. Hell, maybe it could wait until December 27th.

She didn’t know the time when she woke. It was pitch dark in her apartment. Her phone wasn’t glowing. No lights came from outside. She couldn’t even see the nightlight in her bathroom. Kristi muttered, figuring the block must have lost power again. She turned over and pulled the blanket closer around her. If the power was out, that meant her heat would be out. No sense leaving the warm bed and losing all that built-up body heat.

Kristi wondered briefly what had woken her. She didn’t think it was the sudden darkness. She thought it might be a sound. An unpleasant one, half-remembered in her post-sleep state.

She heard it again. The sound of something scraping along the floor between her bedroom and living room.

Kristi sat up in bed and reached for her phone. It should have at least enough juice to give her some light. But her hand never reached the bedside table. Instead, she felt something warm and wet and slick. Kristi pulled her hand back with a tone of disgust. She swung her feet to the ground and felt that same slick sensation.

Then, the sound around her changed. Something sharp and massive was crunching into her bed. Something else, wet and hot and bumpy was pushing against her, knocking her down and driving her closer to the grinding, massive things.

Something that felt like a giant tongue pushing her towards mashing teeth.

On Kristi’s kitchen table, the box was now empty, save for a Christmas card. Inside the card were two simple sentences.

You deserve this and more, Dale. Merry Christmas.

It hadn’t been meant for Kristi. But it was too late to correct that. Maybe it would still make its way down to floor two. Maybe by the 27th. It might decide to make some other stops along the way.

Original Series

AI journey: Little Red Riding Hood, Part 3 Final

Published

3 days ago

April 21, 2024

Jennifer Weigel

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.

Forget this talk of sheep, it isn't helping..., Dark Fantasy style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Dark Fantasy style, Aug. 1, 2023

A non sequitur I know, but I couldn’t resist. If you picked up where we left off you’ll get it.

So what about Little Red Riding Hood as a wolf?, Dark Fantasy, Aug. 1, 2023 — Dark Fantasy, Aug. 1, 2023

Seriously?! Again with the cropped off head cop out…

Little Red Riding Hood as a wolf, seriously we want to see her face!, Artistic Portrait, Aug. 1, 2023 — Artistic Portrait, Aug. 1, 2023

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…

Little Red Riding Hood AI art montage, Nov. 4, 2023 — AI art generated Nov. 4, 2023

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

So thank you for joining us on another AI art journey. You can still catch the last AI art journey on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.

Original Series

AI Journey: Little Red Riding Hood, Part 2

Published

1 week ago

April 14, 2024

Jennifer Weigel

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.

Little Red Riding Hood as a wolf, Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023

How very… Phantom of the Opera predatory… this is definitely not what I had in mind. Maybe something more cutesy?

Little Red Riding Hood woman with wolf head instead of her own, Anime V2 style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Anime V2 style, Aug. 1, 2023

Ugh. Maybe not.

Wolf face peering out of red hooded cape, Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Sinister style, Aug. 1, 2023

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.

Wolf in sheep's clothing as Little Red Riding Hood, Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023

So no surprise there, I knew that was too many references to work.

And we continued to devolve, join us again next week for the final installment to see how this ended… And again, if you want to catch the last AI art journey, you can find it on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.

Original Series

AI Journey: Little Red Riding Hood, Part 1

Published

2 weeks ago

April 7, 2024

Jennifer Weigel

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.

Little Red Riding Hood beautiful woman with red cape hiding her wolf face. Sinister style, July 29, 2023 — Sinister style, July 29, 2023

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…

Little Red Riding Hood with wolf face, Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023

Well, that’s not quite right…

Wolf face Little Red Riding Hood, Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Artistic Portrait style, Aug. 1, 2023

Yeah more of the same…

What part of wolf face don't you understand?, Hyperreal style, Aug. 1, 2023 — Hyperreal style, Aug. 1, 2023

And as you can see this is starting to devolve quickly. Join us again next week to see how this continued to develop… And if you want to catch the last AI art journey, you can find it on Haunted MTL here. To see more such devolutions into AI generated art, check out the Will the Real Jennifer Weigel Please Stand Up? blog.