House by the Sea Prompt
This house suddenly belongs to you (or to an invented character who feels similar to you). Perhaps it was left to you unexpectedly in someone’s will. Perhaps you have no idea why. Point is: now it’s yours and you’re living there either in exile or by choice..
Look deeply at the photo and imagine what it feels like to live on that lonely but lovely spot. Notice the welcome warmth from the few lit up windows. All of us humans crave the comfort of light when it’s dark.
Write about your (or a character’s) first night in this place. Include smells, sights, sounds of the sea. Prompt Words: salty, purplish, freezing, tender, memory, father
Inheritance
The seaside house had long windows, slipping light like secrets to the horizon’s seam of earth and sky. It’s my first night back in the place my father left me, but I feel my faith in beacons dissipating. Haze still rolls up against the freezing stucco, but those damp sea- smoke walls! I’d never have chosen that color if I’d known how it would fade, or that I’d be back to live with it again.
What a picture. This prompt conjured so many ideas but in the end, I combined it with your misguided challenge. Here's what I came up with:
The Seaside Medium
Cringe is a matter of perspective. People love to mock my TikTok channel, @LighthouseHauntings, with their perfectly stable home lives and intact families, safe from the constant thunder of waves. Well, they won't be laughing once they see what real paranormal investigation looks like.
The poltergeist activity started right after Dad moved his sea-weathered boots to that inland studio. I've documented everything: doors slamming with the tide in the middle of the night (thanks to some creative HVAC manipulation), mysterious cold spots in the whitewashed kitchen (dry ice is surprisingly affordable when you work at the pier's ice cream shop), and even physical manifestations (Band-Aids hide the rope burns from rigging the chandelier drop).
My latest video hit 10K views. The orange glow from my "haunted" windows draws them both home tonight, like moths to a flame. Together. In the same room. For the first time in months.
The spirits work in mysterious ways.