copyright Dawn M. Miller
Jasper’s Lamp
Great-grandmother
“Jasper left me the lamp. It had a glass globe underneath it, a single eyeball floating inside. Creepiest thing I’d ever seen. “Keep it warm!” he said. He never came back, for me, the lamp or his daughter.”
Grandmother
“Mama gave me the lamp when I moved out. I had grown up with it, that little lump of flesh and two bulging eyes.”
Mother
“I didn’t want it, but I took it. The curled-up monster inside freaked me out.”
Me
“‘Its eyes just opened,’ my daughter screamed from the basement. Then she screamed again and I heard glass shatter.
The Green-Walled Tower 
February 5th, 2014 at 7:11 pm
Dear David,
What did you drink for breakfast? That’s just creepy. But you write it well. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
February 5th, 2014 at 7:19 pm
I must have drunk my coffee black this morning. 🙂 I just felt like writing something a little darker this time.
February 5th, 2014 at 7:19 pm
There’s evolution for you… a really sinister idea well executed.
February 5th, 2014 at 8:04 pm
This is creepy David but cleverly so. Well done.
February 5th, 2014 at 9:00 pm
I want more!
February 5th, 2014 at 9:49 pm
🙂 Thanks. I had more to write, but it’s hard to fit into 100 words. Maybe I’ll write an extended version too.
February 5th, 2014 at 9:31 pm
Ah, that’s the David I know and love. 🙂
janet
February 5th, 2014 at 9:50 pm
Yep, no mushy stuff, just creepy. 🙂 I’m glad I didn’t disappoint.
February 5th, 2014 at 9:52 pm
And I’m pretty sure you’ve probably done creepy mushy, too. 🙂
February 5th, 2014 at 11:07 pm
Oh, I’m sure at some point. I’ve probably written the whole creepy rainbow. 🙂
February 5th, 2014 at 9:42 pm
That’s really well-written, though scary. I don’t mind reading it during the day with the lights on.
February 5th, 2014 at 10:02 pm
Thanks. I like writing scary stuff sometimes. Just don’t read it right before bed. 🙂
February 5th, 2014 at 10:07 pm
Talk about a long gestation period. No wonder man had to step in to fill the place of monsters.
February 5th, 2014 at 11:09 pm
If I had more words, I could have explained more, but yes, it took a long time to develop. They kept it only because their mother passed it on to them and told them to keep it, and keep it warm.
February 5th, 2014 at 10:20 pm
I’m wondering what would have happened if you had more than 100 words to write?
February 5th, 2014 at 11:10 pm
Actually, I’m planning to write a fuller version. I’ll post a link with next week’s story for those who don’t follow my blog.
February 5th, 2014 at 11:24 pm
brilliant, both the story and how you presented it. the little creature growing inside the glass globe is so creepy yet fascinating!
February 5th, 2014 at 11:32 pm
I’m not sure why someone would have a monster in their lamp, but I liked the idea of it growing slowly, over generations, passed down from mother to daughter. I guess we both wrote about mothers this week. 🙂
February 5th, 2014 at 11:31 pm
Very creepy. I like creepy. 🙂 Nice idea!
February 5th, 2014 at 11:40 pm
Thanks! I’m glad you liked it.
February 6th, 2014 at 4:35 am
This beats the night mare I woke to this morning. Creepy story well written though.
February 6th, 2014 at 8:37 am
Thank you. I hope it doesn’t inspire anymore.
February 6th, 2014 at 6:05 am
Glad I’m not in that family! No wonder I prefer candle light. Great story!
February 6th, 2014 at 6:52 am
Love the generational creeps!
February 6th, 2014 at 7:43 am
Wow! That’s an episode of Night Gallery all right. Very foreboding and very scary with well-handled generational angle. The final scene would show it being handed off to yet another unsuspecting person.
February 6th, 2014 at 7:46 am
Wooo! That was just an amazing progression to the creepy! LOVED IT!!
February 6th, 2014 at 11:18 am
Dave, this is right out of the Twighlight Zone! My, how creepy things dwell in your head.
February 6th, 2014 at 12:07 pm
I’m surprisingly well adjusted in real life however. 🙂
February 6th, 2014 at 12:35 pm
Good to know. You know, it’s often those people who seem well adjusted who are… well, anyway… just sayin’. 😉
February 6th, 2014 at 12:36 pm
🙂
February 6th, 2014 at 12:40 pm
Ooooh creepy I like it! Where can I get a lamp like that???
February 6th, 2014 at 12:55 pm
Probably one of those back alley curiosity shops that sell rare and cursed items. 🙂 I haven’t decided where Jasper got it.
February 6th, 2014 at 2:21 pm
A truly unique piece, David. Pardon the pun, but I didn’t see it coming. I enjoyed the read.
All my best,
Marie Gail
February 6th, 2014 at 3:59 pm
You get the award for innovative and creepy this week. Love the way you told the story.
February 6th, 2014 at 4:02 pm
Birthing monsters is a big job. Though I can’t figure out for the life of me why one of these women wasn’t smart enough to get rid of it. Changes is only supposed to take three generations. Looks like all’s lost by the fourth. Very clever and creepy. I enjoyed the format immensely.
February 6th, 2014 at 4:20 pm
I had to cut some of it for the word count, why they didn’t throw it away. It was a sense of having to continue on with a tradition, although each had different reasons. I’m going to write a fuller version.
February 6th, 2014 at 4:23 pm
Word count is tricky. But I did get or at least surmise tradition would compel them. Otherwise…….I can’t wait to read the fuller version.
February 6th, 2014 at 4:15 pm
A hatching monster.. That’s why I would never use a dragons egg to make a lamp.?
February 6th, 2014 at 5:23 pm
A history of horror – wonderful!
February 6th, 2014 at 6:55 pm
Truly unique and absolutely wonderful for it.
February 6th, 2014 at 7:17 pm
I should have read this in the daytime – now I have to go up the squeaky steps and think of your story – YIKES!
February 6th, 2014 at 8:58 pm
D’oh, sorry about that. Sweet dreams! 🙂
February 7th, 2014 at 12:07 am
The incubator!
February 7th, 2014 at 5:23 pm
[…] : 7 FEBRUARY 2014″. I have read some of the entries and they are fabulous. Specially David Stewart, whom I follow regularly ! Got inspired to write a fiction after quite some time […]
February 7th, 2014 at 9:02 pm
The story unfolds like a matryoshka doll – and creepy!
February 7th, 2014 at 10:50 pm
that is really really scary!
February 7th, 2014 at 10:53 pm
I’m writing the full story now. That’s scarier , I think. I meant to post it today but got busy. It’ll be up tomorrow.
February 9th, 2014 at 12:10 am
i was just going to ask …..
February 9th, 2014 at 12:13 am
I got behind again so it’ll be up tomorrow. I didn’t want to rush it.
February 8th, 2014 at 2:28 am
Really an original! I love it and I hate it. But I hate it as it was intended to be hated. And scarey as all get out!
February 8th, 2014 at 2:30 am
Whoops . . .I mean scary.
February 8th, 2014 at 8:03 am
You do creepy well! I say…Run for you life, daughter. This is a wonderfully, strange and disturbing tale. You should extend this one, David!
February 10th, 2014 at 10:35 pm
Thanks, Amy. I did write a much longer version of it, which is creepier, if anything. I’ll post a link with the next Fictioneers story, since other people were wondering about a longer version too.
February 8th, 2014 at 5:18 pm
Aaah! Scary! The evolution of the creature in the glass is terrifying. I almost ran for cover myself in the end.
February 10th, 2014 at 10:33 pm
I’ll take that as a compliment. I wrote a longer version of it too. Read it, if you want more creeps. 🙂
February 14th, 2014 at 1:30 am
Yip! I will definitely read it! I totally loved this one
February 8th, 2014 at 9:24 pm
That’s scary. Who’s Jasper?
February 9th, 2014 at 12:11 am
He was the great-grandmother’s lover and the grandmother’s father. He sent her the lamp and never came back.
February 9th, 2014 at 2:27 am
Ack!Took 4 generations to hatch-what a crazy family keeping such things!Wonder what is lounging around in the basement with a full tummy ;-)A wonderfully creepy tale David 🙂
February 10th, 2014 at 10:32 pm
Thank you. 🙂
February 14th, 2014 at 4:37 am
🙂
February 9th, 2014 at 11:05 am
Serious creep factor, ingeniously written 🙂
February 10th, 2014 at 10:31 pm
Thanks. 🙂
February 9th, 2014 at 3:14 pm
[…] past Wednesday, I did a Friday Fictioneers story called Jasper’s Lamp. It’s a creepy story about five generations of women and their relationship to a lamp that […]
February 10th, 2014 at 2:09 am
Creepy-creep this!
Made me look behind it did!
I wouldn’t have been surprised if i found those same eyes staring back at me
:O
February 10th, 2014 at 10:31 pm
Just don’t read it alone at night. 🙂 I wrote a longer version, even creepier.
February 10th, 2014 at 3:09 am
Who is going to clean that mess up!?
February 10th, 2014 at 10:30 pm
That’s a topic for a whole new story. Maybe they’ll just move. 🙂
February 10th, 2014 at 10:31 pm
🙂
March 27th, 2019 at 11:16 am
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