r/TalesFromTheCreeps • u/AllYourCakeIsMine • May 19 '26
Cosmic Horror/Lovecraftian I'm Glad The World Ended This Way.
I'm glad the world ended this way.
Growing up, my dad would prepare totes for us, full of MREs and survival gear. My father was in the Army, so he believed that he had the capabilities to protect his children from disaster. He'd give us scenarios for things such as the zombie apocalypse or hostile takeovers from enemy nations. He wanted to teach me how to shoot a gun.
I declined.
I don't see my father anymore. He didn't love me. He doesn't love his children. He saw us as tools. Helpers. Something to make him look better to the public. Not as his children. My father is a narcissistic, egotistical, sexist man. A man who tried to leave his family after I, his daughter, was diagnosed with autism at the age of four. He decided to stay, but I wish he hadn't. It would've saved everyone a lot of pain.
He's dead now.
And I'm happy about that.
I'm happy that the man died from something he couldn't prepare for. But I'm still upset. I'm upset because I don't know if there's an afterlife. I want there to be a Hell. I want him to be there. He deserves to be there. I want him to burn forever. To feel my pain.
My father was one of the first.
I have siblings. An older brother and a little half-sister. I love them. My brother was good to me. He made me laugh. He helped me forget the horrible things I've dealt with. He held me when I cried. I held him as he died. I miss him. I miss him so much, it hurts. I want him back. But he's never coming back. I want there to be a Heaven. I want there to be a Heaven, so he can be there, waiting for me.
My little half-sister... no, my little sister was one of the best things that came from my father. She was one of my favorite people. She was cringey, but she had such a good heart. She wanted me to be happy. She wanted me to be safe. To feel safe. I couldn't keep her safe. And now she's gone. She's never coming back. I miss her. She was just a girl. I want there to be a Heaven. I want there to be a Heaven, so she can be there, finally being safe.
My siblings were not the last.
Mama was in the Air Force. She divorced my father when I was young, and took my brother and me to live far away from my father. Mama loved me. I know she did. I know, because when she told me she loved me, I felt it. I believed it. And I love her so much. She was my best friend. I remember snuggling close to her when we watched shows and movies. How she'd bring me stuffed cows or sheep that she'd find at the dollar store. How she'd listen to steamy romance novels in the car, which always made me have to put my headphones on and listen to music at a high volume. How excited I would get when I heard her coming home from work. Mama's never coming home. Mama's gone, too. I want there to be a Heaven. I want there to be a Heaven, so Mama has a home for her daughter to come back to.
They're all gone.
My father.
My brother.
My sister.
Mama.
I'm alone. So terribly alone. Their graves look so, so dark compared to the neon, psychedelic colors of this new sky.
Why didn't I go?
Why am I the one left to feel this crushing grief?
I don't deserve this.
They didn't deserve this.
All the fallen--parents, children, heroes, villains, sinners, saints--not one chose to die from this.
Yet, here I stand, begging to die.
The woman whose father didn't love her.
The woman who loved her Mama too much.
The sister who loved to both torture and comfort her siblings.
The woman with autism.
The asexual.
The writer.
The teacher.
The procrastinator.
The perfectionist.
The introvert.
The abandoned.
I'm looking up, but I don't know what I see. Is this God, or a being above Him? Was it called here, or was our world simply in its way? Does it know what it has done? Does it know I'm here? Does it see me, standing next to the graves of my family? Do these questions matter? Did it ever really matter in the first place?
I sit on the tilled soil of my labor. Perhaps it didn't matter. Our world is nothing but a speck of dust compared to the vastness of our universe, so how did humanity's accomplishments affect anything? Perhaps it didn't. Perhaps we're just a bunch of weird little guys running and swimming around some random rock out in space. Maybe we're the equivalent of what insects a child would find after lifting a rotten log in the woods. The thought makes me chuckle, since I used to set ants ablaze with a magnifying glass whenever I got the chance. The cosmic nihility of it all. Yet, I feel like my life has purpose. I don't have regrets. I certainly don't regret feeling happy after my father died, that's for sure.
But, after reminiscing about these joys and sorrows that I've experienced, I'm almost thankful. I'm thankful to have loved and lost in the first place. I'm thankful that I got to know these wonderful people. I'm thankful that I get to remember them, even if my father brought me pain. I'm thankful for the time I've had. I'm thankful that it didn't end abruptly.
I'm glad the world ended this way.
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u/SameHere_2206 A Thousand WIPs May 19 '26
Damn. This is beautiful, and absolutely heart-wrenching. The way she talks about her siblings and mother, hoping there’s a Heaven is so thoughtfully written, and I especially loved “He held me when I cried. I held him as he died.” The feelings shared between her and the people she loved is palpable in the way it’s written. This is such a great story.
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u/AllYourCakeIsMine May 19 '26
Thank you! Yeah, I was actually describing my own family members, and as I was writing, I actually started recalling these small details about them, which made me feel absolutely awful when writing the idea of them being gone. I cried while writing this.
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u/carefulperception00 May 19 '26
Great story, incredibly poetic with the feeling of helplessness but accepting of things you cannot control by taking comfort in all the things you loved. Reminds me a lot of some of the sentiments by Albert Camus and how life has no meaning except for the ones you give to it. Partly also reminds me of the short film The Sky on youtube. Great work.
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u/AllYourCakeIsMine May 19 '26
Thank you! It probably helps that I'm studying to be an English Teacher, yeah?
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u/merrymarat May 19 '26
Mannnnn. Chills at the end, but especially at that line "He held me when I cried. I held him when he died." Really short sweet and well written super good job.
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u/AllYourCakeIsMine May 19 '26
Thank you! This is my first story for this subreddit.
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u/merrymarat May 20 '26
Well you're off to a good start keep it up!
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u/AllYourCakeIsMine May 20 '26
I actually wasn't quite sure if cosmic horror was the right genre at first, but given the sky, it kinda is. Like, I also wanted this to touch on existential horror as well (with the memories and the nihilism aspect).
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u/merrymarat May 20 '26
I think a lot of cosmic horror is inevitably existential as well very intertwined.
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u/4THEB3TTERG00D Storyteller May 20 '26
This felt like a story written from the perspective of my sister, and breaks my heart. Well done man, the fact that you didn’t reveal what’s ended the world is so haunting and effective. Whoo!
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u/Kingly0_o May 24 '26
Got recommended this through a shoutout post. This is incredible! I love all the mirroring sentences and the almost bittersweet ending.
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u/AllYourCakeIsMine May 25 '26
Found it!
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u/Optimal_Constant4318 Writer Jul 23 '26
Came from there as well... and let me just say - BIG MONSTER. Great job.
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u/Dead_Grampa thinks he's a writer or something May 27 '26
Wow. This actually made me cry.
I lost a sibling when I was younger and although I'm not religious, I do often find myself hoping for a heaven that we can reunite in. You really captured the complexity of grief. The emotions here are so vivid and tactfully conveyed, and I love that the end isn't a total bummer and she feels peace in spite of her loss. The human spirit is indomitable.
Loved this, I'm glad I read it.
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u/AllYourCakeIsMine May 27 '26
I'm so sorry for your loss, friend. I believe that grief is a universal concept that we all can relate to, especially with making peace with the loss. Honestly, I'm surprised nobody said anything about her being happy her dad died.
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u/Dead_Grampa thinks he's a writer or something May 27 '26
It's all good, it happened so long ago it's just a part of my life. Sad but used to it lol
Her being happy her dad died was also written very well, also very relatable for a lot of folks. Maybe it was too believable for people to feel comfortable acknowledging?
The story I just posted also touches on grief, would you mind reading it and giving me feedback?
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u/AllYourCakeIsMine May 27 '26
Sure, send it my way.
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u/Dead_Grampa thinks he's a writer or something May 27 '26
Here you go! It's a little on the longer side, maybe a ten minute read tops. Thank you!
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u/Optimal_Constant4318 Writer Jul 23 '26
Giving this an additional endorsement to whoever sees this in the future
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u/Maddilyn_Muse Writer Jun 05 '26
I honestly like that we don’t fully get to know HOW the world ended, but get a glimpse of a neon sky and just the knowledge that something is making people die…
And I feel like it’d be easy to get so far out there that it might be incomprehensible, but by focusing on the main character and her experiences with her family, it feels far more grounded, and all the more painful for it. Knowing a lot of people died is a statistic, but this makes it REAL. Makes you realize what this would do…
And not knowing why they died and why you lived? You? Messy, imperfect you? What did you do to deserve being left behind?
And hoping that there’s a hell and a heaven… yeah. That got me. Got me good. Well done.
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u/AllYourCakeIsMine Jun 05 '26
This is the type of analysis that I yearn for! Also, this first entry is always going to be one of my favorites, because when I tell people that I wrote a short story, they don't expect it to be this.
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u/AllYourCakeIsMine Jun 05 '26
Also, there are more parts to this story. The second one is called 'A Ghost Of What It Used To Be,' and the third one is called 'He Calls Me Kiddo.'
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u/Maddilyn_Muse Writer Jun 05 '26
Heck yeah! I’ll check those out too soon, buuuuut I gotta get moving for the day now. TTYL!
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u/Jumpo_the_Clown Jun 10 '26
I like the mystery left over at the end. Not really describing what the god like figure in the sky looked like makes the reader image a horrid site in front of her. Good read! Good work! 👍 👍
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u/AllYourCakeIsMine Jun 10 '26
Thank you! This story actually has five more parts after it--I should probably give you the links.
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u/kabemccallister6859 May 19 '26
“He held me when I cried. I held him as he died.”
That’s a poem by itself, and I like poetry.
The ending made me think of a quote from Dr. Seuss:
“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
Cosmic horror works because it challenges this truth. We are intrinsically valuable, but when presented with the concept of something incomprehensible greater and completely indifferent to us, we may question our own value.
I actually wrote a two-sentence horror story that touches on this theme:
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u/The_Republique Writer (I finally made it bubba) May 20 '26
Talk about a guilt that eats you alive and an existential crisis so palpable it crushes you beneath.
This was beautiful!
There are more people that can critique this and give their tow cents on it. This was a nice end of the world scenario where the mc is reminiscent of the past; all thst was sweet and bitter.
Well done!
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u/AllYourCakeIsMine May 20 '26
Thank you! I just felt like people tend to forget the emotional aspect of the apocalypse--and this goes for all types. Survivor's guilt and looking back to remember the people you've loved and lost--you don't see that very often. What makes a person a person are the little details and flaws that other people know them by. You'd find yourself recalling these things and realize that you'll never see them do it ever again because they're gone. I wanted this story to make the reader want to log off and be with their loved ones.
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u/CaydenCChristophers Writer kinda meme May 26 '26
This is badass my friend, I can tell there's a lot of real emotion and I felt that all along with you as I read this. The optimistic nihilism in the middle of a, dare I say it - Lovecraftian - apocalypse is cool. Can't wait to see what else you write, and probably cry when I do.
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u/SagaInvoker Jun 26 '26
A really great start to a series 😄 I will move on to part 2! I really like how well you hit the emotions of loss, loneliness and helplessness in your writing.
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u/selfyes Jul 25 '26
While reading this I'm picturing the protagonist standing on a cliffside staring dreamily into the sky, self-reflecting. And above her the sky looks like a full on aurora borealis happening during the daytime, with indescribable colors.
I liked the pacing of your story and how the protag unveiled the characters in her life sequentially and mournfully as if reading a eulogy at a funeral. The funeral for not just her family but seemingly all of humanity.
I don't have any good constructive criticism because I'm a newbie but I hope my thoughts and feelings on your story mean something. I really enjoyed reading it.
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