Four Houses on a Hill
Flash Fiction Horror Story with Artwork; 105 words
Art and story copyright © January 2025, Dianna Hardy. All rights reserved.
Published as an art print and as artwork.
Four Houses on a Hill began life as a rough, carefree, ink and wash sketch. The concept of the four houses (who lives there and what their story is) is left up to the imagination, but for me, it brings up feelings of solitary confinement and an inclusive upbringing separate from the outside world, and inspired a micro story in itself. This story is below.
Legend goes that for four centuries, four generations each lived in one of the houses on the hill, and upon their death, were buried under the very same, emptying the house to make room for the newest family members. Outsiders did not venture past the tree that guarded the front of the land, sensing the unbreakable bond of the familial, and eventually, the land itself turned inwards, only recognising the bloodline that coated its soil. Fading from outer reality, the four houses became invisible to all but the ones who carried the blood of the ancestors who had lived there before.
Can you see them?
The print of the story (shown left/above) is exclusively available from Dianna's Signed Book Store in five sizes.
The artwork itself (unsigned) can be purchased as a print for your shelf or wall, and on various home décor items from: