Lifelike

Photo by: Jade M. Wong

Sandy Bertram, curator at the Museum of Art, led Chief Occult Detective Weinberger to the site. The sculpture looked like a large white ring. Three arrows were embedded inside it, and blood streamed from the wounds.

Bertram said, “Any idea how this ring became…alive?”

“Near as we can tell,” sighed Weinberger. “Someone ill-qualified to cast tried to make a golem. The spell got away from him and now it’s giving life to sculptures at random across the city.”

“What happened?”

“Seems he forgot the lemon juice.”

Sandy rolled her eyes. “Dummy! Who forgets the lemon juice?”

Weinberger received a call on his enchanted conch shell. He scowled and hung up. “I have to go.”

“More sculptures?”

“Yep. The Venus De Milo is downtown with a crowd of naked young men.”

Sandy snickered, “Well, it could be worse.”

“It is. Perseus is walking down 37th Ave with the Gorgon’s head.”
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Written for Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers: https://flashfictionforaspiringwriters.wordpress.com/2017/08/28/fffaw-challenge-week-of-august-29-2017/

Author’s notes:

I hoped you enjoyed my rare foray into “Urban Fantasy” where magic takes place in modern times.

Golem: “…is an animated anthropomorphic being that is magically created entirely from inanimate matter (specifically clay or mud). The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing.”

Venus was the Greek goddess of love, so you can imagine what a real one likes to do.
Venus De Milo: “…Created sometime between 130 and 100 BC, the statue is believed to depict Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty (Venus to the Romans).”

Perseus was the Greek hero who slayed the Gorgon. The Gorgon had snakes for hair. It’s gaze alone could turn people into stone. Perseus killed the creature and kept the head. He famously presented it to his enemies, who turned into stone.
Perseus: