Flash Fiction #183 – Xilpher

Flash Fiction #183 – Xilpher

Children’s author Louisa Kwan awoke, screaming.

She couldn’t recall the nightmare but with a shudder, she remembered the word:

“Xilpher.”

The word, found in no dictionary, plagued her thoughts.

She put it to page in a cute children’s rhyme.

Once finished inking illustrations of the benign looking creature, her stress abated.

Xilpher’s Dream Land became a bestselling children’s book parents read to their kids.

No one connected the missing kids to the story.

How could they know they were invoking an ancient child-eating demon?