The Trick to Two Sentence Horror Stories

I have a soft spot for two sentence horror stories, both the TV show and the medium. The show is enjoyably creepy, and balances social commentary without beating you over the head with MESSAGE! As for the form of microfiction, is admire the format. It's simple to pull off, but tricky to do well. The best ones stick in my head verbatim.

The structure for two sentence horror stories is simple. The first sentence sets up the premise. The second provides the twist while delivering the scare.

The structure's compact nature is what makes writing them well so tricky. There is no space for building dread, emotionally connecting with characters, world building or other elements you find in longer length pieces. You need to find potent words and sentences, and that's where I struggle. I imagine others practice and practice until they find the perfect blend of surprise and spookiness.

I'm not there yet, but here's what I have so far:

I chopped a pile of chillies.

Without thinking, I rubbed my eyes.

#

Today's the first day of a week long space flight.

Someone cracked open a durian.

#

"You always be in my heart," she whispered

Before sealing me in her ventricle.