Hi @strangegravy. I really liked the story. Truly.

But here's our challenge. We have laid out clear rules stating that we don't allow blood and gore in the community, because so many bloody and violent stories were rolling in. We had people leaving the community. We lost a key admin. People just couldn't take it. So we tightened our rules, and made it as clear as possible what we don't allow and why. And we provide three reminders in our prompt posts about our rules, including this note directly after the prompt:

We also provide tons of ideas for stories so people feel inspired to write about things besides severed heads, rape, murder, stabbings, etc.

That's the background. Now to your story.

Your story starts with this:

A look of horror crept over his face as a large, severed head rolled down the windscreen, bounced off the freshly polished bonnet and tumbled out into the sharp glare of the headlights. It spun sickeningly on the asphalt, the illuminated tire smoke swirling around it like some big finale of a conjurer's macabre stage show. When it finally came to rest, it’s large, bloodshot eyes were staring directly back at him.

Then a few paragraphs down, we read this:

He walked into the light and carefully picked up the head in his two hands, checking quickly for any damage. A few little scuffs and scrapes, along with a small strip of skin hanging loosely from its pale, doughy cheek.

It continues with more description of severed body parts. Sorry... if in the end it's not really a severed human head, the skin flaps of a corpse or the limbs of a dead body, it doesn't really matter since the gore has been graphically described along the way. Make sense?

I will be honest; our efforts to make sure the content in The Ink Well is safe for all ages — and even for people who have experienced true horrors, abuse, and unthinkable life traumas — has, and continues to be the most exhausting thing about this volunteer job. I keep thinking: we have explained this now. We don't need to do so again. And the very next day, a story appears in our community that involves a child being raped, a woman being brutalized... or a severed head rolling sickenenly off a car. I hope you understand why we can't keep your story in the community as is. We would be completely inconsistent with the rules we have asked the community to adhere to.

And I hope you don't leave us! Your writing is fantastic. Your powers of description are amazing. I love your talent, and would love to see more from you.

Also, you are welcome to edit those parts of your story if you like. We would be happy to unmute it if the gore isn't there.