Hello everyone, and welcome back!
Today I have a flash fiction piece I worked on this past week, and just in time for Halloween! Originally I had written it for a writing contest, only to find I missed the day. Guess it's time I invest in that calendar, eh? Anyways, I'm really happy with how this turned out. Being as wordy as I normally am, I find it very difficult to condense my thoughts into a smaller frame. I relish the chance I get to do stuff like this though. Helps me to learn my way around words and phrasing to make what I have to say that much more powerful.
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Anniversary
I woke to a massive clap of thunder.
The room is cold, my blood slush in my veins. An impossibility in the middle of August. A soft caress on my left ear makes me twitch. Turning sharply, I find only the all-encompassing black of night staring back. With the howling of wind and driving rain to spur me, my hand desperately searches for the knob of my lamp. Two clicks and nothing. Two more, still no light to banish the darkness. The power had been knocked out by the storm.
Digging in my bedside table, fear has my heart thumping and my movements jerky. I turn on a small blue flashlight. The sickly yellow light flickers on, a cone of dull light that barely pushes the black back.
Moving to and fro, nothing but the faded portraits of time long gone stare back. But one is missing. Scooting to the edge of the bed, I search the warped wood floor to find one picture broken. The glass glints like dying stars. My heart stops as the light finds a cracked photo in black and white. My dearest Evelyn and I on our wedding day.
A muffled boom shakes me from my memories. It was not thunder, but something downstairs.
My feet hit the first floor, and I can see my breath, long trails of steamy breath dissipating in the frigid air. My bones ache as if ice were forming in my joints.
I trudge on to the right into my living room.
My heart begins pounding with fear once more. All of my furniture has indeed been moved. Stacked precariously upon each other, my sofas, coffee table, and other pieces form a twisted wooden mess. Broken frames and crumpled photographs littered the floor in front of the fireplace.
A shadowy figure stands facing the mantle. She radiates cold. She turns slowly, and my heart catches.
Dearest Evelyn. Her face is contorted with rage. Her hair hangs limp. Her tattered dress exposing skin turned blue with death. A crooked tree limb hangs from her chest, dark droplets of blood forming a platform around her bare feet. A gaping wound in her head oozes blood down her face.
Her eyes meet mine, and the rage melts like springtime thaw. The shadows flee and her skin seems to glow from within, banishing the cold.
She glides towards me, arms outstretched. My arms yearn to embrace her once more.
It is the same dance we have been doing since her death nineteen years previous. A fatal car accident took my dearest Evelyn from me on a stormy evening much like this one. Every year she returns.
I keep my arms to my side. I am afraid to die.
I slump to my knees, all pains of my old body forgotten. Tears stream down my face unashamedly. A soft caress on my cheek makes me look up into her honey eyes.
She is slowly dissipating, returning to beyond. The last to leave is her face. It’s always her face.
The storm has subsided and morning sunlight streams into my living room. I slowly gather myself with creaking joints.
There’s always next year.
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As always, your feedback is much appreciated! You can reach me through my e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook. Stay tuned, as shortly I'll have a fun exercise up wherein a VW bus full of bananas and a confused thief must get out of the country. Until then, I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!
