The cold didn’t bother me; the shivers wracking my body were well worth the price of the much needed darkness, the favor of a shrouded moon. I sat with my arms wrapped tightly around my scrunched up legs, my feet frozen and bare, kneading the moist earth beneath them. Tears weren’t an option for they would do nothing to ease the pain and they certainly wouldn’t change the ridiculous choices I had made, nor the ones she had forced me into. Without anyone attempting to reach me, she had died, been buried and properly mourned; her life celebrated for its passionate creativity and for the fierce hold she had had on those who loved her. Every shred of hope I had harbored that there would be at least a single moment to love her again (not that I had ever stopped, mind you) was gone, and the only way I knew to get through such a tragedy was to embrace the blessed darkness and endure the bitter cold just as I had endured the bitterness she had died tasting.
Aftertaste is my response to Lille McFerrin’s weekly Five Sentence Fiction challenge. This week’s word: moon
Very heavy, Britton. I love the last line: “was to embrace the blessed darkness and endure the bitter cold just as I had endured the bitterness she had died tasting.” Keep at it, girl!
What a powerful piece. As always, your writing is highly visceral, drawing on all our senses to feel the emotion of your character. Bravo! Yes. The only way to write more is to write. Hope to read much more from you this year, Ms. Britton. 🙂
touching!
The only solace I could offer your heroine is that love need not end with the death of loved ones. Indeed we can perfect it over the years, excusing their pettiness as part of the human condition that we see in the mirror and refining their memory like a sculptor polishes the rough edges until we’re left with a profound love for the best in them and us all — which is a fine reason to be passing through.
This is indeed the dark side of the moon.