Cold – VisDare 43

Here’s my latest offering for Anonymous Legacy‘s photo-inspired prompt, VisDare. This week’s prompt word is ‘Memory’. The rules are simple:

150 words – or less.

Post entry to your blog and “link in”.

(Please – no erotica or graphic violence.)

DON’T FORGET to read and comment on others’ entries!!

The photo is below, and my piece follows.  Let me know what you think, and give it a go yourself, why not?

– Cold – 

“What is it?”

“They called it a butterfly.”

“And what did it do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, everything must have a use.”

“Is that what you’ve been learning in classes?”

“Everything in this life must have at least one purpose.”

“… Because that is what went wrong before? Is that what they taught you today?”

“Yes, Mother. We have learned from our mistakes.”

I take one final look at the etching before closing the book – a remnant of times past. I should be pleased that my daughter is such a good student. And yet…

“Mother?”

“Yes, Lucy?”

“I will call you by your first name from now on. Sentimentality serves no purpose. Not in these times.”

“As you wish.”

I hold the book close, yearning to feel the whisper of butterfly wings on my face, just one more time.

My daughter is as cold and hard as stone.

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Denied – dVerse Poetics (Halloween version)

This week’s dVerse Poetics has us writing ghostly tales, but with a comedic twist. Such fun! It is very windy here on the coast tonight, and according to the weather forecast, worse is to come tomorrow evening – so my offering has picked up on that, as you will see!

I hope you enjoy it – and please visit dVerse to read all of the other creations!

– Denied –

The winds they howl and moan tonight
They say they’ll bring the folks a fright
Tear down trees and windows break
The gales will keep us all awake

‘Tis Halloween, the ghosts and ghouls
Should roam the earth and steal our souls
But the weather has them beat
And whipped them all from off their feet

They’re wrapped around the chimney stacks
Caught in trees, trapped in shacks
The wind has sucked away their cries
And turned them dumb, to their surprise

They clench their fists and gnash their teeth
Their tortured souls find no release
The one night of the year for fun
Has left our ghastly ghostlies glum

Frustrated in their scary games
They feel let down, a sense of shame
That dawn is almost on their heels
And not a scream has been revealed

From the throats of human prey
The winds have stolen fear away
The storm dies down, the daylight looms
The scary fiends are bathed in gloom

‘Twas Halloween, a terrible night
For ghosts that die to cause a fright
Mother Nature upped her game
The ghouls were silenced – what a shame!

Hindsight – VisDare 42

Here’s my latest offering for Anonymous Legacy‘s photo-inspired prompt, VisDare. This week’s prompt word is ‘Outnumbered’. The rules are simple:

150 words – or less.

Post entry to your blog and “link in”.

(Please – no erotica or graphic violence.)

DON’T FORGET to read and comment on others’ entries!!

The photo is below, and my piece follows.  Let me know what you think, and give it a go yourself, why not?

– Hindsight – 

“Back in the good old days, there would be taxis, buses, cars, vans, bike couriers and a sea of people down there. It was so noisy – absolute heaven!”

Sarah peered through the glass, murky with grime. The streets were now deserted, buildings cloaked in silence, creepers snaking around greying pillars, doorways rusted shut. Nature was staking her claim. It must have been five years since…

“Penny for them?” Alex wrapped his arm around her shoulders, protective.

“I wonder what the Last Day was like?”

“I don’t think we’ll ever know.”

“They say that the City of London has been relocated underground, somewhere in -”

“Ssh! Don’t say it!”

“Sorry. This place is so… haunting…”

“Let’s go, honey. This was a mistake, in more ways than one.”

“No, it wasn’t. It was good to see where all the trouble started. And what can happen – after.”

*****

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