55
Words
(title not included)
A Mother's Love
New Tattoo
Last Friday Night
3am Phone Call
Meeting New People
Waiting
Forbidden Tattoo
Love Is ...
Late
Night with No Meds
The Argument
(New!)
"What did we ever used to do before canned baby food?" Catherine mused and popped open a tiny jar of food.
"I'd chew the food up and then spit it into your mouth," her mother smiled and stirred her tea.
"Are you serious?"
Her mother nodded and smiled.
"Don't ever kiss me again," Catherine shuddered.
"Check out my new tattoo," Chloe thrust her left shoulder in my face, "It's totally spiritual." Soft black Japanese script.
I looked at it and glanced up at her perfectly styled hair.
"What is it?"
"It means inner truth," She rolled her eyes and gave me an impatient stare.
"Actually,"
I grinned, "It means 'shallow'."
Last Friday Night
"I didn't tell you because I didn't think it mattered."
"It does."
"Enough to throw everything we have away?"
She didn't know. But he wanted an answer.
"Yes." He wouldn't go for it. Don't go for it.
"Fine, I'm gone."
The door slammed less than a second before she crumpled to the floor and howled.
3am
Phone Call
"Forgive me?" her voice is raw from sobbing.
His voice comes down the telephone line, she can hear him smiling, "Of course I do. Come over."
She nods, smiles, hangs up.
She
never heard the man walking up behind her.
The rustling of his coat, gun cocked, barrel aimed right at her smiling,
tear-stained face.
Meeting New People
First there was Sandra, face beaten and fingernails bitten to the quick.
The came Robert with his yellow skin. Beth was bruised and bloody and
Michelle quietly tragic.
Every night another
face that told its story without saying a word.
She had never
imagined working at a mortician's would introduce her to such interesting
people.
Answering machine is on. Curtains drawn. Nothing to distract me.
"I'm off to the pub," he tells me.
I nod, chewing my nails. Willing myself not to obsess, but I do. Wondering, itching to know.
He leaves and I pace. I check the clock then check the screen.
Still
the top bidder. Three minutes left.
In the morning, I remembered the tattoo. The pain of the needle and the swollen skin. A dragon leering from my calf. Getting drunk with my friends afterward and stumbling home.
Mother's drunken fury. The bathtub filled with hot water. Bleach and a wire brush.
And the screaming.
Nightmares don't always wait until you're asleep.
(Note: This 55 Word write turned into this short story)
Love Is ….
Sometimes you're forced into action. Particularly when it comes to love,
which makes anyone crazy. Five years of loving her and getting nothing
in return. Five years of waiting by the phone, hoping her plans will fall
through.
Five years of not realizing there was a simple solution to the problem:
chloroform and a rag
Late Night with No Meds
Emma had always imagined a psychiatric ward would be loud at night. She
hadn't anticipated the thick silence that surrounded her. Somewhere on
the ward she could hear sobbing.
She crawled under the blanket on her bed and shut her eyes tight, listening
to the soft sobs and trying desperately not to join in
"It's important to send a thank you card," she insisted.
"I'm not thankful for it."
"It's not about being thankful, it's acknowledging you received the gift."
"By that logic I should have sent Tami one for giving me crabs"
She
didn't even bother yelling. Just slammed the door on her way out.
