Writing prompt: NOTHING
Provided by: Petra Hefner , fellow participant of the A to Z challenge.Visit her! And mega-thanks go to Andrew Graeme Gould for letting me use his photograph yet again. His pictures talk to me, and I take down the dictation.
Please leave me prompts if you haven’t already!
Genre: Fiction/Flash
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Nothing had prepared them for the loss of their child. Or how they would be with each other once the funeral and memorial service gave way to long days and nights of silence.
Silence has a language all its own, and it became their substitute for talk. Like absentee landlords, their selves left their bodies in charge and walked off in search of their son, each alone. Hurting.
After fifteen years of marriage, she knew to leave the heat switch on when she woke up, for his bathwater. The breakfast lay on the table when he was ready for office, and when he came back , the table carried dinner. When they had finished eating, she switched on the television, and he loaded the dishwasher. The remote sat on the table before them as they stared at the screen. When she felt her eyes closing, she washed up and went to bed, where she feigned sleep. He joined her a little later, lying quiet on his side of the bed. Sleep came to them at different times, usually near dawn, and brought them separate nightmares.
All your fault, you stupid, selfish man.
I did not ask him to come with me, he liked it, and so he came. I miss him as much as you do.
He had surfed all his life, travelled far and wide to do it on different beaches, met her on one of them. He had taken the boy surfing since the year he turned nine. He did not know that four years later, the sea would turn red with blood, and that they have to bury an empty coffin. The son would never be found.
I watered him with my blood, you spilled it. I gave him birth, you, death.
He was my blood too. I hurt as much as you do.
He is gone now. I have nothing left.
You have me, we have each other.
She saw him hurt, her man, who she had married despite the difference in their ages, the displeasure of her parents and his, his crazy schedule of surfing around the world, the sharks. And a shark took her son. She should have known. She had never been to the beach since. Never will again.
That afternoon, she woke up beside him, and felt his breath upon her hair. He was spooned behind her, not touching. His face lay open as he slept, his lips drooling on the pillow, like her son when very young.
He is alive. I’m alive. I have no right to kill him too.
She sat there, watching him. Outside, the sun had begun to set. He opened his eyes after an hour, and seeing her eyes on him, smiled. The first smile on his face in more than an year. She had forgotten what he looked like when he smiled.
I love you, and I’m sorry.
Who was that? Neither of them, or both. It does not matter.
Walk with me? he said.
And she did.
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Very well-written, packed with understated yet powerful emotions. Brought tears to my eyes.
Great piece. I am not sure I could produce something every day. That really is an achievement.
So relieved and touched by the ending.
Oh my gosh, how touching! It had me in tears! You have a very beautiful way with words! Thank you for using the prompt, for the link-back, and for your visit and kind words. Wishing you a joy full week!
WOW! What a powerful piece of writing.
I really admire your creativity, Damyanti. I could never have imagined all that from my photo. And as you say in your own comment, above, it’s fascinating how we can all connect this way through the Internet.
Such a sad, moving subject. The emptiness of loss into a void of nothing. Very thought provoking :O)
Nothing is a hard word to hold isn’t it. Lovely writing.
OMG that was beautiful! Seriously. I have tears in my eyes.
This is a very lovely and powerful story. You captured the emotions so well.
Lee
Tossing It Out
Twitter hashtag: #atozchallenge
Thanks everyone, for all the comments.
I’m not sure I deserve all the praise, especially because I struggle everyday to produce a piece…dream about it, nightmare on it (yes, nightmare can be a verb sometimes).
Andrew’s pictures have been a great help, they’re so story-like, you begin with the first sentence almost immediately.
Check out his work at http://www.andrewgraemegould.com. I love the internet, I’m sitting in SIngapore, writing stories based on Chilean photographs!
At the end of the month, I’ll probably have 15000 words worth of rough drafts– pieces that are not so good, and some that are better than others. I’m hoping to weed out the weak, and replace them either with pieces I have written earlier, or with new pieces.
But this is a way to challenge myself– the fact that my work gets commented on each day is added motivation. I can’t believe I have written 16 stories in 18 days, but I see that I have. 10 more stories to go. 12 days left. Let’s see if I pull this off.
Thank you very much for your support. I love you all for taking the time to read and comment.
I loved the unspoken yet powerful communication between them. The imagery was brutal and simple. Great post.
Beautiful and heartbreaking. You have a real way with words!
Beautiful. I love the ending. Bravo.
I’m A-Z Blogging on Langley Writes about Writing and Langley’s Rich and Random Life
Aww, that is so sad yet so sweet. Kudos.
Great write! Please stop by & read O is for Orion
That was so touching! <3
Great imagery and intensity. Do you consider turning it into a longer story?
wonderfully done
Very touching and well written, as always. I’m so glad that there was hope for both of them. Death of a child too often leads to death of the relationship.
Lovely story D. I love the way you can explain her realisation. I could feel it with her. Another great story.
Beautifully done! Amazing in a short story format. There is so much backstory shown here about the characters. Loved it. Keep working on it.
Aww! Once again, you amaze me with your talent. I could feel the anger and the frustration between the two as blame was laid. Keep up the awesome work!
A single letter, then a seven-letter word, and then a beautiful story. It’s amazing: both the result and the illusion you create that it’s effortless.
Well done.
You sucked me right in.
Oh, very nicely done. Enjoyed reading this piece! Perfect N post.
What a way you have with words! Tears roll down my cheeks. No words I write can say more than the emotions you have evoked within my soul.
I don’t know what to say… It was so touching, and beautiful.
I love your writing.. 🙂 🙂 That’s all I can say.