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Being Human, by Patricia Lynne

Being Human, by Patricia Lynne

I write quite a bit of short fiction on this blog, some of which resulted in A to Z Stories of Life and Death.

This week I’ve decided to switch it around a little–still short fiction, only I’m not writing it.

On the 25th, I hosted Stuart Nager’s flash fiction, and today I give you Patricia Lynne, whose book ‘Being Human‘ is making a quite a splash just now. If you haven’t heard of it, I suggest you follow the link here and take a look! Without further ado, I present:

Stars In Her Eyes Flash Fiction by Patricia Lynne

The first thing he saw was the stars. They shined brightly, filling the inky blackness. For a moment, he admired them. As he watched, one shot across the sky. A voice murmured in his head, a memory flitting to his forethoughts.

Look honey, a shooting star. Let’s…

The memory disappeared before it could finish. He tried to recall it, but it was gone. More memories followed, disappearing before he even had a chance to recall them. A knot of panic filling his chest, propelling him to his feet and into action. He ran as fast as he could, racing the disappearing memories and trying to reach… Where was he going?

When he finally stopped running, he didn’t recognize the house before him. Despite that, he found himself moving towards the door. Energy hummed at him, pushing him away. He fought against it, knocking on the door until a light flared overhead.

“Darren!” The woman at the door grabbed him, hugging tightly. She pulled him inside, the energy fading from the invitation. “Why were you knocking? Did you lose your key?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, where have you been? I’ve been worried sick.”

He glanced at his unfamiliar surroundings. Was this home? A whisper of instinct said yes. It said this woman before him was important to him. But the reasons why were gone, vanished with his memories. He felt something else take the place of the memories, a pulsing and thumping that vibrated through him. It resonated in his stomach and as instinctively as he knew this house was his home, he knew what it was: Hunger.

“Darren?”

He looked at the woman. “Yes?”

“Where have you been?”

“I don’t remember.”

He could tell she didn’t like the answer, but she didn’t comment on it. Instead, she sighed deeply, as if the action hurt. “You’re filthy, come on, I’ll help you clean up.”

As she led him through the house, the hunger pulsed louder. It burned through him, yanking on him and demanding to be sated. His eyes locked on the back of her neck. So easy…

No! He banished the idea. He couldn’t hurt her. But he was so hungry. He swallowed, his mouth feeling on fire.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” she asked when he softly whimpered.

He tried to find words to describe the pain he was in, how the hunger burned him. But her eyes had caught him, locking him in. In awe, he stared, forgetting for a moment the raging hunger and pain. Her eyes sparkled like stars and he swore he saw his missing memories. Each moment filled her eyes, telling him of his life – their life. It sucked his breath away.

“I love you,” he whispered.

A smile filled her face, eyes sparkling more. “I love you too.”

He lunged for her neck.

————–

Being Human by Patricia Lynne will be available on Amazon, Smashwords, and hopefully Barnes & Noble and other retailers August 30th 2011. Thanks for reading.

email: [email protected]

Twitter:  @patricialynne07

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/patricialynne07

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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5 Comments

  • Damyanti says:

    Sorry, Patricia, been in trains and flights these past days, so did not say hi earlier..thanks for sharing your piece of flash fiction here!

  • Intriguing story. Well written! Suspected he was a vampire from his reaction to her neck. Wasn’t sure until…I understand why he couldn’t remember where he’d been. Guess the vampire thing happened to him while he was gone.

    • Thanks JL. Yup, he’s a vampire. I was trying to go for a little suspense and mystery about what had happened to him. It was also to give a glimpse at how the vampires I created for my story are. Eep! Now I’m worried people will be confused. (Book release jitters are growing!)

  • Thanks for being a stop on my blog tour (even if I did goof up the days. Oh well.) This has been an exciting week.