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Flash Fiction "Overcoming Adversity"
All entries posted in original format
Entry #1
Once Upon A Double Full Moon There is a waxing and waning of the moons across our sky. They come and go to and fro. They dance in the sky, but only once in a double full moon, does our world become truly frightening. You see, our skies aren't just filled with blackness among pointed lights. It glistens with all sorts of colors of the rainbows. But when both moons shine as bright as they can, so does the sky. The forests of wonder are not safely dark. The deserts of dune do not hide the slithering snithering snakes that protect us. When it is bright, we cannot hide. The beasts come out to engorge themselves with our kin. They sway like tree tops, each bellowing with a girthy grunt. Picking their next victim from our fearful family, they take my youngest. It looked as easy as picking fruit from trees. I run in horror, hoping to not get caught, and yet there is another waiting for me around the dune. As I scamper backwards to get away, he reaches for me. I scurry in his palms like a squirrel. I fall out of the gigantic hands and he reaches for me again, but grabs my sister. He quickly crunches her bones with a crimp of fingers. I flee in terror, searching for just something to save me. A weapon could help with a smaller beast, but anything I grab would merely prick the hide. Spotting a hole after running around the dune, I hunker down and hope I wasn’t seen. The skies are darkening. The more the skies get dark, the fewer there are of us left. We can only hope to see the colorful lights again. We know that is our only safety. Our friends, family, and livelihoods are all at stake. As the sky gets darker, the streaking colors bloom. I am safe, but only until the next double full moon.
Entry #2
Everything he ever had
Slowly became a memory
One night, one decision
Would change everything
As a man and his wife
Spent their 50th anniversary
Out of town and far from home
The dream that once was
Became a nightmare
Flashing lights everywhere
Glass was broken
Screams could be heard
From a mile away
As one night a drunk driver
Ended it all for the man
Who lost the one thing mattered
To him the most
She was gone
The love of his life
Taken in the hands
Of a man intoxicated
Behind the wheel
The driver spent the rest
Of his life in prison
And the man was in his own
Prison trying to get out of his
Mind that it wasn't real
That it couldn't have happened
They say life is short
But life didn't give any warnings
All it left the man with is
The grim goodbye of how his wife
Had died
He would do anything
To get back his loved one
But he knew he couldn't
Turn back time
If he could he would wish
The day never happened
That they never went out
Home is where the heart is
But his heart was far from home
She was up and he was down
All his smiles turned to frowns
As he saw couples
One and one is two
But he was just one
With no one to hold
So he held onto his tears
Agony was his pill
As he swallowed the truth
That this was goodbye
Then began the rest of his life as
Sorrow turned to grief as the days became years
The photos of him and his wife became memories
What once was could never be again
He slowly began to get buried in his emotions
And was broken in his spirit
Trying to drown all the pain
To deal with his tragic loss
He looked to writing for his release
Let the story begin
Of a love so strong
That it wouldn't let go
She was always on his mind
His sincerity was felt through his writing
As tears began to fall on the pages
Love became the ocean
The tide kept rising as he kept writing
To bring back the best times he had spent
Making everyday count with those you hold
Close in your heart and closer in spirit
His success came from the one thing he lost
He knew he would see his wife in the afterlife
So he knew did the only thing he knew how to
Which was to write his heart out
To spill love all over the pages
And became the best selling author of his time
Sharing his writing for the whole world to see
That true love never dies it only grows
Entry #3
I remember the motions quite distinctly. It has been nearly four summers and still, it is still fresh on my mind. The first night was the longest. The doctor carefully instructed me to insert the needle into the fat of my abdomen, press the plunger and inject the much needed drugs. My hands shook furiously, as I pushed the thin, long needle into my own side. I couldn’t help the tears that breached my lids, as I injected my first dose. The woman nodded approvingly, reminding me that I would only need to do this for 28 more weeks. When I got home, a rift to hell had opened in my head and I felt the crushing weight of exhaustion. I don’t even remember how I made it to the bathroom; I just remember waking up on the bathroom floor. A thin layer of sweat beaded my face and there was vomit next to me. I tried to get up, retching into the toilet, barely missing the seat and my own lap. After a few moments, I managed to compose myself, cautiously cleaning my own mess up. It took me fifteen minutes just to make it to chair. I lay there, all night, feeling such overwhelming pity and self-hatred. The chair cradled me as I cried, on and off, wishing for an end. But I was thankful my family wasn’t home. I didn’t want anyone to see me like that.
It broke me. The dread overtook me entirely. Life had made me her bitch. I never imagined I would make it. Every day it just seemed to get worse, as my hair fell out in clumps and my body wasted away before my eyes. By the fourth month, I was so thin and weak. The drugs were working. But the skin on my belly had become taut, sore and it grew harder to inject myself. Little bumps had formed around my navel. The spots itched furiously and ached with each passing day. The pills were too much. The thin, gel capsules would break in my throat, as it closed up. My body had learned to reject everything. I remember even once, forcing vomit with pills back down my own throat, because if I missed another dose it was over.
And then it was over. December 24th I injected myself one more time and that was it. I was so lost at the end. I felt like I had disappeared. The day after, I woke up and it was really over. My husband grabbed my face that morning, kissing me repeatedly, telling me it was over and I had survived. I had waited six months for the end. The relief I felt in my heart was profound.
