Recluse

The light came again, shrinking my circle of sanctuary. I shut my sun-scorched eyes and pressed my limbs into the safety of roots and earth, their presence steadying me.

You knew it would come again, and you know it will go again too, I whispered to myself, letting the pain ease before I opened my eyes again.

The light was still there, dimmer than it had been when I was pulled from my dark and tossed among these roots.


“You won’t last,” I hissed. “Night will come. I’ll see without pain, find better shelter and good hunting then. I’ll wait.”


Clouds Above the Trees, photo by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields


This bit of flash fiction was inspired by the photo prompt given at Friday Fictioneers

46 comments:

  1. Interesting take on the prompt, some sort of vampire perhaps? Well written.

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  2. I want to know who she is. And more than that, I want to know who the tossers are... Because I suspect that when night comes, they will be sorry... really, really sorry. She is so pissed off.

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    1. Oh she has all day to condense her anger into something quite poisonous.

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  3. Wow! Wonderful drift in imagination with hope

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  4. This sounds like someone looking for his precious... to be nocturnal can be both strength and weakness

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  5. Replies
    1. Thanks! It's not easy to get there in 100 words.

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  6. A creature of the night and a predator to boot. Nice story!

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    Replies
    1. I wanted to go in a slightly different direction with the prompt's imagery. :D

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  7. For whatever reason, this made me think of February 2nd's groundhog.

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    1. I imagine the groundhog would be pretty irate at getting pulled out of its home for the amusement of human beings with access to perfectly good weather satellites.

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  8. A nocturnal creature and hunter. I like that.

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    Replies
    1. It was a different way to approach the prompt. I sometimes like being a bit odd.

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  9. Intriguing excerpt from a longer story. There's a lot of backstory here waiting to unfold.

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  10. a creature of the night ready to be unleashed. i shudder at the thought.

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  11. Very intriguing. I guess someone destroyed the protagonist's nest/shelter and now s/he'll have her revenge. I also thought Vampire until I saw your choice of music. :)

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    1. LOL...I wondered how many people would pick up on that! This was partially inspired by true events of finding a ginormous spider in my basement and hurrying to get her outside before my arachnophobia daughter saw her. When I realized I had tossed something that clearly preferred the dark out into bright sunlight, I felt bad for the spider. I should have at least been kind enough to put her under the shade of a porch.

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  12. Loved this. Reminds me of Owl, caught off guard by sudden daylight.

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    Replies
    1. Once dark comes, she'll have the advantage again.

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  13. Lovely, dark world she dwells in, a world she loves and is comfortable in. Not everyone is compfortable in the light. Great tale

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  14. Hm, interesting and mysterious. Great sense of the creature waiting it out until the coast is clear and they are strong and in their element again.

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  15. Wonderful crafting of words.

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  16. Sun does not suit all. Nicely crafted.

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  17. These leaves me with so many questions! Nicely done.

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    Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo
    News? I've been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!
    Cheers

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  19. Hi there! This article couldn't be written any better!
    Reading through this article reminds me of my previous roommate!
    He always kept preaching about this. I'll forward this
    post to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

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  20. I could not refrain from commenting. Well written!

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  21. It is common for the foxes to exist in a group called a leash or a skulk, consisting of males, females and kits.
    The kits become independent by fall and generally have a life span of three to
    six years.

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