She spread them out in front of him so he could see. One by
one, she explained each’s story.
“This last,” she said, holding a stone so red it was almost
black, “appeared when I made a home for the darkness.” She blinked, looking
away from him.
“Beautiful,” he responded, placing his hand over hers.
Song Choice: Strong Enough by Cheryl Crowe, acoustic version
This bit of flash fiction was created for Verse Escape's Friday 55
There is a skillful ambiguity at play here--not just about the characters, or the magic or the stones, but about which emotion is being displayed, about the nature of darkness itself, about compassion, self-knowledge and love...flash fiction is in my opinion the very hardest thing to write--you do a master's job with it here, Rommy. I'm so glad you joined us.
ReplyDeleteI am seriously honored by your words. I feel like there are so many ways I could go with this if I wanted to build on it, but for right now I'm delighted I got down what I wanted to say in the word limit.
DeleteI have to agree with Joy, you have written a complete story arc in 55 words. Well done indeed. If I could I would swallow that stone so red it is nearly black and take a trip to all the worlds dungeons of foul to crush them in their own darkness.
ReplyDeleteI am so pleased that my short fiction made such an impact.
DeleteI have to echo what has been said about how well you've used ambiguity on this story. The fact that we don't know a thing about any of the stones, or what she will do with them, opens a universe of possibility. And if we start wondering about what she'll do with them, that universe grows and grows and grows...
ReplyDeleteThis is you, my Rommy.
Yeah, there are a lot of ways I can go with this. I think I'll let it percolate a bit and see what I want to do with it before going on.
DeleteI, too, enjoy the ambiguity! i can see that this could blossom into something larger, as well! She made a home for the darkness...brave or desperate?
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent question Sharon. I think I have an idea of which it may be, but I'll know more when I write. :D
DeleteThis leaves me to imagine what and why of the stones. I love the idea for finding a home for your darkness.
ReplyDeleteWhen I created the story, there were certain ideas that suggested themselves to me, but I will need to play with it more to really draw the potential of those gems out.
DeleteAh, we both wrote about darkness and light. This makes me think of the Jungian light/dark personality stuff, but really there are so many directions one can take this.
ReplyDeleteA Jungian interpretation might not be too far off, but I'm still playing with ideas.
DeleteI gave my wive a ruby engagement ring. Darkness was transformed to light when I told her it was my heart.
ReplyDeleteThat is a lovely story. <3 Thank you for sharing it.
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