Laura Howard: Behind The Curtain: The Trapeze Swing

10/13/12

Behind The Curtain: The Trapeze Swing



The twins are all eerie smiles,  pale hands, blonde hair. From my trapeze swing, I feel their gazes.

The only thing worse is the clawing, clawing, clawing on my legs, my ankles, my feet. Tearing through my stockings, sharp like razors.

Through my tears, I see them, the faces of demons and imps leering and sneering. Lips and teeth snapping and grazing, my vision is fading. Stinging, it's stinging but I must keep swinging.

The smoke smells sweet and rotten and cloying, I want to stop breathing, it's all overwhelming. Why do they watch me, why do they scratch me? I must keep swinging, not stopping, keep swinging.

It's kittens that scratch me, not imps, not demons. My legs are stinging, but I was wrong, it's only kittens.

My legs, my ankles, my feet are bleeding. I'm not swinging, I'm swaying. My thoughts are reeling.

The twins smile sweetly, hands pale, hair blonde. I'm not swinging, I'm swaying. Where's my swing? I'm resting.  On a cushion, hands folded, skirt pleated.

Still the smoke is sweet and rotten and cloying. Under the door it escapes, twirling and swirling, touching my nose in tendrils unfurling. 

The twins do not move, do not twitch, do not blink. The door opens and father tumbles and fumbles out with the smoke. The fellow who follows holds a pipe that is billowing. It's smell is sweet and rotten and cloying.
              
                  ****

This, my first piece of Flash Fiction, has been brought to you by The Dark Queene , Anna Meade. She waved her hawthorne wand and my mind became hazy. I signed up for this little contest, not truly to win it since the contenders are some of the sharpest scribes on the planet, but just to see what I could come up with.

Through the link below, you may visit the parties responsible for the heart-breakingly beautiful Flash Fiction I mentioned previously.

If you made it this far, thanks for checking it out, and have a fabulous weekend!

16 comments:

  1. Hauntingly beautiful my dear. Twins are always evil.

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  2. Holy gorgeousness, Laura! You're a poet!! I'm sooooo impressed. I LOVE it! :) :)

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  3. Wonderful, Laura!! I love the swinging, lyrical feel to the prose that reminds me of the picture. Beautifully done! : )

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  4. Laura you scare me! That is a compliment by the way as I don't scare easily. The flick-flack between real/unreal is masterful - well done. Can't believe this is your first go.

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  5. Fantastically lyrical piece of writing.

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  6. I didn't fully understand it but I fully agree with Sophie: wholly gorgeousness! You are a poet. This had such a lyrical, 'unfurling' cadence and the imagery was marvelous. I KNEW your entry would be wonderful!

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  7. I love your language in this; I agree that it's very poetic. I got a very real sense of being within this shifting hallucination. I think this is the first time i've read a piece of your fiction! It is wonderful! I'd like to read more!

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  8. Thanks everyone! Anna's Pinterest board made me think of Olde London and opium dens... and men who were so addicted that they brought their little daughters to get a quick fix... and what if the daughter inhaled some of the smoke....

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  9. I love the flow of this piece! Beautiful :)

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  10. I love how you've combined flow and fragmentation to let us live in her head - beautifully done!

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  11. So poetic! Lovely. :-)

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  12. This has a great feel to it... it's dreamlike and works on several different levels all at the same time. Very nice.

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  13. Very lyrical writing--I've not read any other entries with this flavor. You should write a collection of poems, they'd be fascinating to read.

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  14. The music of this is so lulling and mesmerizing. Thanks for entering, Laura!

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  15. Hauntingly beautiful with some fascinatingly lyrical prose. Great story!

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