PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
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Objects and How They Appear
My stomach roils when I comprehend the mirror.
He’ll blame me regardless of facts.
I rap my knuckles against my cheeks.
The repair is going to cost more than the permitted $50 I have in my wallet; he’ll know if I use a credit card. He’ll demand answers and then he’ll blame me.
“Lady, you okay?” a passerby asks.
I bite my lip and nod before squeezing my eyes closed, wishing the damage would simply vanish.
“Damn, someone took your mirror out,” he says. “But it won’t be much to fix. Just a mirror. Not the end of the world.”
end 5/12/2017
Sascha Darlington
Categories: Flash Fiction, FRIDAY FICTIONEERS
What a astounding summary of how differently things can be perceived!!!
Thank you! 🙂
Dismal. 🙁
🙁 (Maybe I’ll try a happier mirror breaking later)
The smashed mirror stands, cleverly, for so much else here. A portait of a relationship in a repair bill. I loved the title too
Thank you, Neil! I was trying to play with that title–you always seem to get these things. 🙂
Very dark story, her angst drew me in.
Thank you. I appreciate your reading. 🙂
I echo Neil. Very clever writing. Lovely.
Thank you so much! 🙂
I love the balance and counterbalance in this story. I almost feel like all will go well ~ if “he” isn’t a total creep.
Thank you. I’m afraid the “he” is a controlling abusive creep. 🙁
An enjoyable read, Sascha <3 . Wish I could say the photo isn't all too familiar. It took me a long, long time to ask the question What *really* matters? Watching children take the leftovers from my plate every day at a São Paulo cafeteria was part of the process.
Thank you, Steve. I think there are little nudges everyday from the world around us if we’re open to it. If not, I think/hope time widens the mind. To priorities that is, and perhaps other things equally important. 🙂
[More than her permitted allowance] that hit home. At the last line I was half expecting her car to be magically repaired. Instead you cleverly allow the reader to see differing responses to a minor incident
Thank you, Michael. I had one word left and “permitted” it was. I very much appreciate your reading. 🙂
I agree with Neil. You told us everything about the relationship in this brief passage. If I were her, I wouldn’t want to go home either.
Thank you! 🙂 Now if she were only brave enough not to.
Poor woman! Only a mirror to the passerby, but so much more to her. Very well written.
Thank you very much, Clare! 🙂
Perceptions are truly personal, aren’t they? This was a really well told story of what’s really going on.
Thank you, Dale. Our views are constantly molded differently by our experiences, yes! 🙂
Without a doubt!
Dear Sascha,
You’ve layered so much story between the lines. Wonderful title. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thank you so much, Rochelle! Happy Mother’s Day to you. 🙂
The very definition of being imprisoned in an abusive relationship. good writing
Thank you so much! 🙂
It would be terrible to fear someone in your own household. In this case, her fear seemed to be stronger than the reality but it must have been based on previous experiences. Good writing, Sascha.
I’m guessing – from your slipping in that she’s only allowed $50 in her purse – that this man is a terrible control freak and is going to be awful to her when he finds out about the mirror. Horrible to live in fear like that. Hoping she finds a way to fix the mirror – and then leaves him far behind. Great tale
Thank you so much, Lynn! 🙂
My pleasure 🙂