PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bulltot
Thanks to Rochelle for providing us with the prompt for Friday Fictioneers. If you’d like to join in, click here. To read more stories from the prompt, click here.
In Circles
“Tie her to the tree! The kudzu’ll cover her in minutes,” Tommy Armstrong said, laughing.
As I pass the Armstrong house, its fire-ravaged skeleton kudzu-covered, my friends’ voices echo as if moments, not years, ago.
“Kudzu’s not scary,” said Bryant, my champion until honor spurred him and my brother Austin to Afghanistan. Their voices haunt me still.
“Kudzu’s gonna get you,” Tommy says.
I turn toward the man I’d last seen at Austin’s funeral. While fire scarred him beyond skin deep, his smile remains, home.
“Done running away?”
I nod. “I wanted to escape memories, but what’s left without them?”
end 9/1/2017 (100 words)
Sascha Darlington
“I wanted to escape memories, but what’s left without them?”
I don’t know how to answer that question…. Left me thinking. Very different take and a poignant one.
Thank you. 🙂
I like the thought here. Yes without memory we have no story, and without a story we’re not human
Without story, or emotion, or sin.
Exactly. So often we want to forget….
Poignant tale Sascha.
Thank you, Iain! 🙂
Nice one, thought provoking and comment stirring.
Thank you, Kelvin! 🙂
It’s so sad when memories are all that is left behind . So beautifully written and so touching .
Thank you, Moon! 🙂
A poignant write Sascha – very well penned.
Thank you, Dahlia! 🙂
i have to agree, one needs memories to stir the story and live the life
Thanks, Dale.
Dear Sascha,
I loved the voices of the children in her head…the memories. You managed to say so much in so few words. I’m reminded of one of my favorite song lines “No matter what you do, you’ll never run away from you.” (‘Kicks’ by Paul Revere and the Raiders.)
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks, Rochelle. That’s a great line. It’s very true, despite the fact that sometimes we forget.
I love the surmise. Very thought provoking.
Thank you, Dawn
What an excellent story! You cover many years effortlessly, and a range of emotions from childish fears and taunting, through adolescent affection, to mature reflection; and you finish with a deep insight. And all in 100 beautifully fluent words. Wow!
Wow! Thank you so much, Penny!
I wonder… memories can pull us down as well… but maybe we need to kill those monsters…
Or find another way to deal with them so that we don’t lose who we are.
Thanks for reading! (I hit send too quickly! 🙂 )
This one required careful reading, putting all the pieces together. I love what you’ve done here.
Thank you so much! 🙂
Without memories, how could we learn? And losing them is one of the tragedies of dementia. Poignant tale, and the voices are great.
Very true! Thanks for reading!