All caught up with NaNo (for the moment) so I’m venturing into flashfiction. Flashfiction is easier, let me tell you. Get an idea, write it, edit it to the depths of its core. And you may just have something beautiful. A novel? All of that need to write extra words? 😉  I’ll make a good novel yet…and maybe even a brilliant flash. You never know. Cheers! This is written for Carrot Ranch.

Darkest Before Dawn by Sascha Darlington

Harrowing words split midnight, my parents dissolving.

The next morning, bleary-eyed, I arrived at the breakfast table to witness their ultimatum. Shredded pictures of not only them as a couple, but us as a family strewn across the oak table, on the vinyl, like crumbs of discarded bread.

I was sixteen. By then I’d witnessed relationship suicide for fourteen years, but I strived to separate it from my younger siblings.

Mom sauntered into the kitchen, smiling. “Pancakes, honey?”

My gaze moved from the fragments before me to her. She noticed my gaze, shrugged. “No worries. We’re fine. Just fine.”

end