The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Petal, Page, Piel
by Sonora Taylor
Petal, page, piel. Petal, page, piel. Hanna sang the words to herself as she glued the pages of her book together. This book would be her finest yet, one filled with her fondest memories of Seth.
Petal, page piel. Petal, page, piel. A vase of wilted roses sat near her materials. Each flower was a gift from Seth, each page a transcript of the loving words he’d said to her. A book of love notes that would hold his words forever, even though he stopped saying them to her long ago.
Hanna sighed a little as she capped her pen, then turned the page. The book crackled like creaking bones beneath skin. Hanna remembered how books of old were made from skin, both animal and human.
Skin. Such a blunt word, one that pierced the tongue like a shard. Hanna much preferred the Spanish word, piel. It sounded like peel. To peel away skin sounded so much nicer than to skin someone to the bone. She loved the way Seth’s skin had looked between her fingertips. She loved it now as she caressed the pages of his skin inside her book, sheets she’d filled with all his lovely words.
Hanna placed a rose from Seth between the crease and shut the book to flatten it. Seth’s gifts, words, and body would be forever hers. Petal, page, piel. Petal, page, piel.
Fiction © Copyright Sonora Taylor
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from Sonora Taylor:
Without Condition
Cara Vineyard lives a quiet life in rural North Carolina. She works for an emerging brewery, drives her truck late at night, and lives with her mother on a former pumpkin farm. Her mother is proud of her and keeps a wall displaying all of Cara’s accomplishments.
Cara isn’t so much proud as she is bored. She’s revitalized when she meets Jackson Price, a pharmacist in Raleigh. Every day they spend together, she falls for him a little more — which in turn makes her life more complicated. When Cara goes on her late-night drives, she often picks up men. Those men tend to die. And when Cara comes back to the farm, she brings a memento for her mother to add to her wall of accomplishments.
Cara’s mother loves her no matter what. But she doesn’t know if Jackson will feel the same — and she doesn’t want to find out.
Spreading the Writer's Word 
A horrific story but a great one.
Reblogged this on Sonora Taylor and commented:
I have a new piece on Spreading the Writer’s Word for the May edition of the flash picture prompt challenge! Check out “Petal, Page, Piel,” a dark tale about keeping the memory of loved ones in books. Thanks for reading!