The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

I Spy
by Ela Lourenco

Holding my breath as I tiptoe across the room, I make it to my usual spot without a sound. I know which path to take from the skylight to avoid the creaky loose floorboards – it has become second nature by now. Long months of patience, of waiting, watching, biding my time. Here, alone in the dark and dusty attic – pacing between four walls… something I had vowed never to experience again after three years locked in solitary… and yet this prison is by choice.

I silence my thoughts and snap out of my reverie as the front door shuts gently downstairs, quietly murmured instructions floating up to me, followed by the dull vibration of a car driving away. I peek through the gap between the beams as the teenage girl tucks the sweetest little cherub into bed. Too busy on her cell phone she barely even glances at the little one as she flicks the lights off and closes the door – no doubt impatient to get downstairs and call her equally vapid and self-absorbed friends for a late-night gossip.

Finally. Everything is in place. I have waited so long for everything to fall in place. I carefully ease the trapdoor to a side and glide down the ladder into her room. Her. My daughter. My flesh and blood. All auburn curls and soft cheeks. Taken from me unrightfully and given away to this family as though she were a mere possession to be passed around. Gently lifting my precious cargo, I inhale her sweet scent. Mommy is here dearest, and no one will ever part us again…

Fiction © Copyright Ela Lourenco
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Ela Lourenco:

Dragon Born: Book Three
Awakening

The Royal tournament, the Karnac, is fully underway. But there is deception and betrayal at every turn. Unseen dark forces are at play, both within the school grounds and out with. Even the Gods are unable to help when a new threat looms over them all.The very existence of Azmantium depends on Lara fully becoming the Child of Fire and casting aside the Shadows lurking in every corner of her beloved planet.Can she overcome the challenges that await? Will the Shadows cover the world in darkness? Only Lara and her friends can change the fate of Azmantium.

Available on Amazon!