The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

What If We Could Escape Ourself
by Melissa R. Mendelson

I could feel her stirring.  She was waking up, trying to push the layers away.  She did a great job wrapping herself up, and I did not intend to help her.  I drank half a bottle of wine just to quiet her, but she wanted out.  And my skin crawled as she struggled and screamed.

I turned my attention to the typewriter nearby.  My hands shook, but that was because of her.  But I was a lot stronger than she was.  My fingers met the keys, and I could feel her grip loosen.  I typed, trying to think of what to write, and she seized that moment to take control.  But then I thought of the girl in the coffee shop.  Blue hair.  Ripped jeans.  Dual sunglasses.  She had a story, one that I could walk through.  Again, her grip loosened, and I typed faster.

I thought of the girl, her character.  Who was she?  Who did she want to be?  I could hear her screaming in the back of my mind, slamming her hands hard against the invisible wall.  I merely smiled.  I felt the layers pull away, but not to let her out.  They wrapped around her instead, and the emotions pierced through her.  They ran through me, and I shivered in response.  I gasped as she fell away, but she surprised me, grabbing hold of one layer, using it as a lifeline.  She was strong, but I was stronger.

A hollow scream remained.  I fell back into my seat, soaked.  My fingers lifted up from the keys, and I looked at them as if I was seeing these hands for the first time.  My body felt new, light, and I moved away from the typewriter.  I grabbed the bottle of wine nearby and walked past a wall mirror.  I downed the bottle but then stopped.  I looked at my reflection and smiled, and the girl with blue hair, ripped jeans, and dual sunglasses smiled back at me.

Fiction © Copyright Melissa R. Mendelson
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Melissa R. Mendelson:

Name’s Keeper

I got a one-way ticket out of hell. All I need to do is drive across country with a body in the trunk and run miscellaneous errands, but a lot of those errands come with a heavy price. And if I lose the body in the trunk, then I have to go back, and I’ll be damned if I return down there. I will fight to stay here, even if there is no rest for those wicked.

Available on Amazon!