The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

His Only Son
by Alina Măciucă

“I’m doing it for her mother,
 And for our only son.”

They were all starved,
And the god was ravenous, too.

He touched his daughter’s cheek
With his lips, briefly, fleetingly,
Almost in a kiss.

“Rain. Bring Rain.”

Crickets chanted to the beat
Of his heart,
On his way back home.

***

“We could sell some of our grain.
Summer’s stil draughty down south.”

She poured her man a pint of beer;
Their only son ate his home-made
Hamburger
With his elbows on the table.

Their daughter,
Shiny and chubby and happy, peered
From a photo glued to the fridge door. 

***

“I’m doing the right thing,
And she knows it.”

The god never bothered
To pass judgement.

“Rain. Bring Rain.”

He squeezed her hand,
He was almost compassionate.

But the god didn’t even
Wait for the farmer to leave. 

“Our son will get out
Of this place.
Our only son.”

***

“Don’t you miss mum?”
Asked their only son.

“I do.” The farmer kept walking.

“It’s just the two of us now.”

“It is.” The farmer knelt before
A monolith which cast no shadow.

“My son. My only son.”

The god crept out and withered
The farmer as the sun withered
Their wheat.

And then the god, fat as a tick,
Crept into his son, his only son,
And took the road down south.

Fiction © Copyright Alina Măciucă
Image courtesy of  Pixabay.com

More about Alina Măciucă:

Alina Măciucă enjoys reading, writing, buying odd trinkets, and taking photos of beautifully decaying buildings. She has formally studied religion and hermeneutics at the University of Bucharest, and really has a thing for the Greco-Roman mysteries and Gnosticism, as well as for Renaissance magic. She lives in Bucharest with her very supportive boyfriend, their two cats, and an ever-expanding vinyl and book collection.