The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Anticipation  
by Rie Sheridan Rose 

I saw her again last night. Standing in the shadows. Motionless. Silent.

Only, there was no one there.

It’s not the first time I’ve seen this…shadow someone. She’s been there at the edge of my life since I was a child. I used to fear her. I’d have nightmares for a week after she appeared.

But, as I grew older, I got used to her presence. She’s become familiar. When I see her, I know I need to be on the lookout. Something is coming. Sometimes, it’s a good thing—like my letter of acceptance from Duke. Sometimes, it’s a bad thing—like the accident than killed my mother.

People scoff, but all I know is that something momentous is going to happen within twenty-four hours of a sighting. It always has.

So, today, something is coming. The last four times she’s shown up, something good happened—Nick’s proposal; Caroline’s birth; tenure; selling my novel. Beneficence incarnate. Makes me feel like I am overdue for disaster.

Nothing has happened so far. And it’s almost midnight. Nick thinks I’m crazy. That it’s all in my head.

I think it’s time.

I always knew it would come to this. That someday she’d expect me to repay her largess.

I’m going for a walk. I don’t expect to return. I can feel her waiting—wanting—anticipating.

Tonight, we become one.

Fiction © Copyright Rie Sheridan Rose
Image courtesy of Rie Sheridan Rose.

More from Author Rie Sheridan Rose:

Overheard in Hell:
Dark Poetry

Poems exploring hell and damnation. Tales of sorrow, vengeance, betrayal, and redemption. Ghosts, ghouls, and demons stalk these pages. Don’t read in a lonely house…in a darkened room by a single candle…

…unless you like the touch of an icy finger up your spine.

Available on Amazon!