The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Tear Drinkers  
by Alex Grehy

They meant well, the empaths, bowed under 

the weight of the world’s distress, their gaze

forced to the ground where the bliss of butterflies

grazing in flower-filled meadows, touched their 

imaginations, beautiful metaphors of transformation 

and mindfulness, focused only on harvesting the

sweetness of nectar and sunshine.

.

It was a small step of selective breeding that gave

the gift of peace to the world. Iridescent butterflies,

wings blue as the summer sky, edged with the comfort 

of midnight and its welcome sleep. Light and gentle, they

drank the bitterness of our tears, harvesting our pain,

absorbing our troubled feelings. We wept and they eased

our heartache; how we welcomed them.

.

They were natural creatures, with all the imperatives of life,

to thrive, to evolve. They drank our anguish until we lived

in ecstasy, the heartbreak of the past a distant nightmare.

The adult butterflies, grown so strong on the nectar of our

tears watched despairing as their young ones starved,

there was no sustenance in our joy. 

.

The imperatives of life – to evolve, to protect, to survive.

We bred them to harvest our pain, they evolved to cultivate it.

The butterflies lay their eggs of doubt and mistrust in our skins; 

we scratch until we bleed, we weep in agony, the young ones 

drink our tears, how we welcome them.

.

Fiction © Copyright Alex Grehy
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from author Alex Grehy:

Spread: Tales of Deadly Flora

Green Thumbs Beware!

Plants are beautiful, peaceful, abundant, and life-sustaining…

But what if something sinister took root in the soil, awakening to unleash slashing thorns, squeezing vines, or haunting greenery that lured you in? Perhaps blooms on distant planets could claim your heart, hitch a ride to Earth on a meteor, or simply poison you with their essence. Imagine a world where scientists produced our own demise in a lab, set spores free to infect, even bred ferns to be our friends only to witness the privilege perverted. When faced with botanical terror, will humanity fight to survive, or will they curl and wither like leaves in the fall?

Read ten speculative tales ripe with dangerous flora to find out.

Available on Amazon!