The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Morning Coffee
by Nina D’Arcangela

She was always one for long walks. She’d wake before me each morning, head down to greet the day no matter the weather. It was 196 steps from our loft to the huge metal door that barred us from the world. I could spend my life shut away, but not her. She needed the outside. Needed the ground beneath her feet, to feel the wind’s ferocious roar, watch the waves crash in chaotic rhythm against the rocks. I watched her many mornings through the glass of the now-defunct lantern room. She’d return from her two-hour long walk and sit on the rocks thinking whatever her thoughts brought that day. She’d come in shivering, say the spray added a freshness to her hair she couldn’t live without. As much as I loved her, I always caught a hint of wet dog when she returned wearing that damp woolen coat she loved so much.

196 steps – that’s a long way down. To be honest, the steps made me nervous and the clang of them shot vibrations through my heart every time she walked up or down; I swore they’d be the death of me.  

Winter had just given way to a damp and miserable Spring. I was up earlier than usual that morning – the morning it all happened. Having brewed a pot of coffee, I was curled up in a chair gazing out the lantern room windows when I saw her return. It felt a little creepy watching her private moments, but it also felt warm and comforting, like a secret we shared, though only I knew about it.

I watched as she knelt for a moment, dug around in her coat, then took it off and laid it on the rocks. As I continued to watch, she dropped a foot into a tiny crevasse and began to descend. Putting my coffee down, I leaned forward, hands pressed to the glass. She must have dropped something and was looking for it, sparing her coat the soaking it would surely get if she left it on. But as she neared a twist, she turned and glanced up at me. Then she did the oddest thing, she waved. I was shocked, a huge smile lit my face and I began to wave back, but she couldn’t see it, she was waving to the lighthouse. Palms pressed against the window again, I tried to keep her in sight, the ridiculous grin fading. A few heartbeats passed, it felt like hours, her blonde hair just visible between the massive boulders. Then nothing. I stared, dull of mind, not able to comprehend what had just happened. Then I knew… or rather, saw.

A huge wave breached the break, and there amongst the receding water was her limp body being dragged back to the sea, only to be battered against the rocks by the in-rushing tide again and again.

I screamed, knocked both the coffee and the table it was resting on over in my haste to make it back down to the loft. Not stopping, I cleared the space in a blink, threw the door open and began running down the metal treads barefoot.

I flew down the stairs, clanging and banging the entire way. 172 steps down, I slipped. I tried to grab the railing, but luck was not on my side. My tumble stopped three steps short of the bottom. I stood to continue, but my legs wouldn’t support me.

One sob, that’s all I got. One truly unjust sob before my head hit the concrete floor and my skull cracked open.

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Fiction © Copyright Nina D’Arcangela
Image courtesy of Pixabay

More from Nina D’Arcangela:

Mental Ward: EXPERIMENTS

A dank basement, shadow filled hallways, the deep echo of a metal latch being thrown while faint screams are heard… These are the things you might experience in a place where the unspeakable happens, where conscientious action and moral turpitude turn a blind eye in the interest of advancing one’s own personal pursuits in the most deranged and unjustifiable manner. The type of place where power corrupts, and depravity runs rampant among those imbued with it. A place where the unfortunate are abandoned to the devices of those who convince themselves their actions are in the best interest of science.

Mental Ward: Experiments is a collection of ten short stories that demonstrate the worst of humanity’s ambition in the interest of ‘civilized’ advancement. Step into a world where sanity is left behind, and horror is what the doctor ordered!

Available on Amazon!