The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Nights at the Red Dragon 
by Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi 

In the darkened Red Dragon filled with twinkling tea lights, she met
him, she became obsessed with him, she carved herself out to and for
him, while the red lanterns glowed.
.
Eating overflowing bowls of warm, oily, filling ramen served in the
Red Dragon, she listened to the sounds of the wok from the kitchen,
the hurried voices, in a place she wanted to belong but didn’t, wanted
to know, wanted to learn.
.
The Red Dragon was gold mist to her eyes,
.
comforting bubble tea on hot, summer nights, their conversations
ebbing into how she should be more, do better; she’s not good enough.
.
She clapped it down, inside her head, but never noisily to him, never
outward. She ate her favorite sweet rice pudding, and settled.
.
He was always late, each time they met, where had he been always
strolling in with tailored suit and shiny shoes and acting as if he
owned everything… including her.
.
What was her story? Did the Red Dragon care? She fell to the floor and
sifted through the gold dust shaken free from all the suited men. She
ate it with her hands, trying to be the golden child, the blessed
wearer of red, a lucky one.
.
The Red Dragon consumed her – her grief, her ambition, her passion,
her love. Her voice.
.
And he laughed above her, looking down.
.
She melted into a shiny pool of red lava, forever ensconced in flames.
Her essence
.
remaining in sadness, in regret, in resignation.

.

Fiction © Copyright Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi
Fiction Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More about Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi:

Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi is an author, editor, journalist, and publicist with thirty years of experience in communication fields and Bachelor of Arts degrees in English, Journalism, and History.

Breathe. Breathe. was her debut collection of dark poetry and short stories in 2017. She has poetry and short stories published in several anthologies and online, and was co-editor of a half-fiction, half-poetry Gothic anthology. She’s currently compiling and writing several poetry collections, an essay collection, a short story collection, and a novel.

She is a chronic pain warrior, the mother of three humans and several spoiled rescue cats, and while born in England, now lives in a forest in Ohio while managing her editing, writing, and PR business.

Find Erin at her website Hook of a Book or on most social media platforms.