The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Games We Play
by Angela Yuriko Smith

The pieces gleam in the moonlight, each figure holding the weight of battle, and the potential for blood. I sit across from you, silent, and slide my first pawn forward. A simple step, you take it, a minor sacrifice of minor flesh. Still, the loss stings and the air grows thick, suffocating me with tension as pieces leap, slide, and march with iron resolve. With each piece I lose, a finger or limb is claimed by you in the name of the game, house rules, you said, the sharp pain a reminder of the stakes. The queen falls, and so does my arm. You corner my king. My hand trembles, or what’s left of it, as I wait for the final blow. The king topples, and with it, sealed is my fate.

Empty sleeves
hang like forgotten flags—
checkmate in silence.

.

Fiction © Copyright Angela Yuriko Smith
Image courtesy of Pexels.com.

More from Angela Yuriko Smith:

Angela Yuriko Smith is a third-generation Ryukyuan-American, award-winning poet, author, and publisher with 20+ years in newspapers. Publisher of Space and Time magazine (est. 1966), two-time Bram Stoker Awards® Winner, and HWA Mentor of the Year, she shares Authortunities, a free weekly calendar of author opportunities at authortunities.substack.com.