The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

We Flew Kites Once 
by Erin Sweet Al-Mehairi 

Everything is gray now, the weather sultry with a slight ocean breeze. We spend our time in the sand dunes, in the meadows, listening to the grasses sashay on the wind.

We were more carefree once, before they came, before our world changed, when now we are on high alert. We used to fly kites, trees our only obstacle, running and laughing, falling on our backs and counting the cloud animals.

We were knee deep in reeds and wildflowers, picking them for our hair. Listening to each bird song on summer days; feeling life was full of hope and happiness and picnics.

It was decadent once, snug in our little joy cocoons. But now we have to watch for the creatures who creep behind the forest soldiers of evergreens. They’re fast as lightning, and most of us cannot escape.

We run not of pleasure anymore, but of terror and fear and entrapment. We run only with hope of survival. No more kites fill our days.

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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.