The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

The Comfort of Nightmares
by Angela Yuriko Smith

When the dawn broke we let daydreams fall over our eyes too easily, our vision turned inward to hide from a reality that burned too bright, too harsh to behold. We remembered, imagined, how it used to be, the good old days when values still mattered. We ignored the empty farm fields splattered in blood and ash, the sullied skies shattered by metal birds that plummeted, feathered in fire. We pretended not to see when the rivers ran with blackened greed. We wished we could run like the rivers but we were too fat with fear. This was the dream we were sold, and when we saw its bloat in the light of day we closed our eyes tighter….

… but now dark falls and we take pills to let us sleep, riding the night mares and welcoming our old friends—once foes. The monsters are all we have left to guide us. They tell us it will be okay as they slice away our bits, our paper thin skin peeling away to reveal our red fright, white skin dropping to the floor while our lips turn blue. They nod approval when we bleed our patriotism, they rattle our chains and give us the freedom to suffer. Our tongues silenced, our wombs made into potholders and duty binding our eyes too tight for tears. Then an old woman speaks. She has been here before. She whispers the words of power that don’t require a tongue. She reminds us the power is within. She invokes… us.

Power in chaos—
Control cannibalizes.
Do not look away.

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Fiction © Copyright Angela Yuriko Smith
Image courtesy of Pixabay.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.