The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Perspective 
by Kendra Smart  

It was the same routine day in and day out. Wake up, shower, dress, get in the car, go to work, come home, sleep. Repeat. Even on his days off Darryl Casey had a routine, all the same steps, add time for a bagel and large coffee, black. His closet was filled with the same style of shirts, just three colors. Three pairs of jeans, ironed and hung, sat over his two pairs of shoes, tennis and boots. On his feet for the day were his slippers, lovingly given by his sister this past Christmas.  Sally had always been his Keeper, even when they were kids, she had watched over him never minding the ten year age gap.

Sally was the one Darryl had called when he had needed comfort after his first divorce and the loss of his only child. She had been his rock through the roughness. But even with Sally’s guidance, the routine came into being. He still rose every day and kept his routine because he had a small fear that if he changed one step that everything would change. That he wouldn’t hold those loved memories as deep. That he would allow time to heal him, and he didn’t want to be saved, he wanted to feel this pain. It fueled him.

Darryl Casey never had wanted a marriage, even in his teens, love had been nothing more than a concept, an idea with no weight. A dream within a dream, that the waking world never carried over to the harshness of his mind. He knew what was expected and could convey the message but the depth was never there and while that served him well in the military, in a marriage it was a death notice. The loss of their child had only driven the final nail in his and Marnie’s coffin.

Marnie went on to remarry and seemed happy now, even had a few more kids. But Darryl never again wanted to feel that loss, the loss of a child,  so he kept to himself. His heart was content with books and radio, animals and honing his various crafts. His attention to detail and sniper training held his skill set high compared to the average sir or ma’am. He was hyper aware and missed no details. The streetlight flickered on precisely at 9:05 p.m., full light achieved at 9:07 p.m., and the three cars awaited him just right up the walk.

One was his, a little old school SUV, he loved it and so he took great care in maintenance these last twenty-seven years. She still started like day one. Day one was very important, the day of great love and great loss. The accident of a naive babysitter and bad decisions of a teenage mind that led to rough pathways of a haunted adulthood. Darryl could relate, for his adult life had been haunted too.

The how’s and why’s of this night wouldn’t really matter much to anyone after this but his life was changing tonight, for better or worse. He had aligned his entire life so that he could watch her, plot her movements that he would mimic from a distance. He had become his enemy, down to her OCD schedule. Twenty seven years of his life had led to this moment. He had sacrificed it all for one taste of pain. That would be his mantle, in order to become at peace with his demons, he had invited them to a tango. Melded with them until the demons no longer knew they were in the presence of a mortal, of a man. He was right at home as the woman walked to her car for the last time. After tonight her haunting would end, and his demons might feel a bit quieter.  It was time for a little taste of the grave…

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Fiction © Copyright Kendra Smart
Image Copyright Rie Sheridan Rose

More from author Kendra Smart:

Just Emotions:
A Gothic Bite Magazine Anthology

A collection of poetry.

‘Just Emotions‘ is exactly as it states, a group of writers who had feelings they wanted to express in poem form. Inside, there are a range of emotions to explore. Each writer has given a bit of themselves to you, each in their own way.

We hope that you enjoy these writings and that among the poems you may find some thing you can identify with or relate to. Thank you for giving us this chance to open the catacombs and share with you.

Available on Amazon!