The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Keep Your Hands To Yourself
by Melissa R. Mendelson 

A little girl stood beside her mother, who picked through fruits and vegetables at the local farmer’s market.  She twirled around and around, enjoying the sunlight, trying to catch it with her hands.  She looked up into the bright blue sky with soft, little clouds and glanced at her mother, and she blew a strand of brown hair off her face.  She took a step away to see if her mother noticed, and she didn’t.  She moved further away.

The farmer’s market was small, several booths close together.  The little girl glanced at her mother and then peeked into each booth that she passed.  She kicked at the ground with her small, brown shoes, and she watched a car drive by.  She spun around again, ready to return to her mother when she noticed a man putting white paint against a red brick wall, covering something up that she guessed wasn’t supposed to be there.

She stood behind the man as he continued to coat the brick wall in white, and she listened to him mutter under his breath.  She smiled as he moved away to get more paint, and she glanced at the fresh white in front of her.  She quickly placed her hand in the paint and then hurried away.

She returned to her mother, who was paying for a bag of fruits, fruits that she wanted no part of.  Her mother glanced down at her and smiled, and she returned her mother’s smile.  But her mother’s smile disappeared as she noticed the white paint on the little girl’s hand.

“What is that?  What do you have on your hand?”  Her mother grabbed her by the arm, forcing the little girl to show her.  “Is that paint?”  Her mother looked around and noticed the man that was painting the red brick wall was now talking to a law enforcement agent.  “Come on.  We’re leaving.  Now.”

The little girl was dragged away by her mother, but then she heard someone say, “Stop.  Stop, or I’ll shoot.”

Her mother stopped in her tracks, glaring down at the little girl.

The law enforcement agent approached them, his hand on his holster.

“Would you really shoot me?”  The little girl asked.

The law enforcement agent grabbed her hand and looked at the white paint.  “You know the law.”  He glared at her mother, still holding on to the little girl.  “Hands.  Handprints are illegal.  We are entrusted to his hands and his hands only.”

“I know that, sir, but I didn’t know what she was doing.”

“Because you weren’t watching her,” an older woman said from nearby.

“You know the law,” the law enforcement agent said.  “She’s a minor, and you’re her parent.”  A white box appeared in his hands.  “She used which hand?”  He glanced at the little girl’s hand.  “Left.  Your left hand.”

“Can we talk about this?”

The little girl flinched at her mother’s voice; how bad it was shaking.

“She’s just a child.”

The law enforcement agent grabbed her mother, forcing her left hand into the white box.

The little girl watched the bag of fruits fall to the ground, apples and oranges spilling out everywhere.

Her mother screamed as the white box turned orange.

The law enforcement agent released her hand and moved away.  “Next time, watch your kid.”  He glanced at the man near the red brick wall with a white paintbrush in his hand.  “Cover that up.”  He stormed away.

The little girl knelt down and picked up the fruits, placing them back in the bag.  She glanced over at the small handprint pressed into the white paint on the red brick wall and shook her head.  It was a stupid thing for her to do.  She flinched as her mother hung her hand in front of her face, forcing her to touch the dead flesh that was left on her mother’s hand.

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Fiction © Copyright Melissa R. Mendelson
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com.

About Author Melissa R. Mendelson:

Melissa R. Mendelson is the author of the Sci-Fi Novella, Waken.  She also has a prose poetry collection called, This Will Remain With Us published by Wild Ink Publishing.  Her short story collections, Better Off Here and Name’s Keeper can be found on Amazon/Amazon Kindle.

If you’d like to learn more about Melissa, you can visit her accounts here: www.MelissaMendelson.com