The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Beyond Arms’ Reach 
by Lee Mitchell  

There was once a little alien girl

who took a wrong turn at Albuquerque

and was born a human. But she had no idea,

so she floundered and fell into her head

because she didn’t understand the local language.

She tried being a copy-cat,

practicing their words and pleasantries:

The way real humans say, “How are you?”

when they mean, “Let’s make small talk.”

Or the way they squint their eyes

just a little when they smile.

Or the way real humans join leagues and clubs

or imprint on sports teams, tribes of strangers,

celebrating other strangers’ victories,

while forsaking others far closer to home.

Or the way some of them

trample and pummel the earth’s tiny blessings,

and do so with pride.

.

But whom to copy?

She picked the ones

who looked the most confident,

the ones with the biggest smiles.

But that was wrong, sometimes, too.

The mistake was easy to make,

and each set her a little further apart

from all the real humans.

The masquerade eroded her soul.

And she wasn’t fooling anyone, anyway.

So she fell deeper inside her head

because she knew she wasn’t a real human,

and everyone else knew it, too.

.

No matter how hard she tried,

she only proved, more and more,

that she was an alien,

and the real humans felt it important,

vitally important,

at nearly every possible turn,

to make it

painfully

clear

that because she didn’t belong,

she

would

never

be

allowed

to

enjoy

any

of

this

world’s

treasures.

.

Fiction © Copyright Lee Mitchell.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Author Lee Mitchell:

Alisha Brown led a mundane life until the day monsters started trying to kill her and random strangers began to shy away from her in awe.

All hell broke loose, quite literally, after Randy Thomas turned right on Main for Honey’s instead of making a left for home and then murdered his beloved wife in an unusually gruesome way. Escaping police and stopping traffic in New York City with a gas-spewing tentacle erupting from his mouth, his fears are confirmed: That one small backslide would serve as the final tipping point for all mankind, inviting in a timeless destructive force that would lead him to the frontlines of the war to end all wars.

A growing population has succumbed to their worst fears, some transforming into dreaded fictional monsters—leaving the streets flooded with vampires, werewolves, spontaneously combusting humans, and other horrors—while others have become angels and demons determined to fight in the holy war they believe is upon them.

Questions soon arise as Randy’s and Alisha’s roles in this bizarre apocalypse become uncertain. One is a professed sinner, the other an asexual virgin. Each has been touched by the hand of fate, and each believes they are humanity’s last hope. But belief can be a funny thing…

The Divine Darkness is the first installment of The Divine Darkness apocalyptic horror trilogy.

Available on Amazon!