The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Petrified by Death
by Nadia Corin

Through all the lonely nights Alice suffered, the sharp cold of solitude kept her solidified in mourning. Edgar had been laid to rest nearly a year, but still she could not bear the light of day. She drew all the shades, and remained in parts of the house where there were the fewest windows. Eventually she made a little home in the cellar, keeping company all the wines that would never be tasted. Edgar had loved them so…

Occasionally she heard the door knocker bang repeatedly. Visitors were unwelcome, and she treated them as such. She remained in her little hole, refusing to see another face. She wanted only her deceased husband, but unfortunately death had done them part.

She kept a single candle lit; enough to see by, but still be surrounded by shadow. She stayed there beyond her perception of time—it ticked on without her. She remained in the shell she’d created, perhaps too long. She got used to the cobwebs, and ultimately their eight-legged creators. Her stomach no longer yearned for sustenance, her lips unbothered by their dryness.

Her soul hardened over time, and as she stayed there, unwilling to rejoin the world, eventually her body did as well. The silence of grief kept her still, and still she would remain eternal.

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Fiction © Copyright Nadia Corin
Image courtesy of Pixabay