The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Ashes and Bone
by Faith Dincolo
Metal chairs stagger upon the curved cemetery mounds
that crest the tombstones long buried in dirt
and patchy grass that clumps needing aeration.
Miniature flags that have lost their waves mixed in
with faded plastic flowers .
.
There, standing in the middle of the dead and their ruins
stands a popup canvas cover over a burnished platinum
vase placed upon a wooden table. The crowd has yet to arrive.
One hollow man sits staring back at the ornate urn . It will be his bed for
eternity once it’s dropped into the concrete hole.
.
He sits alone as the living speak about his life. His hollow shell
figure bent in regret of bad decisions, nightly beer,
years of no vacations and a wife who never smiled.
The Doctor said, like he always said, that you’ve only
Got one life, spend it wisely.
.
He didn’t even recognize his own ashes, the scraps of his life.
Last time he really looked in the mirror he didn’t like
Who stared back at him, the father who missed every
One of his daughter’s games while he worked late at the office.
The need for a drink was gone now that his body was
.
As burnt as his soul felt.
.
Fiction © Copyright Faith Dincolo
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from Author Faith Dincolo:
Not Just a Pretty Face: Women of Horror Vol. 1
Enter the minds of these women in horror feel your way through the darkness and escape the terror if you can, but above all enjoy the fear. These women are not just a pretty face. Featuring, in order of appearance: Jo-Anne Russell, Caitlin Marceau, Joanna Parypinski, Joanna Koch, Abby Andresen, Valerie B. Williams, Morrison, Laura J. Hickman, Faith Dincolo, Kala Godin, Suzanne Madron, Hailey Piper, Sara C. Walker, Erin Shaw, Aubrey Campbell, Mei Kerr, RL Meza, Emma Johnson-Rivard, Naching T. Kassa, Hayley Wynne, Gemma Files and Alice Loweecey.
Spreading the Writer's Word 
An evocative story.