The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
The Children’s Hour
by Marge Simon
“You’ve a whole life ahead of you.” That’s what Grandma said at my birthday party this year. That was before she got sick. She was sitting in her rocker, drinking a little glass of Daddy’s Jack. She gave me a ten dollar bill, but Momma wouldn’t let me spend it, so it’s in the bank.
It’s for college, Momma says.
That was back in February. Lots has happened since then. Now we talk about the good things, like Cinderella stories and stuff. It’s Sissie’s need, not mine, and she keeps squeezing my hand.
This morning, Momma went out for food. She came back looking so strange. Now her face is gray, and there’s blood all around her mouth. She pounds on our door, but we can’t let her in. Sissie won’t stop crying, Dad’s gone, we don’t know where. Maybe he’ll be home tomorrow, but Sissie doesn’t think so.
It was so dark last night, we couldn’t see the moon.
Fiction © Copyright Marge Simon
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from Marge Simon:
Cast from Darkness
by
Cast from Darkness is another triumphant collaboration between award-winning Speculative poets, Marge Simon and Mary Turzillo.
The poetry includes themes running the spectrum of the speculative genres and forms ranging from the haiku through many nuances of vere libre to the prose poem.
