Monday, July 7, 2008

A Short

Sorry for delay in posting. I've been working on the book and doing research and not writing things ready to post here. I have been composing a post in my head about expectations from authors and how they can make subtle promises that piss the fuck outa the reader when they're not delivered. I'll get to that about mid week.

In the interim i reworked a short...very short story this morning. This was originally a piece of flash fiction but really required more than a 100 words to flesh it out. Since I'm one hellava wordy bitch these type of minimalist exercises are very good for me.

Tell me whatcha think, 'kay?
Oh and I'll be showing up here more and less in other places. I'm about to purchase my website, set that up, blah blah blah. Lots to do, so little time. Smooches to all of you that hang in there and keep popping by. xxx Kota

Hushabye baby

From the corner of her eye she could see the shadow of black branches lurking outside the window, scratching, begging to get in. What would to feel like to fall into the rough embrace of dead bark and broken limbs?

A small black spider scurried across the ceiling.

The chuffing noise and never-ending beeps that had so annoyed her initially now brought strange comfort. It was something to fill the emptiness. Days, weeks, months…time ate itself endlessly. She was reduced to nothing but repetition. She was nothing, but a pair of watery eyes fixed on the dusty, cracked ceiling and the edgy flirting of branches. She was nothing, but a pair of ears straining against the white hum of machinery and delicious scratching.

“I’m sorry darling, you just don’t know how to quit.” A voice rumbled in her ear, “I can’t live like this anymore. This is no life at all for me.”

Then, silence.
Nothing.

Except the sound of heavy breathing.... growing fainter and fainter.
She was falling.


Into the brittle embrace of those broken black branches.

9 comments:

Jill said...

Ouf! This is a good one, but I'm not use to seeing dark stuff like this coming from you!

Gadfly said...

I had to read that one twice to appreciate it fully. Very nice. Very dark.

My name is Gadfly, and I approve this piece :o)

Lakota said...

i'm full of all kinds of scary darkness Jilly - i think most people are.

That's good Gaddy-love. I wanted the writing to sneak up and attack at the end kinda like the antagonist did so if you had to read it twice to fully appreciate, then i think i managed it. maybe. i hope. there's a couple of layers of irony slipped in that hopefully are revealed in closer examination. :D

Julia Phillips Smith said...

For someone who doesn't like short pieces, this is really punchy and delivers a whole story. Love the branches trying to get in, and later being delicious.

Anonymous said...

It's like a shock of darkness, a German expressionist film from the 20's, spooky and cool,

Lakota said...

Thanks Julia sweetie, it call came about with the thought of nature as savior, nature as reclaimer, oblivion as release.

Ooooh I like that GingaPaul - i love that period of art, particularly film (Nosferatu, Metropolis, The Odessa Steps, etc.)

Shelley Munro said...

You sure have a way with words. Very evocative.

Kota, Price of Love isn't a Middlemarch story, but you don't have long to wait now. Assassin is my next release, and it's out on Aug 6. Cat and Mouse follows, which is out on Oct 1. I'm also currently in edits for Cat Burglar but don't have a release date yet. You won't know what's hit you with all the Middlemarch goodness. ;)

Woozie said...

A quick glance down your link list reads: erotica, erotica, erotica, erotica, erotica, penguins, erotica, erotica.

ozymandiaz said...

very dark
very heady
VERY GOOD
enigmatic even (E will be proud)