Today’s
flash fiction comes to us from Cathy MacKenzie. She has just published three
new e-books: two collections of short stories, Liars and Other Strangers and
Love, with a Slice of Lemon; and a flash fiction collection entitled A Little Bit of FLASH - Fiction, That Is. These books can be found on her
Smashwords page at: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/camack.
Next
week’s story will be by me! Stay tuned!
***
The Face
While strolling through the
mall, Carmen jerked back in shock at the glimpse of an image in the mirror. The
person was someone she immediately recognized, but that individual had been
dead for many years. She wished she hadn't missed that last eye appointment,
because surely her eyes deceived her.
She peered again, tilting her
head one way, then the other. She threw a faint smile at the reflection, before
looking grim. Her hand smoothed down her unruly hair. She bared her teeth and
scrunched her eyes and stared until the resemblance disappeared. Sanity returned
when she finally gazed at herself. Even then, something seemed amiss, although
she wasn't sure what.
After she finished her
errands, she quickly exited through the back door. She did not want anyone to
see her. She had to escape; there were too many mirrors hanging on endless
walls and numerous glass doors bragging of more reflections. Self-observation
was unavoidable no matter where she turned.
Without examining herself
again, Carmen knew the other face had returned. She had caught another glimpse of
that same face when passing by a second mirror, even though she pretended she
hadn't noticed. She could not deny that no matter how she pictured herself,
Carmen's mother, Bernice, who had passed on to eternal life many years
previous, glared back at her.
Carmen did not want to test
any more mirrors, understanding in an instant that mirrors don't lie, although,
of course, that was something she should have known. She realized she could
glance into a dozen mirrors of all different shapes and sizes, in numerous
malls across the country, but she'd still look the same.
Age had crept upon her. Death
lingered somewhere close.
The previously young Carmen -
that face framed in her mind of how she thought she appeared to the world – had
disappeared. She wondered in horror how the years had crept by before she was
aware a life could slip away forever.
[This
is an excerpt from Cathy's novel-in-progress, with the working title of Madness
Takes Over, Sometimes. It also appears in
her e-book of flash fiction.]
***
The Spot Writers- our members. You can find our Thursday posts at any of the following blogs:
Catherine A. MacKenzie
Jessica Degarmo
RC Bonitz
Val Muller
No comments:
Post a Comment