UNCLAIMED

NOTE: This was a short, random piece of fiction I wrote during the 2014 A to Z Challenge at The Cryton Chronicles. Feel free to check out it’s original posting here. Being it was specifically a fiction piece, I thought it made sense to also display it here as well.

Samantha — or Sammy as her parent’s called her by, despite the pleas against it — trudged down the hallway, each footstep lightly emphasized by a soft echo. Her head was hung low. The flowery sundress she wore swayed with her movements, now and again obscuring the view of her cute, pink-sparkling, princess shoes. They were brand new and she had begged her mother to purchase them solely for today’s event. To show them off. To show all the other six-year-olds that she was somebody too. That Samantha was important.

There was no need to pay attention to where she was going, she had been here before, and knew the layout of the house; where the bathroom was. Samantha drifted away in her thoughts, the muffled clamor of the birthday party being celebrated in the backyard fading. All the other children were playing games together. Ones that required you to have a partner. She was certain that with her new shoes and dress that someone would take notice. There was no way she would be the odd person out. Not this time.

FIREFLIES

(A Flash Fiction)

Jer sat alone, on the stone bench, in the park. This late in the evening, it was devoid of life. She wasn’t coming. He knew this, because he hadn’t told her. But he wasn’t alone. He had someone, or something—or both—with him. He kept it in an imaginary, glass jar. One kept close to his heart; In his heart, he liked to believe. Intertwined.

A nameless firefly.

“Love,” he resolved, at that moment.

He raised a hand to his chest. Jer could feel it pulsing, glowing rhythmically with his heartbeat. Thump thump; a beacon shining through his soul. Dimmer now, though, than just hours before. Dying.

Love never belonged to him. It was her’s to give, not his to take. A lesson of grave importance: Love deserved to be free, not caged in fear. Free to explore, learn, and experience as it may.

He took a deep breath, reached inside, and slowly twisted the lid. Thump thump; the anticipation! Love knew what was to come.

A solitary tear streamed down Jer’s cheek, as Love burst forth from what it certainly thought its demise. He sat entranced, as Love exploded and split into millions of duplicate fireflies. Dancing, lighting the night sky, each pulsed and glowed in unison; to him, the Universe.

Connected. Beautiful.

Eyes closed, star-bound, he watched them surge around the world. Her Love, his Love—their Love—free to leave footprints where it may.

More tears flowed. His beacon to the infinite illuminated anew.