The Diary

Cute. How many people keep an actual diary anymore? This one is pale blue. It looks as though it had a furry cover, and a matching fluffy pen. It doesn’t, but it looks like it does.

Sad, really, a grown woman having a book like this. But then, why not? Why not hold on to the things that made you feel comfort or joy? He would, if he could.

He breaks the token lock by stamping on it, then scoops the book up off the floor, sinking into the generously cushioned reading chair as if he has all the time in the world.

He doesn’t. They'll be here soon. He doesn’t care. He's smarter than them. He's smarter than most people. He'll leave in the nick of time. It'll be easy. Always one step ahead of his pursuers. He smiles, imagining their frustration, and turns his eyes back to the crinkled pages.

He swings gently, left to right, one leg outstretched, brow furrowed.

“So... Tanya-” he says at last, breaking the thick silence in the room, and flipping to the inside cover to check the name written there, “You’re a writer, aren’t you?”

He leafed through, noting how little white space was left. Busy edge to edge with doodles, scribbles, thoughts, poems.

Apparently you can get pink biro. Who knew.

Nothing so mundane here as “dentist appointment” or “pay gas bill”. These were deep thoughts. Not deep themselves, but dredged from a deep and secret part of the person wielding the pen. She wouldn't have shown this to a twin soul. He got a certain perverse pleasure from that.

He kept reading, ran his finger over her private pages. Lingering on a song lyric, an odd dream, the description of a chance encounter in the supermarket.

He felt that the moments he shared with them were intimate in their own way. Not like sex, but then, not not like sex either. This was almost as personal.

He glanced over at her, a smile quirking his lips. “Do you know,” he said, “I love these slices of you.”

The neat pieces that used to be Tanya made no answer. Her blood congealed on the carpet.

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Word count: (excluding note): 366

Submitted on: 29th April at 22:53

*Quick Author's Note*

First, and most importantly: thank you for reading!

A Year of Stories: I'm writing a story every day this year. This one makes an 120 day streak since the 1st January. I can't believe I've come this far! I'm collating them all here.

Prompts: If you'd like to have a go at my unofficial April Challenge (Fucked Up Fairytales) I've linked it at the bottom. There's just a couple of days left!

If you'd like some more prompts to get your creative juices flowing, I've linked to a list of prompts for April.

Thank you

Thank you again! Especially if you are one of the people who has been staunchly reading these daily scribbles since the start of the year. I see you, and appreciate you 😁

I do my best to reciprocate as many reads as possible. If you leave me a comment, that makes it much easier. I'm behind at the moment, but I am catching up!