When The Coldness Lifts

I was sitting at the top of the stairs, as I did often, with Benson, my one-eyed bunny— a gift from Nana — by my side. The musky scent of dust, mould and stale cigarettes hung in the air. The dank stench that has been here as long as I have.

Only once had I felt real warmth in another’s home, different from that in my own. A friend from school once invited me over for dinner and a movie. An intensely grainy Mary Poppins VHS was a welcome change from the blankness of my bedroom or the wall opposite my seat at the top of the stairs, where I now sat. Mother always found faults in their house.

I was never warm enough again. I was one of those unlucky ones who was naturally cold.

Nana said my mother had a sickness of the mind. It wasn’t her fault. My scalded flaking skin, when I dared defy her, was not her fault. She’d never apologize, only tend to the wounds. The dressings served as a reminder. I wondered if she ever felt sadness or shame.

If she ever did, I never saw it. Even as she lies bedridden, choking on her last breaths, there’s no sign of remorse. For two days, I’ve held my vigil, unsure whether she sees me. On the anniversary of my death, after years of being a shadowy visage, our eyes finally meet again as she lets go, surrendering to Death’s grasp.

The coldness finally lifts.

*

Thanks for reading!

Author's Notes: Thought there was a mistake, so reverted it to Drafts. I was wrong, lol. As noted in the subtitle, this is my entry for the 1st round of NYC Midnight's 250+ word Microfiction Challenge. I was placed in group 74 which meant I was given the genre "Ghost Story", the action "surrendering" and the word "remind" that had to be featured in the story somewhere. I decided to go with a very sad and rather unconventional ghost story.

This was put forward for the challenge in November, so it is the longest I've held back from sharing a story on Vocal and first time, beyond family and friends, that I've shared it on a different platform. I had to wait to 10 days after the round results were posted before posting. It was part of spreading my wings and seeing what it might be like to get feedback on something I wrote outside of Vocal and to see if I could progress, place and win.

You get feedback as a standard for your entry, regardless of whether you place or not. Mine was very favourable, and even the negative feedback was at least constructive. So I found it to be a good experience, even though I didn't progress. I have made some slight alterations to the story before publishing it here, taking on board some of their suggestions, while ignoring some of the others. The reason being, is that I believe they were more down to preference than real issues.

But I have not fiddled with or altered the actual story.

Thanks again for reading and I just want to say that I appreciate anyone, regular or not, that stops and reads my stuff, likes it and, particularly, comments on it. There. Enough nicey nice talk.

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