Decorative Bodies

Swaying in the wind

Susan walked along the hot sidewalk, savoring the feeling of the warmth on her feet. The sun shined as bright as ever on her dark skin and pink backpack where her shoes had been carelessly thrown into. Not a cloud was in the crystal blue sky, and traffic was a bit quieter than usual.
Susan savored days like this, savored them like a fine wine. Or, in her case, a fine glass of grape juice. Being in the third grade tended to make the consumption of alcohol a rather frowned upon activity for someone of her age.
Regardless, Susan continued her brave, determined walk down the rows of apartments to her right, spotting hers a few buildings down. She couldn’t wait to get home and rest her weary mind from the dreadful work that school weighed her down with. Sure, she had been told drinking alcohol was bad for the brain, but so was over-exertion. No, she wouldn’t let school get in the way of her relaxation time.
Susan reach her apartment and unlocked the door with the little keys her mom made her wear around her neck and tuck under her shirt. She had a bit of a habit of losing things. Like her parents every time they went to a grocery store.
Susan opened the door, expecting the smell of food, the sound of her big sister arguing with their dad about getting a car, the sight of her mother laughing at the ordeal.
But Susan smelled it first. That weird metallic smell. Maybe her dad was working on some sort of project that involved metal. He was always sculpting things, his creative energy never stopping.
She heard nothing. The apartment was silent, the usual hustle and bustle of the kitchen and living room gone.
Then the door opened all the way.
And she saw the three bodies dangling from the ceiling by their necks. Her sister was in between her mother and father, the light in their eyes gone. The nooses around their necks mercilessly suspended them in the air, preventing Susan from having any hope of saving them.
She stepped back in her surprise, unable to stop looking at the terrible sight. Her foot slipped off the top stair and she fell back.
Down the stairs she went, hitting the solid flat concrete behind the last step. She saw a flash and heard a ringing sound.
When she got back up, drunkenly moving around, trying to get her bearings, she looked up at the sky. The sun had disappeared and the darkest clouds Susan had ever seen blanketed over the entire city. She watched in silent horror as her next nightmare decided to show itself.
The street lamps had double, tripled down the sidewalk. None were more than a foot apart from the other. With each street lamp, a corpse hung from it, swaying in the strong wind of the coming storm.
It was like a demonic walkway, the swinging bodies leading her through the city of death. Susan had no feeling, no fear, no sadness, no anger. Her body had shut down. She was alone, and all she wanted was to hang from a street lamp like everyone else.
So she did.

Reviews

[The Ink Chapters]

Interesting read, quite dark but still good descriptions and story. My advice is to put a little more to the end of the story "and so she did" it ends it more abruptly than I think necessary. You've already led the reader up such precarious steps, why not make them a little more uneasy before they fall?

[Vic]

It started out lighthearted and took a very dark turn. I would find it easier to read if there were spaces between the paragraphs.
Why was Susan's walk brave in the third paragraph?
Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading this.

[A.K. Rohner]

Thank you for the review, Vic! And thanks for the tip about the spaces between the paragraphs. Also, the reason why Susan's walk is "brave" is because it was remarking about how tired she was from school. Almost like the wine comment, it was intended to have that childlike innocence, hence the "brave" part. Thanks again for the review.