Woman in the Mask: Morienti Nubila

A soldier is dying and a strange figure visits him in his final moments.

Kitten and Kevin

(Written With Steampunk/Black Parade-esque Imagery In Mind)

The woman in the metallic dress stepped across the defeated city. Her once sweet voice now turns to bitter, ice cold daggers, “You...” I’m still dazed from the the explosion that was silent to the world. The woman in the gas mask, gets even closer to me. What does she want? I look around for a place to go. I can’t feel my legs! What’s wrong with me? I catch my reflection in a shard of glass stuck in the ground. The dark circles around my eyes are even more pronounced and my hair grows whiter by the second. The bodies around me seem to scream in agony as the silence grows louder and louder. I notice snowflakes falling to the ground, melting in the flames around me. The woman in the mask breathes heavily and treads towards my feeble, damaged body. My bones are like glass and my attempt to scramble away turns into me sprawling out in pain. The sickness of defeat flows throughout my body. I frantically look for an escape as she crunches softly across the broken glass. Fear, regret, shame, and anger stand above me as I wonder what awaits me next. Will this ominous figure of a woman carry me to Heaven? To Hell? I imagine the fires consuming my body. All that I’ve done in life. My accomplishments, my failures are not enough to redeem myself from the flaming paradise from life.

The woman in the mask now stands over me and all I’m left with is fear. Fear lies with me, it holds me, and I reconcile with it. Because fear has been with me the whole way here. As I lie here, flames burning and ice falling, I can’t help but feel something else lies with me. Something I haven’t felt since I was a child. Happiness. Happiness pushes fear aside and picks me up off of the ground. Why am I happy? Am I embracing the flaming pit that awaits me or am I happy because now I can rest? But then I realize what happiness has done. Happiness has lifted me off the ground to face this masked woman. I attempt to take her mask off but she pushes my hand away. “Stay”, she says. The touch of her hand on mine makes me shudder and I wince as I fall back. Stay? I think. Then I see what she means. The men who surrounded me in eternal sleep now stand behind her in black military uniforms. On the ground again, I close my eyes and wait to sleep. The darkness surrounds me, and I feel colder. Or is it warmer? For me to finally be alone. Forever in my solitude. Not having to worry about this world.

The woman in the mask takes my hand and I realize what I will remain as. A ghost in life and a ghost in the snow...

Author's Note

A very very short story written by a friend and I

Reviews

[RedRozeNinja13]

Well I found it quite an enjoyable read actually. Not something I would write of course, but in my head I imagined it as a grand sort of finale or ending testament to the man's life. It was well written and deserves praise very much. If I were into short stories, I could fawn over this. But clearly, I'm new to the short story game, and as a novelist my word doesn't amount to much. I have no idea what you mean by my story being better than yours though! Yours was actually SHORT! And just as dramatic as mine!

[Kevin]

Wow thank you...I FINALLY got my favorite writer to review a story of mine. Well, not mine...ours actually. Much praise goes to Kitten. But anyway, this really means a lot coming from you. Thanks so much! :)

[jay]

the woman in the mask though it has a good story line lite more detales whuld be nices

[Kevin]

Its supposed to be really short so some details were cut

[jay]

I thought this is a really good testament to the man's life . I do kind fell sory to the giy. but still good story