THE LONG WALKA Story by mark sladeThe bathtub had become a sea of red.
Amanda awoke lying in a pile of leaves in the middle of a country road. She had no idea how she got there. The last thing she remembered was taking a long, hot bath after work. Before that she had came into her apartment to find her cat home after being lost for nearly a year. Mingles had left out the window a year to the day, then disappeared. It was even a bigger mystery how he'd gotten inside the apartment, maybe the manager let him in?
She fed Mingles, took her bath, fell asleep, now found herself on this country road walking, miles from home. The road it seemed was covered in dusk, the evening never ending. She soon discovered she'd been walking for hours, passing the occasional person, a young girl of twelve skipping along until she'd dissolved into nothing. An old man passed by, mumbling to himself about the price of crude oil---again, he mended with the trees and the twilight.
The whole year had been one long disaster. After mingles had gone, Amanda met Joey. Joey didn't work out. It turned out he was a married man. Her job as a graphic artist for a magazine company turned to dust. Work in the field became scarce. She had to take a job in a Jewry store as a clerk.
Amanda felt a scar on her left wrist. It was fresh, painful, and the memory of what happened in the bathtub came to her like a thousand stab wounds in the heart. She felt another scar, and the loneliness of being cut off from her family drowned her.
The bathtub had become a sea of red.
Amanda came to where there was a fork that led to the left, another that led to the right. Beyond that, the road went on forever. She heard a meow and saw Mingles brushing against him. He was rubbing his gray and orange striped head on her ankle. She bent down to pet him and he took off to the left. Amanda stood watching the cat sprint down a road where the sun showered the trees with it's rays.
The cat stopped turned to her. “Well,” Mingles said. “Come on! I've got a lot to show you.”
Amanda followed her cat down the long country road. © 2011 mark sladeReviews
|
Stats
211 Views
6 Reviews Added on September 15, 2011 Last Updated on September 15, 2011 Authormark sladewilliamsburg, VAAbouta writer of horror and dark fantasy http://bloodydreadful.blogspot.com/ more..Writing
Related WritingPeople who liked this story also liked..
|