The Puppeteer

The struggles we face to cope with battles close to home.

The puppet master looked upon the wooden throng of his life's work and, sighing, lit a match upon the nearest timbre body. He watched as the flames crawled lazily across his beloved creations with a chilling numbness.
His young apprentice stumbled into the gloom as the fire licked higher into the darkness of night. "Dear God, what are you doing?!"
The master did not turn to him, could not tear his eyes away from the fiery carnage before him. "What is the point of these wooden substitutes of man? They cannot replace the ones lost to us. As they can't comfort the living, may their ashes bring comfort to the children in heaven, and may they share their joy in the wind."
The cinders curled through the sky, joined by the embers of flickering torchlight and burning corpses over the bloodied horizon.
"There is, after all, no need for joy in this place of war."

Author's Note

Wrote this aaaaaaages ago and recently edited, but tried to keep it close to what it was originally. A short story if I ever saw one :p

Reviews

[Érenn]

Ok. I finally decided that i am going to read a story. And I was lucky enough to read a story as good as this I don't know how long ago you wrote this. And i am certain your edits were definitely minor. may have improved the quality who knows. But this was definitely one of those gut wrenching writings, that I stumble upon from time to time. A tragic story, but a little hope mixed in. The hope that things change for the better and no more tragedies take place.

[Blysful]

Thank you so much for thinking so kindly about this old piece. I hope you experience far more hope than tragedy :)

[Zorrin86]

Great piece, short but filled with drama and a certain depth all the same.

[Blysful]

Thank you Zorrin86! I appreciate you taking the time to review :)