The nameless woman

Short story

The fan blades trembled and buzzed, stuck to the ceiling above, cutting sunlight, cutting dust, whirring and wobbly, lifting me up. Propeller on the ceiling, pushing fake air. The nameless woman in the corner hunched over a book. She smoked as did I, the sunlight through the window made her shine, her hair tangled filaments of golden light.

I lay down again and breathed on purpose this time. Anesthesia, unreliable time, floating smoke, golden, light and love. Did I love her, no, I did not. Nameless woman at the desk in this unknown place. And then time froze and my heart thumped, the fan blades whirred and thunked, cutting horizontal planes of too warm air that dropped delicately to the floor.

The woman was looking at me now, peering, searching, she closed the book with a gentle hand and tapped on the cover, tap tap, tap. She had eyes like a raptor that moved this way and that. The sunlight made her beautiful in a way that I know darkness would not. I did not want to look at the woman in the chair, at the desk by the window so I looked at the fan that chopped the smoky air instead. It spun like my mind in this unreliable space.

A car horn blared amidst the circus outside and the woman stood, never breaking her gaze. "I will be back, sooner than later", she said, pointing to the table, "and when I am, you will know".

Goodbye, goodbye, the door closed with a click, and I fell away into a dream.

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

I liked the story in the words. Watching the world fade away. You create places and you left something for the reader to think about. Thank you Nila for sharing the amazing story.
Coyote

[magensby]

Thnx for the read. The smoke will be your companion until the nameless woman returns as it has a life of its own.

[Charlotte e.e. Griffith..]

this is absolutely wonderful. loved the size, the description; absolutely all of it. great writing!

[Nila M.]

Thank you very much!! I'm really glad you liked it.