Wednesday's Three Word Wednesday

The words over at Three Word Wednesday are pulse, shard and weary.

After
I awake to the sounds of women, wailing.
There’s a gauzy sheet pulled over me, soft and ticklish on my cheeks as I rise.
The wailing is coming from the hallway. My father stands in front of the closed door, a handkerchief in his hand. His eyes are red from crying.
“You fucking kid,” he says, throwing a work boot into the solid wood that rattles the hinges.
You’d think someone died or something.
I turn and in my bed is a sheet-draped corpse; a soft outline in white.
At first, I laugh. Then I jab a couple fingers into my neck, feel for a pulse.
And watch as my brother walks out of the bathroom with a bloodied plastic grocery sack. Shards of glass have punctured the bag and he’s got the whole thing resting on one of my good towels.
“Dad, I’ve got things cleaned up pretty well in there,” he says. “I know mom’s going to make the final inspection. I’m going to need a bucket or something for all this glass.”
My dad nods slowly, but doesn’t move.
All of a sudden, I feel weary as hell. And notice the cold, which cuts to the bone.
There’s fear, too, as realization begins to paint hues across my missing memory.
Good God, what have I gone and done?

Comments

Andy Sewina said…
Phew, this is so ghostly!
anthonynorth said…
Now that is excellent horror.
Wow. Surreal. Frightening. Real.

You tricked me. I thought the speaker was dead then I thought, no - alive, then...oh, no. Dead.

Surprises delight, even when they make me squirm.
Angel said…
Ok, I'm not feeling too hot today so maybe that's why I'm not getting all of this. The guy is dead, but HOW did he die. Did he run through a glass door or something?
Stan Ski said…
Great look at reactions to death - from all angles.
Carina said…
Horrifying, but riveting, and no, they don't necessarily follow as night the day.
Amity said…
What have you done? With all the blood and shards of glass and finally feeling weary?

This is just too much to handle!
Thomma Lyn said…
Wow, Thom. This raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Spooky -- out there -- superbly done.
Ann (bunnygirl) said…
Thought-provoking. The son of a friend of ours committed suicide last week and I wondered (as I did for the suicides of my twenties) if one hangs around for a little while after death and realizes what has happened.
Dorothy said…
Love it. Makes me think about the moment of death. What it would be like lying there with family weeping. Good job. I enjoed this.
Jay R. Thurston said…
Chilling and dark! I think you may also benefit from a vacation... and I am right there with you. Great read!
SUSAN SONNEN said…
You caught me off guard!

I enjoyed this. You described the scene enough to let us form an idea of what had happened as well as having left plenty for us to wonder about. For example, I am wondering about the brother's apparent calmness after the clean up. And his comment about mom makes me think that she might have been a harsh task master.

Well done! I look forward to reading more of your works. :)
lissa said…
somewhat scary and I suppose I did kind of expect the ending, though I am clear of what really happen

still, another intriguing tale
peggy said…
You have a real knack for creating a compelling atmosphere.

No surprise, but I still wanted to get to the end.
Laurita said…
This is true horror - realization when it's already too late. Excellent piece with just enough left unanswered.
Laura Eno said…
Excellent! Too late to take it back, so much sorrow.
Genevieve Jack said…
Horrific. Chilling. Well done.
Marisa Birns said…
Terrific job...this is riveting horror!
Donald Conrad said…
Thought provoking. I'm wondering what the hell just happened. All the glass=shower door? Accident or suicide? Too late; the realization.
Dee Martin said…
You have it - whatever it is. You make characters who are a few shades to the left or right of normal (well, sometimes a bit more than a few shades) and put them in a scene that turns normal inside out with a twist. Hope you are having a time on the road. Come home with your head in a good place.
John Wiswell said…
Yeah, very surreal. Hard to wrap the mind around entirely in one reading. Fun to try, though!
Tumblewords: said…
Ghostly, ghastly and bloody good.
How depressing to think that you use suicide as a tool to escape... only to be depressed in the afterlife when you realize what you've done.
Well done, Thom.

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