Hello to you! Welcome to the second day of Women in Horror Month. As you know I’m attempting a daily challenge and today is Short Story Saturday. I had planned to write a story around spiders as the current cold weather in the UK has seen a couple of big arachnids hiding in corners but I woke up and this piece of flash fiction demanded to be told! I recently watched ‘Day of the Triffids‘. Have you seen it? It’s fabulous! Eddie Izzard scared the biscuits out of me with his portrayal as Torrance and I quite enjoyed the story, especially as some of our plants are turning a little triffid-like. However, it did get me thinking: what would happen if everyone who was out watching a meteor shower was blinded, leaving only those who didn’t witness it, such as children who were in bed, to see and care for others? And don’t forget to check out the Wishing Stars we made at New Year. Now, read on!
Bright Lights
‘If you hadn’t been such a pain in my ass, you could have seen the falling stars too,’ Mother sniped at her daughter. ‘I mean, what good are you anyway? Always been a burden, a chain around my neck dragging me down. What I could have done if I hadn’t had you. The life I could have lived.’
Her daughter had heard all of these complaints, and worse, many times before. She continued stirring the soup on the hob and didn’t respond.
Her mother continued her complaining, waving her hands and sending cigarette ash across the dirty table. ‘I could have been somebody, been with somebody. On the stage, people loved me. I had film directors talking to me. Light! Camera! Action! That’s what I could have had. Look at me now. But no, a one night stand with your waste-of-space father and here you are. A useless father and a useless child.’ Mother didn’t react as her daughter carefully placed the bowl of steaming soup in front of her.
‘You’re soup’s ready, Mother,’ the girl muttered, worried that her mothers vitriol would escalate at the sound of her timid voice.
Waving her hands across the table, Mother tried to locate the bowl. She knocked it with her forearm, sending scalding soup across her skin and the table. ‘Stupid girl!’ she roared! ‘You can’t do nothing right! Why am I being punished with a useless creature like you? Any more of this crap, you’ll be locked in the basement again!’ Wiping the soup from her forearm, she patted her hands across the table more tentatively until she located her spoon. Holding the side of the bowl she gingerly spooned the soup to her lips, not seeing the drips which quickly spotted her blouse and skirt.
‘Lucky for you I was in the basement night of the falling stars mother, or I’d be blinded just like you by them bright lights,’ the girl tentatively said. Mother snorted as she continued spooning her soup. ‘Now, I get to look after you, just as good as you looked after me all these years.’
Mother paused, the dripping spoon not quite to her lips. ‘What do you mean by that, girl?’ she demanded.
The girl grinned as she put the rat poison back in the cupboard, ‘Nothing Mother. Enjoy your soup.’
If you enjoyed my short story, why not check out my other books or free fiction. Alternatively, you could buy me a coffee! If you’re a writer, feel free to post links to your Women in Horror Month inspired fiction in the comments below. Thanks for reading and pop back tomorrow for more horrible fun!