Monday Morning Flash Fiction Challenge, Week 18..... The Friday Post

Here it is Friday once again, but instead of posting this morning, by hubs dragged me off the Christmas shop, something I've been avoiding, but with seven days of shopping time left, he insisted, a rare occasion.  Not often does he say "Go forth, woman, spend money!"  LOL  Some shopping finished, much left to do.

This is the 18th week of our flash fiction challenge, and I've enjoyed doing them so much!!  Here's the wonderful prompt from Monday...

Undying Love

By Dottie Taylor

word count:  900

Once again the mists streamed over the loamy ground, and once again she stood at the grave. The ravens called, and her raised her sightless eyes as the blustering wind lifted her lank hair away from her face, a death mask, a pall of her love. How many years had she been gone? So many that the gales had washed away the face of the stone, but still he brought flowers, still she could scent the salty flavoring of his tears. Lowering her clouded eyes, she reached down, touching the places where once the inscription could be read...

“Beloved Wife”

“Serena”

“Aged 20”

So long ago....

Serena had loved Will with all of her heart, all of her soul, so much not even death stood in her path. She'd been ten and four years when the ceremony linking her and Will together took place, even then she knew she would love no other.

Will was handsome... roguish good looks, tall in stature with the attitude of a rake, a little boy smile bearing two twin dimples belying the strong bulge of his muscles and the hot vibrancy of his blood and his boundless energy with a bellowing laugh that could be heard across the marshes... a smile graced Serena's pale blue lips. She remembered the times he'd swept her into his arms, marched across the briny fields, thrown her across their marriage bed. How his big strong hands had made her feel small, secure, safe in their care.

Then, as Will and the men of their village were away hunting for the beast disemboweling their precious livestock in the dead of a wintry night, a stranger came, stealing her away. For three days, the stranger partook of her body, of her blood, of her life... she struggled against her bonds, until there was nothing left... no strength, no life, only her love of Will left to her.

As Serena laid upon death, the stranger laughed, harsh and cruel, “Death comes for you on this night, my pretty.” Then he vanished from her sight, leaving her to greet death alone and frightened.

With the last of her dying breath, with the last of her vision, Will burst into the room, followed by the men of their village. A scream tore from his lips as he tightly gathered her to his body, as he gently stroked her death pale flesh, bloodied, bruised, a faint blue tainted to her frozen lips as he tried to warm them with his own, too late.

As Will held her, the last of her life tried to leave. She heard his anguished cry as he lifted his face to the heavens. “NOOOO!” Even though she tried to stay, tried to grasped ahold of Will, she slipped away into nothingness.

Serena had awake so much later, surrounded by wooden planks, the scent of freshly turned soil filled the air, the space tightly constraining her. With no more than a thought, she freed herself from the confines of the grave. From that night forward, she roamed the Earth, seeking the one who brought her to this place, between life and death.

It had take all of Will's long lifetime, but finally she'd succeeded, finding the creature who had take her life and love. She brushed her fingers once more down the stone, now bearing fresh crimson. She'd found the beast as he'd plundered another, bringing death wherever he lingered.

When the vapor of her body came to stand next to him, his blood red eyes widened so different from her opaque ones, as her pale cold fingers secured his neck feeling the muscles strain, pop, and finally break. As his head smashed onto the ground, as his blood soaked her shroud, her death gown, Serena found her voice. “For all the years of longing, all the long years of aloneness, for the pain you've brought, you've bought your place in hell.” She croaked as his unnatural life slipped away into nonexistence.

Serena looked down once more at the grave, her grave. Will came across the loamy ground, now old and gray, she could feel his strength slowly ebbing away with each of his stumbling steps. Without seeing her, he stretched his body out on the ground, one hand touching the stone, and unknowingly, bearing the blood of her murderer.

“On this night, I'll join with you my love.” He weakly said, and as Serena gazed upon her love, his breath halted, faltering as his chest no longer rose. As she watched, his soul stepped away from his broken body, handsome, strong, vibrant as he was in his youth.

Serena felt herself awakening, the blush of death upon her cheeks, a rosy hue of what once was life. She reached out to Will, who found her eyes, once opaque and unseeing, but now, she felt a sharp flash as color returned, a pale blue brushed to her irises, a reflection of her life. Her spindly hair grew supple, curling to fall around her shoulders. Her frozen limbs thawing in his presence.

“I've waited so long for you my love.” She said as his warm fingered clasped hers, bringing heat back to her body. Will hugged her to his side, sweeping her into his arms as his strong steps carried them away from life. They left the Earth together, bound by love, timeless and true.


Well, went a little over the word count, I blame NaNo, can't stop writing now.... lol...!

Leave me a link, and I'll peek at your response!

And join us next Monday for another edition of.... (which I have a feeling will be Christmasy...)

Have a great weekend!!

Ciao!