Left Behind

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

 

They walked around, eyes wide, not touching anything.

“It’s like a museum,” Lilly breathed.

“Only with ghosts,” Samantha shuddered.

Lilly shot her a warning glance and slid her eyes toward Mikey. As it was the boy woke up screaming every night.

This was the first intact house they’d seen. Well, almost intact. It had a roof, walls, and shutters that had protected some of the windows. It even had a wood-burning stove. They needed the shelter more than any ghost might, and Mikey didn’t need additional terrors.

She forced a smile. “Let’s find some water and make tea, shall we?”

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

 

53 thoughts on “Left Behind”

  10. You’ve produced some impressive writing here. Your opening “They walked around, eyes wide, not touching anything” is wonderful, precisely catching the response of the children to the partly intact house. You tell the back story obliquely, capturing the horrors the children have experienced very simply by recording that Mikey woke screaming every night.
    Kudos, Na’ama!

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    • I think Mikey was traumatized by the events that led to them being alone and the houses all destroyed… As for ghosts and people coexisting… I agree… Though we can understand that some find the concept scary, especially if they had just been through some stuff … I still hope they will stay and find some measure of peace in that house…

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  18. Well done! I can add that the house in which this photo was taken has offered shelter from more than one storm, with nary a ghost to be seen. And the kettle makes very nice tea, indeed! Thanks for this evocative tale.

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    • Wow! Thank you for the added REAL LIFE trivia to this story, which gives a whole additional layer to the associations and the feeling and the story of what had, and what very well could …

      As for ghosts, I find them to be mostly sensitive to the living’s freak-out level tendencies if their other-worldly presence becomes known … After all, some of them used to have a freak-out-reflex for ghosts before THEY became one … 😉

      Also glad that the kettle makes nice tea. I have a whistling kettle myself, and these make the BEST boiling water. As an elderly woman I used to know would say “None of the electrocuted water would do for a PROPER tea….” 😉

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    • I think many do relish these things, though perhaps we who are privileged tend to take them for granted because the basic comforts of life are usually available to us … and so we only cherish them when we are in situations that reduce our daily luxuries to the basics. So, yes, it is good to remind ourselves of the simple, profound soothing of a stove and a kettle, and some company.
      Thanks for this comment, Bjorn!

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