Photo: Sue Vincent
They didn’t tell him he’d be seeing things.
They didn’t tell him how cold he’d be, or how alone, or how desperately he’d miss even the smallest comforts. Like a hue that wasn’t on the scale of dirty-white to sort-of-gray.
Maybe he was dying.
Was this how it would be?
He’d ask.
If he could.
They didn’t tell him he’d be unable to speak. Or that the voice he’d make would go unheard, unseen, unnoticed.
He blinked.
The stag was still there.
Perhaps real, perhaps conjured by the wish to flee combined with the worry about antlers being helplessly tangled as one tried to get away.
“You watch out,” he mouthed. Or said. Or yelled. “Don’t be fooled. Don’t be like me.”
The stag stood still. A statue. Another tree?
Then in one split second it bounded, disappeared.
Come back, he whispered. He’d never been so lonely.
He wept. He thought he did. He was so cold.
He looked at his hands. They blurred. He, too, must be fading.
Eternity.
The shadows crept near. A rumble of garbled monster-speech.
He heaved.
“Good trip?”
“He’s kind’a out of it.”
“He said he wanted to try some!”
“Yeah, but how much did you fools dump in his drink?”
For Sue Vincent’s WritePhoto challenge
Na'ama Yehuda 
Terrific twist, Na’ama.
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Thank you, John! I wasn’t sure myself where this was going at first … but this is where it took me. 🙂
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Took you to a nice place. (Twist wise)
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Twist-wise, yeah. Fun, eh? The character’s experience-wise? Not so nice. I see therapy in his future … 🙂
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Long term.
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LOL!
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Oh dear, although it sounds like a fairly nice trip!
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I have a feeling he will not be going on any more of these. Not willingly, at least.
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PS … and I got the ‘oh dear’ (or, ‘oh deer’ …) point, too … 😉
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😉
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🙂
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Hilarious!
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I’m not sure the main character would find it hilarious but I can see how it could come across that way … 😉
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Good gawd… they are not friends!
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Not good ones, at least…
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That really captured me, puzzled me and drew me in. And I loved the reveal. 🙂
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🙂 I’m glad it did all that! 🙂 Took me on a ride, too — wasn’t sure how it’d end when it started … (as if often the case with my writing…).
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That’s call *riding the inspiration*
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🙂
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Nice work on the prompt. An interesting twist to the tale (tail) at the end of the story. My family has three hunters in it, and the stories they could tell often sounded like they were influenced by something outside of just seeing the deer in the woods. 😉
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That could well be, too .. (then there are mushrooms … 😉 ) But, yeah, the woods are full of beings and spirits and things that go strange in the night … 🙂
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You wouldn’t want ‘friends’ like those… but I loved how you dealt with the story.
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I hear ya … 😉 Not my idea of ‘friends’ either …
Glad you liked the story itself, though … (I won’t recommend the company depicted in it … sans deer…)
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I’d be happy to meet the deer again 🙂
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I know! Magnificent! 🙂
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He was 🙂
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🙂
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Thank you, sue!
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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Not at all what I had expected. I think he should get new friends.
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I totally agree … 😉
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