This flash fiction won “The Writer’s Cramp” on the 14th of July 2023 |
There is a deafening bang. Bright blue lightning flashes through the night, bringing things out of the darkness for a moment. A pocket watch, a letter and the withered stem of a rose, its leaves stripped off. They lie defenceless in a box covered with stickers. The haunting ended as suddenly as it had begun. I can't explain it, but I can't help grinning. All the tension releases as the twitching at the corners of my mouth turns into hysterical laughter. Suddenly, the objects in the case fly into the air. I fall silent. A moving image appears at the bottom of the case. It is me. My eyes stare out of my head. The ego in the suitcase takes a rose from a grave. Then it puts it on top, together with a letter. Something is wrong. My suitcase self cries, while her suitcase self is dying. A thought occurs to me: this is my life ... backwards! Unsuspectingly, I touch her suitcase-self’s face inside the suitcase. The fabric is soft, but the sweat from my hand makes it damp in seconds. Or is it my tears? But there is something else. A magical attraction like I had only felt once before. Without hesitation, I jump into the suitcase. |