(no subject)
Prompt_a_day Story (Bet you're getting sick of these...)
Prompt #070 - If only I hadn't opened that door
If only I hadn't opened that door I wouldn't have seen her, that small beauty with the porcelain face. I wouldn't have seen the fear in those eyes of shattered innocence or the tears trailing down her cheeks to land on a dress of gauze and lace.
I would have been able to leave her and I wouldn’t wake up every night choking on a scream; seeing her beauty deepen by death and tragedy; her dress stained pink as she lies gasping on the floor of her room of gold and pearl.
She’d be alive, if only I hadn't opened that door, and my job would have been easy.
~
I don't know why most of my stories are so morbid. I don't see myself as being enthralled by death or anything (except with vampires, but that's a given). I think about it, sure, but who doesn't? It's kind of our jobs as humans to think about that kind of thing; such a fascination with the unknown as we, human beings, have we can't not think about it. Death, the future, the long past, outer space: we're forever worrying about them, digging deeper and deeper with our delicate human hands, trying to understand, to learn, to use. That's pretty much why we have science and religion to help us to explain, to understand and not fear all that goes on in our world. We've always been curious, always questioned, that's way we are where we are, why we think what we think. That's why we first found fire, discovered that pointy rocks made hunting better or that eating tree bark or mold (depending on your complaint) made you feel better, healed you.
Though I guess like everything it's also why we have bad stuff like the atom bomb or people so busy trying to discover a new planet or a new dimension (The 11th of M theory: totally cool) or spending money on NASA that we forget to look at the things we already have (who knows how many species are being left undiscovered, especially in the rain forest) or to spend that money where we actually need it; I mean, yeah, space travel is cool, "Our Greatest Achievement" and all that, but what about the hundreds of homeless in the streets wearing rags or freezing to death because all the shelters are full and great places like ECHO, where the homeless and struggling minimum-wagers can get clothes, blankets and other needs, are closed because no one can spare a measly 300-500 a YEAR to keep it running.
Did you know we have more animal shelter then we do homeless shelters? Most people I tell that to don't even blink, that's how screwed up our priorities have gotten. Is it because of over-population, because there are too many to care about or is it just that with the faked horrors we see on TV or the movie screen that we've become desensitized? Dehumanized to the point of numbness where a man's hanging has the highest viewer count and we care more about what happens to Fluffy than what happens to that old man sitting on a street corner so use to being forgotten that he cries at the unexpected kindness of a sandwich.
Prompt #070 - If only I hadn't opened that door
If only I hadn't opened that door I wouldn't have seen her, that small beauty with the porcelain face. I wouldn't have seen the fear in those eyes of shattered innocence or the tears trailing down her cheeks to land on a dress of gauze and lace.
I would have been able to leave her and I wouldn’t wake up every night choking on a scream; seeing her beauty deepen by death and tragedy; her dress stained pink as she lies gasping on the floor of her room of gold and pearl.
She’d be alive, if only I hadn't opened that door, and my job would have been easy.
~
I don't know why most of my stories are so morbid. I don't see myself as being enthralled by death or anything (except with vampires, but that's a given). I think about it, sure, but who doesn't? It's kind of our jobs as humans to think about that kind of thing; such a fascination with the unknown as we, human beings, have we can't not think about it. Death, the future, the long past, outer space: we're forever worrying about them, digging deeper and deeper with our delicate human hands, trying to understand, to learn, to use. That's pretty much why we have science and religion to help us to explain, to understand and not fear all that goes on in our world. We've always been curious, always questioned, that's way we are where we are, why we think what we think. That's why we first found fire, discovered that pointy rocks made hunting better or that eating tree bark or mold (depending on your complaint) made you feel better, healed you.
Though I guess like everything it's also why we have bad stuff like the atom bomb or people so busy trying to discover a new planet or a new dimension (The 11th of M theory: totally cool) or spending money on NASA that we forget to look at the things we already have (who knows how many species are being left undiscovered, especially in the rain forest) or to spend that money where we actually need it; I mean, yeah, space travel is cool, "Our Greatest Achievement" and all that, but what about the hundreds of homeless in the streets wearing rags or freezing to death because all the shelters are full and great places like ECHO, where the homeless and struggling minimum-wagers can get clothes, blankets and other needs, are closed because no one can spare a measly 300-500 a YEAR to keep it running.
Did you know we have more animal shelter then we do homeless shelters? Most people I tell that to don't even blink, that's how screwed up our priorities have gotten. Is it because of over-population, because there are too many to care about or is it just that with the faked horrors we see on TV or the movie screen that we've become desensitized? Dehumanized to the point of numbness where a man's hanging has the highest viewer count and we care more about what happens to Fluffy than what happens to that old man sitting on a street corner so use to being forgotten that he cries at the unexpected kindness of a sandwich.