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| comment | | "parent_author":"",<br>"parent_permlink":"fiction",<br>"author":"samuraihedgehog",<br>"permlink":"family-reunions-art-prompt-writing-contest",<br>"title":"Family Reunions (Art Prompt Writing Contest)",<br>"body":"![WqbhMnIoSoG6_FmFv7nTrg-768x1024.jpg (https:\/\/cdn.steemitimages.com\/DQmY3znFFHyLQSM6yWHF8PMkuxpybSMB62z1v1hBFFcK8Bs\/WqbhMnIoSoG6_FmFv7nTrg-768x1024.jpg)\n\nTime is an odd thing. Supposed to move along with the regularity of a ticking clock. Without a sense on occasion,<br> nor effected by sentiment. Yet it stretches when we\u2019re stuck at boring jobs and \u2013 of course - \u201cflies when we\u2019re having fun\u201d. Perhaps its strangest property of all is its occasional sticky nature,<br> suspending people in it leaving them unable to move forward. Sometimes people,<br> and sometimes even places. \n\nChris had been sulking in the back of the car for almost two hours now. His girlfriend,<br> Tamsin,<br> and their two young children,<br> Thomas and Chloe,<br> had been mocking him for pretty much the entire time. He always got grumpy when they had to visit his Mum\u2019s house. The kids loved it,<br> their Nan would bake them these mini pastries,<br> topped with berries she\u2019d pick from her garden. And Tamsin got on with Chris\u2019s Mum,<br> Mandy,<br> better than she did her own. They were always great little family weekends away,<br> unless you were Chris. \n\nHe had spent his entire childhood in that house,<br> and although it was a mostly unremarkable one,<br> every story has dark corners. Places we prefer not to shine a light on. Places we\u2019d rather forget. \n\nIt was just before midday when they arrived and the kids leapt from the car before it had even fully stopped. Chloe literally bounced onto the floor,<br> rolled a bit,<br> bounced back up and ran at her Nan like nothing had happened. \n\n\u201cWatch yourself little one,<br>\u201d the elderly lady standing laughing in the doorway called out,<br> \u201cyou break a leg out here,<br> will take a few hours to get you anywhere. You\u2019ll be sipping on my gin to quell the pain!\u201d \n\n\u201cShe most certainly will not,<br>\u201d Tamsin chuckled as she walked over to hug her Mother-In-Law. \n\nThe two embraced to a second or two,<br> already muttering to each other so Chris couldn\u2019t hear,<br> and then went inside. \n\nChris waved at his Mum and followed them in slowly. Much as he loved his Mum,<br> he hated this house. He could feel himself physically change as he walked through the door. Such a beautiful house,<br> filled with his loved ones on a sunny summer's day,<br> but he couldn\u2019t enjoy it. The evitable fact that light always fades to dark never left his mind,<br> not for a second. \n\nAfter hours of playing in the garden,<br> drinking wine and eating far too much,<br> everyone was already tired by about six o\u2019clock. This was always the way on these trips. Even the kids were flagging a little bit,<br> fighting to stay active,<br> but you could see that soon as their heads hit the pillow they\u2019d be out cold. \n\nEveryone began to settle in the lounge and the screens came out. The kids with their tablets,<br> tapping away frantically,<br> and shouting; throwing themselves around as they battled each other. Chris got his phone out for \u201cwork\u201d,<br> sitting quietly in his Dad's old chair. Tamsin had poured her and Mandy the end of their second bottle of red and had her phone switched off in her pocket. \n\n\u201cYou know I don\u2019t mind dear,<br>\u201d Mandy smiled and slyly pointed to her pocket,<br> \u201cI\u2019ve even left mine on.\u201d \n\n\u201cWhat happened to \u2018no screens\u2019?\u201d,<br> Tamsin quipped back smiling. \n\n\u201cI\u2019m moving with the times?!\u201d \n\nThe two laughed and sat drinking while Mandy showed Tamsin her new smart phone. \n\nAfter a few more hours of chilling and chatting in the lounge,<br> a slightly tipsy Tamsin had declared that since \u201cher favorite Mother-In-Law\" had made lunch,<br> that it was time to order pizza. \n\n\u201cIt\u2019ll arrive quicker than Chloe\u2019s bloody ambulance would\u2019ve!\u201d Mandy had observed. \n\nSure enough the overpriced,<br> over-cheesed monstrosities the kids insisted on ordering arrived in just under an hour,<br> just as darkness fell,<br> and the family sat munching and chatting. Having the time of their lives. Except Chris,<br> he had excused himself saying he was going to bed with a headache. Tamsin had pointed out as she did last time that he always \u201cgets a headache\u201d when they visited his Mum,<br> but Mandy had calmly put a hand on her shoulder in a polite effort to ask her to leave it. She knew where he was going. \n\nChris unlocked the cellar door and walked down the old stone stairs in complete darkness. He didn\u2019t need the light,<br> he had spent so much of his childhood playing down here he knew it inch by inch even to this day. He slowly shuffled over to the old,<br> wonky,<br> wooden chair in the corner of the room and sat down with a sigh. \n\n\u201cYou never will get used to this will you?\u201d a voice he recognized so well from his childhood came from the darkness. \n\n\u201cNo.\u201d \n\n\u201cWell,<br> it\u2019s always a pleasure to see you all the same boy. How are the little ones?\u201d \n\nChris sat,<br> tears quietly streaming down his face. \n\n\u201cIt\u2019s fine. Your Mother tells me all about them. Says you\u2019re doing well too. You certainly look it.\u201d \n\n\u201cYes... yes I\u2019m ....I\u2019m doing well,<br>\u201d he wiped the tears from his face and composed himself a little,<br> \u201cand yourself?\u201d \n\nThey both laughed,<br> Chris had not laughed that hard in ages. He always dreaded coming down here,<br> it was so painful,<br> but how could he not. His mother handled it better,<br> but she was as strong as they came.\n\nShe had once suggested that after the accident they had both gone mad. Experiencing some sort of joint hallucination as a coping mechanism. Chris told her that was ridiculous,<br> but only because he feared it to be true. \n\nA snapshot of time,<br> that is what he had told her. Something that - although he could not explain - most definitely did exist. It had to. \n\nBut not to Mandy. As she had said to him countless times. Whether shared delusion,<br> welcome apparition,<br> or temporal pinprick in the universe. To her it didn't matter. \n\n\n![imcomplete_break.png (https:\/\/cdn.steemitimages.com\/DQmP8dAjo1HSQE9JxbyywnFbjjTD3gBVX8BtaCDWrRbhVy6\/imcomplete_break.png)\n\n\nMy entry to #twbwritingcontest based on the fantastic photograph by @nubellorona",<br>"json_metadata":" \"tags\":[\"twbwritingcontest\",<br>\"fiction\",<br>\"story\",<br>\"writing\",<br>\"originalwork\" ,<br>\"users\":[\"nubellorona\" ,<br>\"image\":[\"https:\/\/cdn.steemitimages.com\/DQmY3znFFHyLQSM6yWHF8PMkuxpybSMB62z1v1hBFFcK8Bs\/WqbhMnIoSoG6_FmFv7nTrg-768x1024.jpg\",<br>\"https:\/\/cdn.steemitimages.com\/DQmP8dAjo1HSQE9JxbyywnFbjjTD3gBVX8BtaCDWrRbhVy6\/imcomplete_break.png\" ,<br>\"app\":\"steemit\/0.1\",<br>\"format\":\"markdown\" " |
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