Austin Briggs's Blog, page 67
August 31, 2011
Strangled
"She's been crying for ten minutes. Shouldn't we at least check?" They stood at the nursery door whispering quietly.
"She'll be fine." He gently led her down the hall.
Eventually the silence came.
One last check to see their sleeping angel.
Strangled.
Strangled is a post from: Aztec Books
Meeting the Neighbors
"Come in. I'll make tea. I'm not Christian", I say to the praying man. "I'm a sun worshipper. Our bodies are made of super novas."
I smile and continue, "Long ago, a person was honored to be sacrificed if it brought rain for the crops."
They set down their cups and leave, never returning.
Holly St. Clair
Meeting the Neighbors is a post from: Aztec Books
August 30, 2011
Birthday Wish
A single candle cast ghostly flickers across the room. There should have been forty candles, and laughter, and kisses. She had always made it so. Without her, he was a shadow lurking in a world that once held light and color.
"Come back," he whispered, as he blew out the candle.
Amy Knepper.
Birthday Wish is a post from: Aztec Books
Refugees in Genova, Italy 1940
"David, is that you?" a voice called out behind him, "I am on the Italian line Rex."
"It is canceled. Get on the list for the S.S. Manhattan now," David said coldly.
He watched Nigel run through the crowds of refugees as he whispered, "Oh God, please help me get home."
Refugees in Genova, Italy 1940 is a post from: Aztec Books
August 29, 2011
Hypocratic Hell
I quietly hung up the phone and stared at it, hoping it would disappear along with the memory of that call. A psychologist, making a self-referral for therapy with his son, does not do so proudly.
After a long moment I left the office, its stuffy air and empty walls.
I was the next client.
Hypocratic Hell is a post from: Aztec Books
August 27, 2011
The Confession
The man knelt, abject before the church. Alone in the pooled sunlight leaking through colored glass.
"She was a good girl," he said to God's empty cathedral.
Rope fibers crisscrossed the caked blood on steeple hands.
"Take this cup from me," he prayed.
The sudden, cataclysmic pain at the core of his chest felt—heavenly.
The Confession is a post from: Aztec Books
Life From the Shadows
In my bedroom a demon emerged from my shadow.
It said, "Say my name, and I'll give you life."
"If I refuse?"
"I'll take your life."
One dark hand caressed my throat.
I couldn't speak.
Another hand joined the first.
I gasped, "You are me."
A horned boy was born nine months later.
Life From the Shadows is a post from: Aztec Books
The Cathedral Floor
Marble floor approaches ancient altar. A slave quarried this marble and another made this floor. Millions of knees have touched it. And now his. His are the last. He sees the man enter, with a taut face and a too-bulky jacket. He is sweating. He raises his arms and screams something. The world disappears.
Owen Wiseman.
The Cathedral Floor is a post from: Aztec Books
August 26, 2011
Echoes
Felix turned his rheumy eyes to Sandra, holding the hand he'd held forever.
"Each night I pray for an answer, my darling, but I hear nothing."
Sandra returned his loving gaze with nothing but vacancy. A hollow retaining only echoes of her devotion.
Felix reached for the pillow. A tear fell, absorbed into linen.
Mark Brown.
Echoes is a post from: Aztec Books
August 25, 2011
Mantis
He prayed for this: one night with her. The consequences were immaterial, he was lost the moment she acquiesced. Just one night of immersement, of joy, of power and nobility. He was chosen, above all others, to look her in the eyes and succumb to her hunger.
Mark Brown.
Mantis is a post from: Aztec Books
