Flashfic: Signal

Great grandmother’s hands were brown and crinkled like the cedar tree in her backyard, yet to shed its papery bark. It was dark out and the cloudless sky was infested with countless flickering lights. Sweet warmth suffused the air with the faint scent of rot from the ground beneath the mango trees drooping down-slope.

Elijah clutched nervously at the pocket of her skirt. He was tiny and timid, the sleeves of his star-speckled pajamas rolled up to his skinny elbows. He trailed after the old wom...