Note: This is something I wanted to post here first, but looks like IE doesn't like Blogspot as much as Mozilla does.

Season of Goodbyes

a flash of fiction

A drunkard's laughter is choked by his barely digested dinner. Somewhere a dog smells a feast. A star falls through the sky. Somewhere a little girl makes a wish.


I stare at the ceiling. There is a dark spot up there, illuminated by moonlight. I could almost snicker at the irony of the thought, illuminated darkness. It looks like a black star in a white sky. She moans in sleep and her arm slips off my chest. I get up and sit in the bed. A heavy air hangs still around the room. I walk to the window and open it up. A cold draft barges in. She shudders. I walk back to her and tuck the soiled bed sheets under her arms. Moonlight reflected off the crusty walls barely lights up her face. Flawless marble. I run my finger down her cheek.

Cold granite.

I don't feel a thing.

I walk up to the balcony door and open it up. Moonlight shimmering off the river in the distance, like a thousand sparkling diamonds. Heartless and cold. I rest my hands on the frosty steel railing. It feels wrong. It feels, warm. I bring a cigarette to my lips. A flick of the thumb and cobalt blue shimmers. I stare at the moon through it. One cold fire to another. Sizzle of the tobacco burning up. A faint dash of orange that lightens up and then grows dim with a sigh. I take a long breath of fire. Even that turns stone cold as it drops into my lungs. Dead. I stare at the moon. Take another deep puff, hold it for a few moments and then blow the cold fire at the moon.

A cloud comes over the moon like a blanket. Somewhere a dark shadow falls. All goes silent.

Cold silence.

I close my eyes. For few moments, the city is me.

Cold. 
Silent. 
Dark.

Somewhere a bottle crashes on the pavement. A drunkard's laughter is drowned in his own bile. Somewhere a dog whimpers.

A stray car streams down the road. I see a young boy by the flickering streetlight. He has a ragged bag over his hunched shoulders. He turns around and looks at me. I take another deep puff. The light flickers, the boy turns around. The light goes out. The boy is gone. I take another deep puff. Or try to. But all that is left is ash. I let it fall down and watch as it hits the pavement.

I get back inside the room. She's still lost in the bliss of nightmares. Again I run my hand down the nape of her neck and rest it on her breast, right at the edge of the sheet. I can still see her lipstick where she bit into the sheets. And I feel nothing.

Flawless marble.

Cold granite.

I don't even wonder if she'll miss me, wish for me to walk into her life again.

I don't stop and turn around to look one last time as I walk through the door for final time. I get off the final step of the stairs and step right into a puddle. Cold water sinks into my shoes. I don't turn to look around at the balcony where I stood moments ago.

A car screams by. A streetlight flickers to life. I feel a pair of eyes watching me. I turn around. In the distance, on the balcony, I can make out a faint silhouette. And even fainter orange glow. The streetlight flickers a few more times.

A flash of tungsten. The silhouette disappears. A light comes on in the room.

Somewhere, a woman makes a wish.

A star falls through the sky.