Day 88 Ruminating And Writing

Mirror

She had covered all the mirrors in the house with bedsheets. He knew she existed. He knew that she was working against him. It was as if he had known she was here before arriving. As if he had arrived to test her strength. The mirrors had to be covered. He could see her through them. They had met, and he had marked her. This was all a game for him. She could never kill him. He was ancient; he would forever be there, unlike her. He could be banished. That was what her grandmother had done. That was what her mother had tried to do before he killed her. He could kill her, too, and he would surely try. That was the game, and he never played fairly. One thing she had decided was that her line stopped here. If she survived him, she would never let her daughter live through this. It would end this night. She would summon him at the crossroads, but not to make a deal. She was there to challenge him.

Fossil

She pulled the stone from the sand, smoothing her hand over the oval surface. With one swift knock, she cracked it open. She drew her fingers along the fossil lines, tracing back millions of years. She took her notebook from the satchel on her hip and wrote the date, time, and type of fossil she had found. It was an Ammonite. Last week, she found her first Crinoid.

The cold sea water rocked beside her, washing the hem of her skirt. She stood up and dropped the Ammonite she had found in her satchel. She stretched her back and followed her gaze along the shoreline up to the sky, where the clouds were all ready gathering. She would have to leave before the storm hit.

Green Beard

She kept her eyes shut and relived last night. She had danced in the meadow until midnight. She could still feel the summer breeze in her hair and smell the flowers. It had been a divine night. It had felt like the entire world marveled at her and her perfect body, transfixed by her beauty. Magical.

She tipped her toes over the edge of the bed, pushing herself to her feet. She walked past the mirror in her room to the bathroom to wash herself and get ready for the day ahead. She stopped in her tracks and screamed. The woman, her, in the mirror, who screamed back, had a luscious, green beard. She tugged it and wailed from the pain. It had grown overnight. There were flowers, leaves, and twigs tucked among the greenery. Her beautiful blond hair had turned a mossy green, like the beard.

She was ready to cry out again, but there was a whisper. “My darling. My love. You are divine.”

She turned around. There was no one there.

“Go away,” she wailed.

“My love, I cannot. We were wed last night. Don’t you remember?”

She gulped. She thought it had been a dream. The promise she had made last night for the green god. A stupid, girlish fantasy for the midsummer night. Yet, here he was, and she had dedicated her life to him and the earth.

The Prompts are from the book A Year of Creative Writing Prompts.

This is a good morning. I’m not in a hurry anywhere. I have time just to be and concentrate. The exercises I did right after getting up didn’t wear me down, so I have all the stamina to concentrate. It’s like my mind feels more focused today. I’m not constantly shifting my attention from one thing to another. I would say it’s a good day. Today’s prompts felt wrong at first, and I was sure I wouldn’t be able to finish any of them, but I’m glad that all of them came out the way they did. As always, they would need polishing, but the ideas are there. Now, I’m off to edit my book.

Thank you for venturing here! I wish you a lovely summer day ❤