A Beautiful Day (250 words)

Yesterday I was with my wife, for the first time since the accident. There had been pain, and hospital stays, and heartbreak, so I was determined that it would be a day of wonder and cheer now that she had been released.

I woke early and prepared her breakfast in bed. The eggs were too runny, I admit, but the toast was golden brown, and we took turns nibbling on it until our lips met. That lasted until the orange juice spilled, staining the sheets. So we showered. Together. I must admit that I had missed this.

Neither of us wanted to be near a car that day, so we decided to walk everywhere. We went to the movies, catching the matinee (I didn’t like it much, but she laughed at the antics on the screen, so I said nothing). We took a picnic on the beach. I built a sand castle, but the surf washed it all away, so we just walked and watched the sun set.

Later, we had dinner, scallops and shrimp. The wine was too bubbly, but we didn’t care about that. We didn’t care about anything but the company. Just ourselves, together at last.

That night, in bed, I asked her what she wanted. “I want to go on like this, forever.” She said. “Please don’t wake up. I don’t want to die again.”

But the phone rang, and I started, and realized I was in bed alone. And I began to weep.

By Anson Bremer

On vamplitpublishing.ning.com we are a community of writers, but down to a man (or woman) we all seem to draw or paint.  On the vamplitpublishing.ning.com site is a professional graphic artist and her work shines like a beacon. If you are thinking of self publishing at all, you should visit her website www.suesart.weebly.com as she produces very clean, vivid and memorable artwork at amazing prices.  Sue is also a very talented writer, who also writes vampire fiction and has published a childrens book recently.  I believe Suesart also offers a discount for all members of vamplitpublishing.ning.com as she, as we do at vamplit, believe in giving aspiring authors a helping hand to get started.  You can contact Sue about her artwork either on suesartor Vamplit Writersto talk about your project.

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Eyes shining, bright as winter moonlight, looked down on her.  Fangs brightly burning with pain sank into her palid skin.  Nothing had prepared her, nothing in life had hurt so much as this fear, this death.  Drowning in her own blood the only thought in her fluffy little brain…Vampire.

Sadie Gray turned the corner carefully avoiding the cracked paving slabs that formed a path to the dilapidated Victorian villa she’d inherited from her parents. Reaching the solid front door, Sadie paused as she always did, daring herself not to enter, daring herself to change. The hall, as usual, smelt slightly of damp and lavender. For thirty-two years four months two days it had always looked, felt and smelt the same way. In Sadie’s life nothing ever changed, all things continued on and on, with nothing to break the monotony. Sadie had long ago given in, taken the path of least resistance and joined the ranks of the dull, tedious masses born to follow a well trodden path into the grave.
Sadie slowly slipped into the comfort zone of her bed, drifting off as soon as her head hit the pillow only to be woken a moment later. Singing infiltrated her subconscious and echoed over and over inside Sadie’s sleep befuddled brain. Sadie heard the voice inside her head, bouncing off every wall in her bedroom and moving her from the warmth of the covers into the cold of the night.
‘Sadie Gray, Sadie Gray, come out and play, Sadie Gray’ he sang over and over, the moonlight shining as bright as day. ‘Come on, Sadie, invite me in, it’s cold out here and I’m hungry.’
‘Last chance, Sadie Grey’ he shouted while she hesitated. Finally something, she thought as she ran downstairs feet bare and caution thrown to the wind.
Sadie opened the garden door for the familiar stranger ‘Invite me in Sadie, I’ve come to set you free’ he said, smiling with bright white teeth and eyes shining like the moon.
‘Please.’ Sadie whispered as she stood aside in invitation.
‘Dull, dead Sadie, you should have stayed in bed.’ he said, reaching for her throat.
She felt the tendons in her neck tighten as he forced her back, his ravenous teeth the pale flesh of her neck leaving a gaping, pulsing portal into her soul. Pain as bright as lightning and sharp as a knife sliced through her, electrifying every nerve in her body. Pleasure merged with screaming agony as life, however dull, became death.
‘Hooray Sadie Gray is dead’ the vampire sang, as he walked down the street, invisible in the sunrise. Last of her blood, the final mortal remnant of the monster who made him. Revenge a dish best served cold had been delicious, he smiled. He’d searched the world and found the path to her door cracked with age and neglect. The vampire happily sang himself into oblivion.

Waiting he watches and rocks. No sound penetrates his gloomy tomb. Bile and the stale smell of rancid, decaying flesh fills the air around him. God had forsaken him, given him into the care of the soulless monks. Now he was as putrid as the rats. Cast out of the world, separate, unclean, ancient and undead.

Long ago he had stumbled into this lonely place, hungry and desperate for shelter. The dull flickering of a tallow candle and the strange muttering drew him.  Trapped forever, his crimes known and eternal punishment his reward, he had become insane.

The first time he saw her was a crisp, clear November morning. A child taking small, skipping steps on the path by the woods. The clean light of youth washed over his cankerous soul. He smiled and in a moment was transformed, whole and joyous again. Her innocence washed him cleaner everyday and the years sped by. The monk’s torture faded and he lived, a little, in the world of light.

Years passed, but to him, she stayed eternally young. He noticed, as the years passed, that other children came with her. They held her hand and pulled on her clothes. These children of the light then bought other children with them and all the laughter in the world seem to fill his soul. Then nothing. The emptiness filled him and he howled with the grief and pain of loss. His world again turned black as the night and his soul.

Cursed, lifeless and abandoned by man and God. Life eternal, the monks torture and his punishment for the lives he had taken, the flesh of the innocents he had consumed. Madness slowly returned, muttering and cursing, still he could not escape his fate. The sunlight burnt him and at night his tomb was locked by a thousand holy words spoken by the wickedly pious monks more than two hundred years before.

Time passed, he did not know how long. Eventually he saw her again. Young and bright and light as a feather, as she skipped on the path by the wood. Sunshine filled his soul and in a moment he was sane again. Watching in glorious shock as the as the moon began to pass across the sun. Finally he could escape, renew himself and feed. His salvation skipped not a hundred yards from his tomb. Opening the door at the very last moment, as light and dark merged, he ran towards the place where she was standing.

Nothing, his eyes transformed for night saw only emptiness. Alone, he stood shocked as the first rays of sunlight hit him. The cleansing light burnt through the dead flesh on his bones.  All his sins iridecent in the fire and light.

The ghost paused on her daily walk and smiled up at the tomb on the hill. Maybe she would tell her mummy of the burning ground or maybe…. Then all thought was gone as she continued home where her mother was eternally waiting.

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