Real Nightmare – FWG- FB – 300 word flash fiction based on the picture below. Trigger warnings: Domestic violence.

Her long white gown trailed across the forest floor as she quickly moved forward in desperation. The fallen wet twigs crunched underneath her bare feet, pressing into her soles. The pain, more bearable than his evil insults. His words hurt more than any punch he could throw.

She was a prisoner in her own home. 

Her tear-soaked hair followed her. She turned to make sure she was still alone. 

“He’s gone.”  She whispered.

“He’s gone?” She questioned herself.

“Please………” She no longer had a choice.

She pressed her back against the last tree before the clearing. She slid down and pulled her knees under her chin – covering her eyes, she wept. 

Dinner and a movie, that’s how it began. Years later, he was still there. He invaded her home, taking from her everything she worked for.  She couldn’t breathe. He sucked up every inch of her air. 

She had to go back and fight for what was hers.

She sat and waited, purposely flooding herself with memories of a stronger, more diligent woman, a fierce and powerful warrior for all of mankind. She refused to be destroyed by a squirrel of a human, a nibbler of the heart.

“A nibbler of the heart?” She laughed. Her spoken thought provoked a more satisfying resolution to her living situation.

“If he’s not gone. I’ll rid myself of him.” Her conversation heard only by the giant, naked trees.

She rushed back.

With all her might, she unwedged the ax from winter’s wood stump.

Fearless, she approached the back door of her home.  

Slowly turning the knob, she watched her muddied feet contact the hardwood floor. She dragged the ax behind her. 

 

“Uhhhhhhhh…..” She gasped, sat up in her bed and looked around, relieved, realizing he’d been gone for well over a decade.