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Irako of the Desert Vice Captain
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 Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2012 10:32 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 3:14 pm
This is my submission for December's contest. I tried to keep it short. This is also the first draft so it's probably crappy. emo
This couldn't be happening.
The doorbell rang again. The elderly woman continued babbling in what may or may not have been English as she frantically continued licking ash off my carpet. The pretty urn I'd bought at the yard sale earlier this morning sat innocently on its side on the floor, piles of pale grey ashes scattered around it. I'd given up trying to pull the lady up from the floor some minutes ago, but I tried to tug her upright again when I peaked out my living room curtains and saw police at my door.
"Harriet Kimbers?" The gruff male voice seemed calm, but that only made me panic more. Regardless of what they were here for, a crazy old stranger licking the floor in my living room couldn't help my case.
Wait.
I paused in my efforts to drag the lady from my house out the back door, and she just crawled back to lick at the ashes again. What was I afraid of? I didn't even know where she came from! From my point of view, this old lady had somehow gotten into my house. I did nothing wrong, she could be the one they want!
I quickly went to my front door and jerked it open. It was then that I saw a tiny, old-but-not-quite-as-old-as-my-floor-lady in front of the two tall officers. The woman looked anxious, and was wringing her hands. I didn't know what that was about, so I looked up at one of the policemen.
"Yes officer? I'm Harriet Kimbers. What can I help you with?"
"Well Mrs. Kimbers," He was polite, but uneasy. Probably because my hair was in disarray and I was sweaty from wrestling with that crazy lady. Hey... this small woman kind of reminded me of her. "This is Miss Saunthorpe, and her mother's gone missing. We were wondering if you saw her wandering the neighborhood?" He handed me a picture, and I couldn't help my gasp of recognition. Floor lady!
"Yes yes! She's in my living room, I've been trying to get her out for the last hour! I was going to call the police any minute now, oh, I can't tell you how thankful I am that you're here! Please! In the living room!"
I was elated that they would take the elderly woman away. The police and the small woman all rushed into the house, and the woman gave a little scream of dismay when she saw what her mother was doing.
"Ay, mama! Not father's ashes!"
I was speechless. I had my doubts, but... seriously? When I woke up this morning, I would not have imagined in my wildest dreams that this could happen. I had been so blissfully ignorant of the future when I went on a walk in our quaint neighborhood, and equally ignorant when I happened to buy a pretty urn that was sealed shut in a garage sale and walk back home with it. I'd made myself a cup of coffee and had walked back out to the living room to admire my new urn when I saw it broken open on my carpeted floor with the crazy strange lady licking the ashes that had spilled out of it.
I snapped out of my reverie in time to see a much younger woman come in with yet another officer. Miss Saunthorpe, who had managed to make the elderly lady stop licking, immediately began yelling at the young woman.
"What were you thinking selling your own grandfather's ashes!!"
I wanted no part of this crazy family argument. And most of all I wanted those ashes out of my carpet.
"How was I to know grandfather was cremated!!" The young woman yelled straight back at Miss Saunthorpe. "Auntie, I told you to put away anything of value! David must have added it with the pots and vases at the garage sale!"
I rubbed my throbbing temple, and felt thankful when the police attempted to calm the shouting women. A part of me really wanted to know how the grandmother licking up the ashes came into this, and a part of me really didn't.
The elderly woman, with the grey ashes stuck to her lips and chin, started sobbing and babbling more. Somehow the other two Saunthorpe women understood her.
"Oh, no Nana!" The young woman shook her head vigorously and ran over to hug the old lady.
"There's no reason to eat father's ashes, mother! No reason at all!" Miss Saunthorpe petted the sobbing lady on the back and to my relief all three began walking out.
I collapsed on my couch and shuddered when I saw the small pile of ashes on my carpet again. There were hand marks and such from that lady wading in it and licking it up. At least now I understood why that urn had been sealed in the first place. I looked up when an officer coughed.
"Um... well. I will have someone come by and... take the ashes off your hands."
"Thank you." I was... a little out of it. "It's been a long morning."
"Well Mrs. Kimbers, have a good day." They left, closing the door behind them. I sighed.
It was just me and the pile of ashes, now. At least until someone came by to vacuum him up and reunite him with his family in a shiny new urn.
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2012 3:30 pm
Bella’s smile was as bright as the sun reflecting off of the banks of snow. She skipped along merrily but kept a firm grasp on the object in her hands. She clung to it like a life line. She had finally done something right. She peeked her head through the cottage door, not wanting anyone to see her surprise and ruin it. Giddily, Bella placed the urn in the center of the table. She stepped back and for once just allowed herself to admire its beauty. It had ornately carved vines wrapping around it, almost as if they had been placed there to encase whatever treasures had been hidden inside.
Bella felt sheer contentment; of all her brothers and sisters she was always looked down upon. She was the one never to be left alone or trusted. But tonight she had finally done something correctly. She saved all of the meager allowance and left over money she could scrap together and bought a gift for the entire family.
“A gesture of kindness can never be looked down upon!” She said to herself as she creeped back into her room. She didn’t want anyone to see her when they finally noticed her surprise, then she could stroll in and nonchalantly say, “Oh? You like it? I’m so glad you liked my choice.” Bella tossed and turned on her bed barely able to contain her excitement. Then the moment she was waiting for came. Her mother was home.
She jumped out of her bed and raced down the stairs but made sure to take a deep breath and calm her nerves so no one could see past her façade. Her mother stood there standing in front of the urn in a state of frozen shock. Slowly she turned to Bella as if acknowledging her existence and raised a trembling finger.
“Did youbring this here?” Bella didn’t even notice her mother’s trembling voice through her excitement and quickly nodded her head, “Oh yes yes! Don’t you lov—“ Her happy euphoria was replaced by a feeling of numbness as she raised her fingers to her stinging cheek. Her mother’s hissing voice cut through the fog that had formed over her head.
“Why can you never do anything right? Why can’t you be like any of your brothers or sisters? Do you even know what you done? I bet not! Bringing dead people into our house! Cursing our home! Now you go take this wretched thing and dump everything inside into the river! Hell even chuck the vase after! Dead people don’t deserve to be in a home after they is dead! They just gonna curse everybody!”
She finally noticed her daughter’s dazed stupor, “Now have you been listening to me!?!” she screeched as she yanked on Bella’s ear,”Now from now on you do exactly as I say! You hear me? My word is final! My word is law!” Bella nodded her head slowly then grabbed the urn and raced out of the house before she could be reprimanded more.
Tears blurred her vision as she realized what she had to do. She could think of no way to defy her mother because the fear she felt for her mother was just too great. “I’m sorry” was all she could whisper as the ashes slipped into the river never to be seen and recognized ever again.
10 years later Bella stood in the same place, next to the exact same river. She looked down at the simple brown urn in her hands and let out a wry smile. She allowed it to fall into the river. “Your word is always final dear mother.” She didn’t even spare a backwards glance as she walked away never to return to that river again.
Heya there~ So this is probably really bad and i was tempted to cut out the last paragraph but what can i say? I enjoy wry humor and irony. So there ya go~
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Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 11:11 am
Exhaling as I lower the vase, this vase didn't seem this heavy in the store. In the store I saw a word wooden vase that would go perfectly with my theme for the living room. It was narrow and rectangular with black paint in strange markings across it. Oddly enough at a certain point the top starts narrowing into a small square hole. I bought it immediately. Now I'm starting to have my doubts, it might leave a mark on my side table if I leave it there. I pick it up off the ground again and lug it into the airy living room. Putting on the couch to survey the room and find the perfect place the vase falls sideways. A smokey dust comes out of it. The thought crosses my mind that I might have bought an urn with someone's dead relative in it. Although it is mildly creepy, I had an idea. I would mix the remains with dirt and grow Asphodelus in it. It was the flower of the dead, perhaps growing it might please whatever spirit might hang close to this urn. Plus it would make for a hell of a story.
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Irako of the Desert Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:36 am
Congrats to Rosabel Sal for winning the December contest!
A new prompt is up for February, but you may begin entering now. I figured that since February is a short month, there should be more time added on to allow more entries to be submitted.
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