Today Pegman took us to Billinudgel, NSW, Australia. Many of the pictures I found were of floods, and of course many weren’t, but that’s what caught my eye. Thanks to Karen Rawson for providing the Pegman gang a chance to write another 150-word story.
She hoped the water would keep him away, after all, his boat sank, cars couldn’t get up or down the street, and he couldn’t swim to save his own miserable life.
Maybe he’d drowned when the dam broke. She could hope for that too.
She’d hoped for a few things before. Nothing big. Just kindness topped with a gentle touch and a sweet word.
Instead, he’d delivered anger, solid punches and so many threats she lost track.
So, it was often a surprise when he shredded her dresses or dumped ants in the molasses or . . .
No more surprises. None. It was her turn to win.
She waded through the gasoline-slicked flood water warping her cheap vinyl floors to nail plywood over the windows and boards across the doors.
Humming “Freedom” under her breath, she lit a match, kissed the flame and dropped it on the rainbow ribbons of fuel.
(149-words)
Up From the Ashes 
Oh, tragic. I imagine that by the time she wanted to change her mind it was too late. Tense and gripping.
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Thanks. That’s why she nailed herself inside. No turning back.
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It just goes to show what that much resentment can drive someone too. Unfortunately it’s in the news such a whole lot these days
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It makes me sad when I read, or hear a story on the radio, about a person, man or woman, who would rather die than be with the person who causes them so much pain. Thanks, Larry.
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let it burn…
ha
and the freedom under the breath was an encapsulating sentence
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Thank you. “Freedom” has always been one of my favorite songs.
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and for some reason, I still hear the “freedom” scream from Braveheart every now and then….
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Wonderful read. Keeps your attention right till the end. Great job.
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Thanks so much!
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Goodness, that was very dramatic! I had to read it a couple of times to fully understand it…… there were a lot of photos of some bad floods, that’s for sure!
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Thanks for taking the time to read the story twice.
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Oh how tragic–what a way to go–and what treachery drove her to it. So wonderfully written. I ache for her!
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Thanks, Karen.
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Excellent write, Alicia. It’s always horrible to me when a person chooses death as their freedom…
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It is so sad, isn’t it, that their life must be so horrific they’d rather be dead. Thanks for reading.
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Terribly so. I couldn’t ever imagine it.
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Oh, no. I was hoping she was just going to disappear in the chaos, somewhere he would never track her down. Instead she’d rather go in such a horrific way. Your descriptions of their abusive relationship are all too vivid and believable. Great writing Lish
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Thanks, Lynn. I think some people can be so very mean to others~it’s in their blood so to speak. And the others can be so weak or down-trodden through time they can’t think of how to get away. The games people play.
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Oh, yes, very true on both counts. It’s easy enough from the outside to say ‘why didn’t he/she leave’ but if you’re a little broken in the first place, if you believe they love you, if you’re just too plain scared to go, then abuse can go on for years.
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Dear Alicia
What a dramatic and tragic story!
Your main character ends her own life in a way that shows great determination and forethought. To me that suggests that her behaviour is pathological rather than wholly the result of her abuse. After all, if you want the pain to stop, you don’t deliberately choose a painful way to die. The way you describe her abuser also points that way. Not merely is he a vicious abuser, but he also seems incompetent and perhaps weak (‘couldn’t swim to save his own miserable life’).
Or am I reading too much into the situation?!
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Wow! Thanks for such a thorough comment. I think the main character has been abused for so long she’s lost the will to fight back, possibly because she was fairly weak, to begin with, and didn’t receive the love she expected. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide kind of situation. Thanks for wondering.
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Wow. So much emotion, so much untold yet hinted at, pushing her to that hideous end.
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Perhaps part of the idea came from the kids who burned to death in the theater in Russia. I think that would be a hideous way to die. Thanks for reading, Sarah Ann.
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Wonderfully crafted story – not a word wasted. You imply a so much bigger story about this couple, the backstory of this couple. Poignant ending, and believable.
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Thanks so much for the lovely comment, Francine.
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