Alchera #30: Vaarwel



"Write a scene from the point of view of a character being left by another character. If possible, avoid all clichés of soap operas and televisions and bad books and movies. Unfortunately, that doesn't give you much room to work. It seems everything on this topic has been said to death. You'll need to reach down into your characters to find something fresh, something particular to them. If you want, keep dialogue to a minimum. Work with action and gesture." --The Writer's Idea Book, Jack Heffron

Follow the above guidelines, using the scene in a piece of fiction.




Don’t say it.

Your head became a maypole for a split second; your hair, a million ribbons.

Don’t say it.

Your calves, which had been familiar only to my skin, suddenly became visible, a new landmark never to be discovered... and your gauze skirt flew...

The puddles in your grass-colored eyes were no longer to be seen —look at me once again, just don't say it! —, your body was a distant pillar, a panther on the run, and four ivory fingers stood still on the edge of the door — hesitating? — for a moment which proved to be too short. I stared, trying to grasp an image of you like I should have grasped your arm and bid you to stay. But those four fingers soon vanished too, like a mouse's tail turning around a corner.

"Don't say it," I muttered, over and over again, breathing the young frozen void. "Please, don't say it."

And you didn't. You simply left.