As Halloween approaches, I thought it might be appropriate to share a creepy, short story I wrote a few years ago.
New Beginnings
By Andrea Morrill
September 2014
Looking back, I should have suspected something. He had taken my news too well, even calmly. The storm clouds of his temper that I had expected to rattle my resolve had given way not to thunder and lightening, but to a bright, cloudless sky. Almost an artificial calm.
That was in the beginning. Now I sat powerless, shocked, as he continued painting me with delicate strokes and lifelike color. With each movement of his brush I resisted letting tears fall or crying out. No one would have heard me any way.I forced my gaze to the magnificent painting hung on the wall just beyond his shoulder. It almost looked like the mist rose and rolled over itself, like an occasional fish leaped for a dragonfly skirting the pond's surface, leaving ripples of its passing. Sunlight seemed to trickle through the trees and create a maze of shadows.
"It didn't have to be like this."
His soft voice held hard edges that matched his gaze. Each stroke was measured and sure. Furrowing his brow with concentration, he caught the amber and gold hues that erased the locks cascading over my petite shoulders and duplicated them on the woman in the painting.
Soon, my arms and legs drained of color, shape, and substance. Pins and needles traveled up and down them; their life and likeness captured in art near the water's edge below the castle overlooking the cliff.
"This is your fault," he hissed. "You could have made a different choice."
I felt my torso being drawn away. A gasp broke free from my throat, making the woman in the painting shudder. She bit her lip.
"We could have been happy," he snarled.
The room around me spun and dimmed. He continued talking. His voice dulling and disappearing before reappearing to the accompaniment of the roaring waterfall and calls of birds rising on the gentle breeze. Shadows shifted, separating and elongating. I looked at my hands and flexed my fingers despite the wet paint.
A sigh escaped my lips. The perfect trap.
Deep in the woods a dog barked followed by a single rider emerging on horseback from the trees. "Welcome," he called. "Let's get you settled in."
(Note: Please do not share any parts of this story without my permission or without attributing this story to me as the author.)
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