Thursday, May 22, 2014

This one got posted on http://www.officemango.com/2014/05/horror-bite-challenge-5/
It is awaiting approval there so read it here first:

The Moth
by Boyd Miles
about 680 words


The moth landed on her eye. She didn't blink, she would never blink again. He watched in fascination as it walked about and occasionally shook its wings. How long he watched he didn't know. Time seemed to have stopped. It was dark but not dark enough to keep him from seeing the moth walk around on her unseeing eye.

It had been a spur of the moment decision, the trip. Just a quick run over to the Highlands of Virginia to buy some maple syrup candy. A silly excuse but it was all they needed. A drive through the mountains looking at the scenery and if they found a place that sold the candy all the better but if not it didn't matter. They had lunch at a dive and joked about how it would probably kill them from food poisoning. It didn't.

They came around a curve with the lowering sun nearly binding them with its glare. A truck was stopped in the road. He hit the brakes and skidded in the curve. Over steered and went over the bank, crashing through the brush and rocks. He thought first of the car, how were they going to get home with a wrecked car? As they went further he began to fear for his wife and himself, the brush and rocks didn't slow him as much as the sheer drop sped their decent. They hit a rock hard enough to set off the airbags but not big enough to stop them and now they continued on blind.

The car began to roll and he lost consciousness.

He came to hanging upside down with the steering wheel pinning him in place. He didn't feel any pain and was too pinned to move much of anything. He looked to his wife and just knew without touching her that she was dead. There was nothing there of her, just a shell of the woman he loved.

A moth landed on her eye and she didn't blink.

It was getting darker. He didn't know if he was passing out or it was really getting darker but it had been late in the day when he went off the road. There was a noise outside and small rocks and dirt slid down the mountainside. The rocks pinging against the car. He could turn his head a bit, not much but he could see the rear view mirror. In the mirror boots, then legs appeared. Two men were scrambling down the new path made by his crashing car. He felt relief, followed instantly by remorse. He was going to be rescued but nothing could save her. It was too late for her. No, he would get to live on with the guilt. He would ask himself why had he driven here, why had he been going too fast, why wasn't he paying more attention to the road. Questions he knew he would be asking the rest of his life.

The two men arrived. He called out to them but they didn't respond. They went around to the other side of the car and with what looked to be a great effort tore the passenger door open. It was too dark to see and now there was blood running into his right eye. He couldn't see them but could tell they undid or cut her seat belt. They grabbed her roughly and the moth flew off her eye and flitted around the car. They pulled her out and off beyond his field of vision. He guessed they were checking her for any signs of life and then would come get him out.
More rocks and dirt rained down and he could see in the mirror as they drug her up the hill by her legs. It was getting darker and he couldn't move his head enough to watch but for a moment before they were gone.

As night came on the temperature dropped. The moth landed on his lips and he couldn't brush it off. It walked around tickling his lips. Almost like a kiss goodnight.

No comments: