Category Archives: pain

April 9, 2014

‘Hairpin’ #AtoZChallenge

Please, oh please, oh please, was all she could think as she raced to reach the hospital. The call had come nearly thirteen minutes ago. She’d dropped everything and ran from the house. It was a beautiful summer day; he’d asked if he could ride his bike with the neighboring boys. It was a big moment for him; they’d never invited him along before. There was no reason to say no – she was so proud to see her little man growing up.

Oh, God! He just learned to ride last month, I should never have said yes! Her own thoughts tugged at her as she narrowly missed being crushed by a semi hauling lumber as she darted around a slow moving car in her lane. She panicked the moment she heard his name, she didn’t listen to the rest of what the nurse had said. All that mattered was getting to Robbie.

BWWAAHHH! A blaring horn interrupted her thoughts. She was rounding a hairpin turn in the outside lane passing yet another car when she looked over at the driver. He was trying to signal her; swinging his arms wildly as he screamed from inside his own vehicle. She glanced forward just in time to see a cement truck bearing down on her at full speed. Slamming the brakes and yanking the wheel hard to the left, she saw a flash of metal just before her tires left the road.

The car tumbled down the wooded mountainside. As it careened off trees and rocks, the sound of shattering glass and screeching metal was a symphony of noise in the cramped interior. Mouth stretched open; the violent downward motion choked back her scream. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, what took mere seconds turned into infinity as she watched through the cracked windshield. The car eventually came to rest in the ravine; all was silent inside.

(part one of two… tomorrow, ‘I’, will be part two)

Welcome to my April AtoZ Blog Challenge post! I hope you enjoyed my ramble, and come back for more! Don’t forget to visit the other bloggers participating by clicking on the badge to the right, or simply using this link. :}

18 Comments | tags: 2014 AtoZChallenge, Blog hop, flash fiction, H, Hairpin, Nina D'Arcangela, Sotet Angyal, The Dark Angel | posted in 2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge, Flash, Flash Fiction, loss, pain, Writing

April 8, 2014

‘Grass’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

I’ll sing to you, my love, a song so sweet it will echo for eternity. I long to be near you, but you’ve been taken away to a place I cannot follow. Our hopes and dreams now only memory. I mourn the loss of each cherished moment, each impassioned embrace. I come to this field, run my fingers through the dewy grass as the sun arrives; bask in the shadows as the day retreats. I reach for you, much as I reach for the times we’ll never share again, yet always my hand strikes this vile marker placed above your grace. Still, I feel your radiant smile as I sing; it broadens with each blush upon my cheek. My heart in your hands, as yours is in mine, always.

13 Comments | tags: 2014 AtoZChallenge, Blog hop, flash fiction, G, Grass, Nina D'Arcangela, Sotet Angyal, The Dark Angel | posted in 2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge, Flash, Flash Fiction, loss, muse, pain, Writing

April 4, 2014

‘Debris’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

Pushing his way through the crowd in a near panic, the old man searches each and every face, praying to God that one of them belongs to his grandson. Back at the house, the ruckus of screeching brakes as the train derailed woke them all earlier than expected. He, however, woke moments before it began with a dreadful pit in his stomach. Still searching the faces, he catches sight of a book fluttering on the side of the tracks, a sketchbook. His heart clenches and he nearly drops to the ground from the pain, but he can’t – he has to know. Making his way through the debris, he looks down, and there among the other rubble is a rendering of the most beautiful woman he has ever seen; it’s his own wife the way she looked on their wedding day, the way she looks in the portrait that hangs over the dining room mantle.

With a shaking hand, he begins to reach for it, but falls as his knees give way. Police and onlookers rush to his side; he knows they are speaking to him, but can’t make out their muffled voices as their hands try to lift him to his feet. It’s all a blur of motion and sound, his only focus is the dried blood splattered across the page. The soul-wrenching horror of a celebration that will never take place pushes him beyond his body’s limit. As the burgeoning morning blackens to night once more before his eyes, he has a fleeting thought – his grandson describing the eerie, almost mystical way 250 tons of speeding metal hurtling down the tracks is nearly silent until it’s just upon you…

(part two of two… yesterday, ‘C’, was part one)

8 Comments | tags: 2014 AtoZChallenge, Blog hop, D, Debris, flash fiction, Nina D'Arcangela, Sotet Angyal, The Dark Angel | posted in 2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge, Flash, Flash Fiction, loss, muse, pain, Writing

April 3, 2014

‘Cat Nap’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

The tracks seem so lonely at night, that’s one of the things he likes about coming here – the solitude. Most kids his age would rather hang out with their friends, or go to a party. But not him, he likes the quiet of the night and the silence of the tracks. He’s been coming here as often as he can since he was knee high to a grasshopper, that’s what his gramps says. His grandfather is the only one who knows about his late night forays to the station. It’s their secret, has been for the better part of fourteen years. Yeah, it’s lonely out here at night, but that’s alright with him.

He walks the fifty yards or so down the tracks to the last lamp post past the junction and sits down, sketch book in hand. One day, after he becomes famous, he’s going to come back here and draw that lamp post, and the view back to the station – well, the shack that holds the automatic ticket dispenser and bench that everyone calls a station. But for tonight, his last night before going off to college, he’ll sit and draw like he’s done every other night. Once his pencil starts moving, his hand will know what to do.

Looking down at what he’s sketched, he thinks to himself, not too bad. He’s happy, but stiff and sore. He needs to get home and catch a cat nap before helping his mom set up for the going away party she’s planning for him. Stretching to his feet, he relishes the smell of the predawn musk that hangs in the air – there’s nothing like it, and he knows he’ll miss it when he’s away. Collecting his knapsack, still looking down at the drawing, he starts heading back to the junction.

(part one of two… tomorrow, ‘D’, will be part two)

12 Comments | tags: 2014 AtoZChallenge, Blog hop, C, Cat Nap, flash fiction, Nina D'Arcangela, Sotet Angyal, The Dark Angel | posted in 2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge, Flash, Flash Fiction, loss, muse, pain, Writing

April 2, 2014

‘Bloom’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

The tantalizing scent from years gone by draws her to the past. Ruminating once more, she sits before the window and looks out over the garden. The laughter and joy of children running amongst the flowers and tall grasses brings a sad smile to her face. She leans her head upon the pane, her delicate hand reaching up to join with the leaded glass as well. Shifting to stare upward toward the warm glow of the sun, she squints. With a sigh, her eyes drop to her lap, her hand follows. She longs to run in the tall grasses, to play amongst the riot of fragrant flowers now in bloom, but alas, the braces upon her legs no longer allow such things. No matter the grandeur surrounding her, it does nothing to alleviate the pang of loss she feels. She rolls back to the desk and rings for the nurse, her sole companion during the hours her uncle is at work. The brace upon her left leg is beginning to chafe once more; it irritates what little skin she is able to feel. She longs for her mother, her father, but most of all – her younger brother. The year is 1957; the news she reads is encouraging but for her, it comes too late.

16 Comments | tags: 2014 AtoZChallenge, B, Blog hop, Bloom, flash fiction, Nina D'Arcangela, Sotet Angyal, The Dark Angel | posted in 2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge, Flash, Flash Fiction, loss, muse, pain, Writing

April 1, 2014

‘Abrade’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

A girl stands alone upon a cliff; the winds abrade the stone face of the rock much as they abrade her worn and tattered memories. Memories once held dear and cherished, memories never meant to betray or show the truth behind the lie… memories that should have carried her through a lifetime of sorrows both overwhelming and small. Buffeted by the wind, tossed about by the images playing in her mind, she opens her arms as she opens her eyes. Her tears glisten on the edge of the precipice. Spilling forth, they are carried on the breeze to yet another sorrowful moment in her existence.

Welcome to my A to Z Blog Challenge post! I hope you enjoyed my ramble, and come back for more! Don’t forget to visit the other bloggers participating by clicking on the badge to the right, or simply using this link. :}

24 Comments | tags: 2014 A to Z Challenge, A, Abrade, Bloghop, flash fiction, Nina D'Arcangela, Sotet Angyal, The Dark Angel | posted in 2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge, Flash, Flash Fiction, loss, muse, pain, Writing

December 4, 2013

I See You

By Nina D'Arcangela

Just take a deep breath
slow yourself down
just ease the fuck off
I’ve shown you your worth.

Just fill my wants
give me more
just try harder
your needs don’t matter.

Just come when I call
be grateful for my scraps
just take what I give
go away when I don’t want you.

Why can’t you understand
why don’t you try harder
why won’t you be what I need
damn it, do this my way.

Just leave me alone
learn to obey
always put me first
know that I love you.

16 Comments | tags: crappy poem, give, need, pain, take, want | posted in pain, Quirky, Reflections

October 30, 2013

Coffin Hop 2013 ~ Blink

By Nina D'Arcangela

Blink

I cower in the corner trying not to hear the scuttling sounds from the attic. The scratching of tiny claws, the beating of miniscule feet, the giggling of inhuman laughter – it’s maddening! I don’t know how much more of this I can take. Frozen in terror, I’m not sure I have the will to force my body to move. I shift slightly as my left calf begins to cramp. Silence – the noises from above have stopped. Did they hear me? I should run; this may be my only chance!

Gathering my wit’s about me, I lean forward placing one hand on the floor in front of me. Still nothing from above. Bolder now, I place the other hand on the floor and shift my weight. The damn wood betrays me as the old boards squeal. I freeze in mid crouch listening for signs of movement from above. All remains quiet.

My crawl from the corner is agonizingly slow. What in reality takes only a few seconds, feels like an eternity to my pounding heart. I’ve made it to the center of the room. Pausing for a moment, I glance up toward the hatch that separates the attic from the bedroom.

My lungs sucking for breath, my body shaking uncontrollably – I’m ashamed to admit I wet myself. The corner of the hatch is ajar; two sets of blinking eyes stare down at me in silence. Then a fifth eye blinks open, quickly followed by its accompanying sixth. As I watch, a multitude of tiny gleaming orbs struggle to see through the slight gap. I stare in horror as the hatch lifts further to allow more of the beings a view of what’s below.

The hatch now completely open, the small creatures stare at me from every available space. I begin to wonder if they are harmful or not. One of them speaks, I cannot discern if it is meant for me, so I continue to look upward mutely. A muffled reply sounds from farther back in the open space above. The first, turning its head, speaks again. This seems to excite those gathered around the hatch. They began to fidget; bouncing and bumping into one another. The one that was speaking turns and looks down at me. This time it makes no pretense of hiding its wickedly-long, slender teeth – teeth clearly intended to rip meat from bone.

Coffin Hop Goodies!

How do you get them? Comment on my Coffin Hop 2013 posts on this blog – I’m posting something new each day, so keep coming back for more chances to win. When will they be announced? When the hop ends (after October 31st). What are they going to be? A surprise! I like surprises, don’t you? ;}

Don’t forget to visit my other two blogs that are participating:
Spreading the Writer’s Word
The Road to Nowhere…

and the Sirens Call Publications blog:
The Sirens Song

plus the blog for the writing group I belong to:
Pen of the Damned

and all the other amazing hoppers on the Coffin Hop list!

26 Comments | tags: 2013, attic, Blink, Coffin Hop, creature, fiction, flash, giveaway, horror, Nina D, Nina D'Arcangela | posted in Coffin Hop 2013, Flash, Flash Fiction, Horror, muse, pain, Prizes, Quirky, twisted

October 29, 2013

Coffin Hop 2013 ~ Love

By Nina D'Arcangela

Love

“Please,” I shrieked, “please stop!” but he kept hitting me. It began with a slap across the mouth for a simple comment. He backhanded me when I mentioned the bathroom sink was beginning to clog. He took it as an insult, told me I didn’t respect him and the hard work he put into keeping this dump livable. I could see it in his eyes, as soon as my lip began to trickle, the blood excited him. Trying to diffuse the situation, I told him it wasn’t his fault, and I would make sure a plumber took a look at it right away.

He called me a stupid cunt. I tried to run, but he fisted my hair and dragged me across the bed. Yanking my head backward painfully, he screamed at me to open my eyes and look at him. I didn’t want to; I knew what he would see.

As soon as he saw the fear in my eyes, a grin spread across his face, his breathing began to quicken. He jerked his arm viciously, snapping my neck even further. Then the first punch fell; it crushed my nose and I began to gasp for air as blood poured down my throat. Eager to cause more pain, he punched again and again until I couldn’t breathe and began to choke. Then he threw my head forward; the blood gushed from my lips, my wracking cough enough to tell him I could take more.

Walking around the other side of the bed, he again used my hair to drag my struggling body onto the floor. I heard my hip snap upon contact with the hardwood. He did too. I looked up through swollen, battered eyes and gurgled, “Please…” It was all he needed to enrage the indignant fire that burned within him. Lifting me to my knees, his first kick landed in my broken hip. He released me, and I flopped onto my back. He began to stomp my body. Trying desperately to get away, I rolled onto my side. Blinding pain shot through me as the pieces of shattered bone in my hip shifted. I tried to curl into a fetal position, but he reached down and broke my arm so I couldn’t protect my head. I could feel his hot breath as he hissed, “You’ll never disrespect me again, bitch!”

The beating seemed to last forever, the ferociousness of his attack unlike any I’d experienced before. And there had been many, for greater indiscretions than this. Somehow, I managed to push myself backward toward the wall with my good leg. Watching my pathetic attempt, he slammed his foot into my curled midsection, hurling my body into the corner I hoped would be my salvation.

With my back to the wall, I lay there barely breathing. I could see nothing out of my blood-smeared swollen lids, could form no words with my destroyed jaw. Both arms and one leg were completely useless; a soft mewling escaped my throat. I heard the bathroom sink turn on, heard him wash his hands under the running water. When the water stopped, I listened as the drain slowly dispelled the water with a slow suckling gurgle.

Hearing his boots clomp back to the bedroom, my wrecked body began to shake uncontrollably. In a casual tone, he mentioned that he might need to call a plumber about the drain just before his boot crushed my esophagus. While I lay there wheezing in the fading light, I listened as he whistled to himself, changed his blood-spattered clothes and went out for the evening.

Coffin Hop Goodies!

Don’t forget to visit my other two blogs that are participating:
Spreading the Writer’s Word
The Road to Nowhere…

and the Sirens Call Publications blog:
The Sirens Song

plus the blog for the writing group I belong to:
Pen of the Damned

and all the other amazing hoppers on the Coffin Hop list!

24 Comments | tags: 2013, abuse, Coffin Hop, fiction, flash, giveaway, horror, love, Nina D, Nina D'Arcangela | posted in Coffin Hop 2013, Flash, Flash Fiction, Horror, pain, twisted

October 28, 2013

Coffin Hop 2013 ~ Devotion

By Nina D'Arcangela

Devotion

Wrapping my arms about you, your long locks caressing my face in the gentle gust. I reach up and stroke your hair back into place. I smile down at you, your clear blue eyes taking on an aquamarine glimmer in the brilliant rays of the sun. Leaning forward, I place a gentle kiss upon your full lips. They’re frigid beyond belief, not with lack of desire, but from the coolness of the autumn season. Wrapping the blankets tighter around you, I cuddle in closer, hoping to share my own warmth with you. You are all that matters to me. Was that the twitch of a smile I see? I laugh with joy as I hold you closer, trying to warm your cold body. I talk of plans we have for our future together, delight in allowing my mind to wander to the exotic destinations we’ll travel to as I describe them, knowing an eternity awaits us. My head upon your breast, I speak of such things for hours.

Looking up into your eyes once more, I see peace and tranquility there. I see my future reflected in those beautiful glistening orbs. Again, I arrange your wind-mussed-hair, make perfect your countenance, for you are perfect, and I’ll see you no other way. As I run my fingers through your luxurious blonde mane, my thumb brushes your cheek rougher than I would like. The smudge of your makeup reveals a bruise upon your creamy flesh. I kiss your cheek, I apologize profusely for hurting you. More makeup smears as my lips move over your skin. My brow creases as I look upon you again. Something is not quite right. Lifting myself to one elbow, I stare into your face… I begin to scream.

***

“Damn, man! Why do they keep letting her do this to herself? It seems cruel, if you ask me.”

“The Doc says it’s a form of therapy. She can’t come to grips with what she’s done. He thinks bringing her here and letting her lay on the grave might save her. More likely to break her for good, if you ask me.”

“I don’t know, man, it seems twisted. I know she was convicted on an insanity plea, but is this any less fucking sick than keeping your dead girlfriend propped up like some frigging Jenny doll in your bedroom?” He snuffed out his cigarette, “I mean, damn. Look at her. It’s like she’s really holding the dead chick the way she cups her arms… and the talkin’, it’s like she’s really talkin’ to somebody. Then the screams, man – I hear those fucking screams in my sleep every night. Why make her relive it over and over again. I think the Doc gets off on letting her dress up and do this. Why doesn’t he just give her some of those anti-psychotic pills everyone else gets? It’s been like five months now, right bro?”

“Shit, man. Don’t ask me – I just work here. There she goes, running toward the street again. I’ll get her this time, you just have the restraints ready.”

Coffin Hop Goodies!

Don’t forget to visit my other two blogs that are participating:
Spreading the Writer’s Word
The Road to Nowhere…

and the Sirens Call Publications blog:
The Sirens Song

plus the blog for the writing group I belong to:
Pen of the Damned

and all the other amazing hoppers on the Coffin Hop list!