Category Archives: Writing

April 24, 2014

‘Under’ #AtoZChallenge

Under a bright blue summer sky, I lie back in the grass and smile up at the sun. I feel the warmth of its kiss upon my cheeks and imagine it smiling back at me. I close my eyes, let my head drift to the side while feathery pieces of hair tickle my face, and I listen.

I hear life’s heartbeat. I hear the birds calling out to one another in their sublime chitter-chatter. I hear leaves dancing upon the breeze as each bow sways. I eavesdrop as the grass whispers its subtle secrets, feel the vibrancy nurturing each blade. I sense the fluttering of a dragonfly as it zips to and fro. Dragonflies always find me; they come to murmur their hello. I smell earthy soil, the heat only a summer’s day can bring, I smell happiness. The scent of youth and joy, love found and lost, only to be found yet again. I remember days gone by, ones in which I would run freely through a field and laugh, only to be captured, held, kissed, cherished. I lie upon the warm blanket of green and experience so much.

Some may say this is a waste of time, so call me a fool, but know – this is time. Life offers her abundance to us all; we’ve only to open our eyes, our ears, our hearts, and our souls to absorb it. I choose to cherish life and offer my abundance in return.

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. :}

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

April 23, 2014

‘Twang’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

There was an audible twang. Turning back, he wrinkled his brow in disgust. Four! Four perfectly placed stitches had torn loose so far. He was baffled and more than a bit annoyed. Peering at the remainder of the skein, he examined it for defects; it looked perfectly fine. He wrapped a short length around his fingers and gave a hard tug. He received nothing but resistance for his effort. A bit perplexed, his fingers slipped between her lips to remove the defective stitch; he inspected it thoroughly with a loop before discarding it with the others.

Making his way to the old apothecary cabinet his grandfather had used many years ago, he opened each draw until he finally found what he was looking for. Cat gut! Sometimes the old fashioned way was the only way. Threading the much thicker needle with the coarse sinew, he again finished the sutures. He stood and stared in consternation for a good ten minutes willing them to stay fast yet daring them to break free. Finally satisfied, he turned to reach for the clay and began the final stages of reconstruction.

Two hours later, after finishing the cosmetic details, he gazed down upon the face he had just rebuilt and was pleased with his efforts. He’d done a fine job of covering the blemishes and abused areas. She looked peaceful, but the sedative would soon wear off. After a brief wait, a slight murmur reached his ears; one eye began to tear open. As his grandfather used to say, ‘death was just around the corner, one had to always be prepared,’ though he doubted his grandfather had meant it in quite the same way.

With a deep sigh, he inserted a trocar into her femoral vein to drain the body, then moved to insert another into her brachial artery to introduce the embalming fluid. The art of embalming was one so few had the opportunity to appreciate. Apparently, she was not in an appreciative mood.

8 Comments | tags: 2014 AtoZChallenge, Blog hop, flash fiction, Nina D'Arcangela, Sotet Angyal, T, The Dark Angel, Twang | posted in 2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge, Flash, Flash Fiction, Horror, pain, Writing

April 22, 2014

‘Sting’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

A brief but brutal spasm of pain shoots through her head followed by the gut wrenching memory of the last seeing. It draws her to her knees. The peace and serenity of the past now forever tainted. A flash through time, her mind reels; his eyes peer back into hers, the chalice is thrown, the fluid within betrays her trust. A warning forgotten, perhaps dismissed, arrogance assures her safety in this hallowed realm. Never has she been so wrong.

As she watches, the assailant approaches his target in the dark abandoned lot. A struggle ensues, but ends in a mere blink; the violence feeds her hunger, holds her in its thrall. She misjudges; allows the corridor to widen, permits him to see her watching. For a brief moment, the portal opens on both sides. She sits stunned as he jabs the narrow pig sticker through the wavering fluid and into her left eye.

Now, when it is a seeing night, she seeks only the most remorseful; souls in need of comfort and caring, not the heart-pounding excitement of an outcome unknown. Now, when it is a seeing night, she sees with only one eye – the other forever clouded and dead to the world. Knowing better, she no longer reaches for the vials containing drops of venom. Having learned her lesson well, the wasps’ sting will forever be with her – but always more so on a seeing night.

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

April 21, 2014

‘Revealed’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

Tears run in rivulets between the ashen layers – they carve their own landscape in the hardening cushion of falling powder. Fathers, mothers, small children, they reach for one another; some huddle close with barely a moment to spare, others remain a hands-width apart – all held fast in anguish as death sets upon them. This thriving valley swiftly transforms into a diorama of human terror and suffering.

Many years go by, a window into the past is unearthed; horrors the likes of which mankind has never seen before are revealed. A visage of haunting forms preserved in their final moments of agony – life pocketed in a cocoon of time; tragedy locked in the layers of its vice-like grip. Coincidence that this stroke of Mother Nature’s brush was encapsulated with such precision, or warning that another is coming?

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

April 19, 2014

‘Quartz’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

Mines get hot as hell once you get down the bottom of the drift, but not near as suffocatin as further in where the vein’s runnin. It’s hard work, but good work if you can get it. They say a miner, he either got the nose for it or he don’t. And the one’s that do, well, they got themselves a job for life. Me, I got the nose. The crew I’m on, they follow where I say to go. I tell the crew boss I think the vein’s runnin over there in that direction, then that’s the direction we dig. Don’t fool yourself, there’s skill involved, plenty of it. Ain’t easy swingin a pick axe all day long. Quartz reef minin ain’t for everyone. Most men go bat-shit-crazy just thinkin ‘bout bein this far underground. Not me though, me and the crew I’m on, we climb in that bucket every day, head down here, do our job, and collect our pay; no bitchin, no fightin – no problems for the crew boss means no firin. You gotta trust these men to have your back, without that trust; too many of us never see the surface again. I ain’t planning to be one of ‘em. You think the corporation give a shit, they don’t. A man dies down here, the suits give his wife just barely enough to feed herself and her babies for a month, maybe less – it’s disgustin. But everybody wants to keep their job, so we don’t say nothin. The crew bosses, they’re alright though, they take up a small collection, then they make up the difference from their own pockets. They go ‘round every week or so, make sure everybody is healthy and eatin. It’s like a family, nobody talks ‘bout it, we just do it. I just hope it don’t pinch-out ‘for I do.

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

April 18, 2014

‘Petals’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

Petals drift softly upon the breeze; they twirl, they dance,
they float, they soar

The day you were born to me was the day I knew
you were lost to me

Glorious in pale pink, flushed deeper on your edges,
how you outshone the others

You began to drift away, I reached for you,
but there were so many

You sang as you lifted high upon the current,
free from my arms at last

Then the air stilled, you spiraled downward and I,
stiff with age, could do nothing

You settled in a soft plume of vibrant green,
a lush cushion to rest upon

I watched, I smiled, then a moistened drop of dew fell,
followed by another

The torrent began, you were trampled by the onslaught
and I wept for your pain

The sun shines once more, I see tattered pieces
of beauty all around me

I know you are among them, with that
I will rest easy

9 Comments | tags: 2014 AtoZChallenge, Blog hop, flash fiction, Nina D'Arcangela, P, Petals, Sotet Angyal, The Dark Angel | posted in 2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge, loss, pain, Reflections, Writing

April 17, 2014

‘Once’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

Do I know you? Certainly I’ve seen you somewhere before? Your face is so familiar, but I can’t quite place it. It seems I should, know you that is. I remember now – your eyes. I’ve seen your eyes before, bright and glistening; dancing shades of blue and green with a hint of ocher when the sunlight strikes them so. Beautiful, your eyes; but something else as well – something deeper, something hidden. You mask it well, the pain, the sorrow, the dejection; the overwhelming regret. You’ve a knack for such things, don’t you? Constructing an elaborate veil to keep the world at bay? But eyes, they reveal what lives within if one is honest enough to look. I always remember a set of eyes; particularly ones guarding wounds so old yet still so raw. Yes, I’ve seen your eyes before, though it seems I choose to forget this particular set until the mirror forces me to see their grief once more.

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

April 16, 2014

‘Noise’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

Legs dangling from the tiny wooden foot bridge, the drift of the brook carries my feet afloat. The air is damp and heavy this evening with a cloying fog left behind by the rains.

On warm summer nights like this, I often sleep on the screened porch so that I can hear the rain drum on the tin roof, feel its spray through the mesh covering the windows. When the rain stops, I wander without shoe or sock in the damp meadow bordering our small parcel. Beyond the meadow lies the thinning perimeter of a forest; tall, young birch trees skirting the edge. A dirt path leads to the foot bridge, the feel of damp earth on my feet a texture I enjoy as much as the wet grass. Sitting on the bridge in my pajama shorts and tank top, damp hair clinging to my face, I let the current stroke my feet clean.

Hearing a faint noise, I turn but can barely see the handrail of the bridge itself, let alone any farther. I dismiss it as a curious animal emerging from its den after the downpour. I hear nothing further, but the small hairs on the back of my neck begin to rise. I turn again, expecting to find something or someone upon me. Again, nothing is there. I refuse to be spooked by my own imagination. After several minutes, I neither hear nor feel anything further.

Legs still dangling, I lay back and rest on the wooded planks of the bridge. The late hour, calming fog, and soothing water conspire to lull me to sleep. I wake – after how long, I don’t know, but I notice the forest is eerily quiet, unnaturally so.

Pushing to my elbows, I wipe a hand across my face to clear my own inner fog. I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. Whispering a tentative hello, I pull my legs up, but they don’t seem to want to work. Still focused in the direction of the movement, I reach down with my left hand to rub the feeling back into my limbs. I feel slick wood, slicker than it should be, but nothing else. Shocking paralysis grasps me by the throat; I go dead still, unable to move. Finally, my head obeys and pivots to look downward. Blood gushes from my severed knees, I stare in shock and disbelief, but still I feel no pain. Then I hear it, a growling that begins not from behind me, but from below me. I watch as it rises from the water and continues to grow in size. My voice once again finds me, and as I begin to scream; the low growl morphs to an enraged shriek.

8 Comments | tags: 2014 AtoZChallenge, Blog hop, flash fiction, N, Nina D'Arcangela, Noise, Sotet Angyal, The Dark Angel | posted in 2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge, darkness, Flash, Flash Fiction, Horror, Writing

April 15, 2014

‘Memory’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

Why does a building in ruin speak so directly to me? What allure does a dank, musty corridor hold that a newer structure lacks? Beyond being one who embraces her wanderlust, I’m also drawn to the decay and sense of abandonment such places effuse. What stories have they to tell, what past once thrived within the now crumbling walls? What of the soul that may still canvas the lonely walkways? How do I turn my back on the call, look away when something begs to be seen? How am I to fight the desire to lay my eyes on what has long since gone unnoticed, unwanted, unwelcome? Perhaps I’m not meant to turn and walk away. Perhaps I’m one of the few who must see, must feel, must know what such a place wishes to whisper. Am I to consider myself a chronicler of all things forgotten, one who sits in judgment of those who haven’t a care? Or am I to realize that what has been abandoned, pushed to the side, lost and discarded recognizes me as a similar breed and is reaching out so that somewhere, somehow, something will retain a memory of me?

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

April 14, 2014

‘Last’ #AtoZChallenge

By Nina D'Arcangela

The day has come, I’m not quite sure I’m ready. I hear him moving on the wooden floor-boards above. He’s changing his clothes; dressing to play the part. A day, an hour, a moment longer, that’s all I need to say my goodbye; but then, is there ever enough time to lose the one you love? The back buzzer sounds, the last bit of my solitude drifts away. I open my eyes. Sunlight streams through the curtains, it illuminates the subtle cream tones of the room with sheer radiance. I hear him descend the steps, pass the guest area and head for the service entrance. My heart breaks one final time before the day intrudes.

As I hear them rustling in the hall, I close my eyes once more and draw deeply of the air. Roses. More roses are arriving, and orchids – they smell of coconut, and warm vanilla. As the florist brings them in, I can’t help but gush, it’s all so beautiful! A riot of colors and odors that mingle as he artfully spreads them throughout the room. Alstroemerias arrive next, they are beyond stunning – the huge cascades crafted in what she knows are my favorite shades. A surprise, a parting gift.

The final piece is carried in. It is exactly as we discussed, but more beautiful than I dared to hope. A magnificent spray of the darkest midnight-purple Calla Lillies masterfully arranged with nine strands of crystals representing her tears; one for each year we spent together. Each miniature flower a work of art, the entire arrangement a blanket of love to warm my coffin.