Voting has now closed for this contest.
The winner was Eloise de Sousa (Entry Two), with 57% of the vote. Congratulations, Eloise!
Entry One (author SD)
He served, she sat. It seemed wrong. For years she had served Him joyfully with her whole heart until the disease had stolen that from her. He had let her serve for longer than He should but to deny her would cause her soul pain worse than the agony of her body. Now He fed her, bathed her, saw to her every need.
“You hurt,” He said
She nodded, a tiny motion.
“You wish to go,” he heard himself say.
She mouthed the word “No.”
“Do not lie to Me, little one,” He said sternly, “for I will know.’
Her eyes dropped but He cupped her chin with exquisite gentleness and drew her gaze back up. His eyes held only love and it seemed to give her some surcease.
“You wish to go.”
This time she nodded, a single tear emerging from the corner of her eye.
“Then go, My treasure, but wait for me when you arrive for I will be along soon.
She smiled despite the incredible pain wracking her body and he leaned forward to tenderly press His lips to hers. As they shared the last kiss they would in this world, He wept.
Entry Two (author ED)
Raindrops pitter-patter at the window, mimicking your silent footprints expanding the floorboards. Soft sighs break the silence in the darkened bedroom; whispering secrets from the naked boughs of the tousled trees outside, shivering against the wind.
Your lack of presence weighs on my heart like the frigid drops relentlessly pounding on the remaining rose petals, breaking their beauty apart, scattering them to nowhere. The yellow street light watches on as a silent witness to the murder. After all, what could it possibly say in the midst of such folly? What could I do? I’m just the resonant thought left behind, now abandoned. The missing shape, my form, my purpose – is you!
Once the semblance of a new rose, I danced and frolicked with such abandon. You were inside me, making me glow. We showered the world with glee and served purpose to those willing to sup at our table of hope. Alas, how arrogant we were in thinking that time served us. The drumbeat that pulses the hours now silent.
A smear of what was, I dissipate without you to hold me together. Gently, quietly, as you left me, I now fade. Until you return with the dawn.