(100-word flash fiction)
Shell-shocked, devastated, lost. Amazed, was she that these words just floated through her mind without the corresponding feeling.
He was warm in her arms, soft and surrendering, asleep blissfully.
Blissful, content, fulfilled, alive – she had felt those not long ago. Her heart full to brimming. Joyous.
Now, her mind wandered outside her body, adrift, turning over words as though a child would pebbles, looking at them curiously, looking for clues.
Until it found two that fitted so perfectly, it decided to keep them forever.
Irrevocably. Broken.
That’s how she finally felt holding the freshly dead body of her baby.
~~~
My brother lost a few days old baby many years ago. I had wondered then, how the mother would have felt. I guess it cannot be imagined.
~~~
Another Wednesday, and it’s time for flash fiction fun at the Friday Fictioneers all captained by the gracious Rochelle. I know someone is going to say there’s nothing ‘just joyfulness’ about this story. Well, what can I say?
Photo prompt –
PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook
Just Joyfulness 
What a terrible thing to happen
I think you are right – it is impossible to imagine and express in mere words such a tragedy.
So tragic!
Dear Joyful,
I can’t imagine the pain of such a loss. I suspect you captured the feelings. well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Ouch. I had a feeling he was dead but didn’t expect him to be a baby.
Heart-breaking and beautifully written.
You have imagined the unimaginable.
It was such a nice scene until the very end. How heartbreaking.
This is such an emotional piece that comment almost seems inappropriate. The story works. It conjures up the sense of loss. And it does so by your very careful word-crafting. Well done.
A sorrowful tale indeed.
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So very sad. I don’t know what else to say.
Broken I think… very sad and well written
A terribly sad story, which you told well.
How awful! So tragic. That last line was like a knife through the heart.
That was heart-breaking and haunting.
The pain is unbelievable. You can never prepare for it.
‘Irrevocably broken’. That is such neat phrase to describe this tragedy.
Loss of a child is beyond words. As a matter of fact, loss of anyone close is beyond words. A well told tragic story.
Beautiful bleak description of death. Well done.
This is beautiful, yet heartbreaking. You portray the weight of grief here. Well done.
Irrevocably broken indeed. Beautifully written.
This is a heartrending twist, Joy. It’s what many parents fear. My mother miscarried at seven months about two years before I was born and it was always a sad memory. My dad teared up when he told me about it once. Good writing. —- Suzanne
Horribly heartbreaking – a brave place to go . Well done