Odyssey Part 4

This is the fifth edition in my series, published in Inhale the Night, Sleeping with Earth, an eBook released by Darcia Helle and Moments at Midnight.

Find part three right here. Part one here.

Odyssey

~

She looked away

Before tears betrayed her emotions…

Broken images, a broken family

Flashed through her mind…

She almost had

Her stillborn sister…

Journey…

And not a loss

clawing at her throat

each morning –

a siren

broke the chaos

in her mind…

something had happened

in the hallway

a voice told them

to block the door…

they were underneath

their desks,

one moment and the next –

Mr. Lewis hit the floor

with blood across his temple.

Another shot.

Another victim.

Odyssey counted them

in horror as her classmates fell

beneath sounds of semi-automatic

fire –

was she next?

she felt helpless

like her mother left alone

inside the hospital..

battling coronavirus…

her hand closed around

the golden circle

of her parent’s ring and

grasped.. the pen…

tied with rubber bands

around a nail…

Leanne, her mother, wouldn’t hesitate…

and neither could

Odyssey…

the shooter turned his

back for three seconds

and she jumped

with everything she had

into the fire.

~

© Ben Ditmars 2021

~

Explore The End of Nights, Journey, and more.

Or read Part 5.