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 four right here. Part one here.

Odyssey

~

Stephanie

Bled out on

The tiled floor..

They had pushed each other

On the swing years earlier…

~

Jake

Lay disfigured with

A bullet in his eyes…

Odyssey had a crush

On him before

The world spun into

chaos…

~

Jacie

Was not breathing,

And Odyssey wanted badly

to feel

something

anything for her…

~

she slowly closed

her eyes,

surrendering

to darkness…

~

her last glimpse

of incandescent light –

an endangered species

like herself.

~

“Odyssey,”

 A voice said

Slowly rocking her.

“Wake up.”

~

“Mom?” she asked, her eyes adjusting to the light.
“No, my name is Doctor McCormack.”
“Are you here to arrest me?”
“No, I’m here to help you.”
“You can’t help… I had to stop him,” Odyssey told him.

“They’re calling you a hero.”

~

Odyssey reclosed her eyes.

The world was calmer without color.

She was not a hero

For stabbing a maniac –

She was only another survivor

Caught between a rock,

A hard place and

A broken game…

~

“I see you have your mother’s ring,”

McCormick said to break the silence, checking on her medication.

“It’s become something of a legend in the ICU.”

~

She hadn’t noticed, slipping it back on

Before she lost consciousness.

The ring had passed between

Three lives, two of which were gone –

If only Journey could have shared it with her.

~

“She would have had your eyes, you know,”

McCormick said.

“How did you?”

“I was going to deliver her.

But you know, she

Stays alive in you.

So, she’s never really gone.”

~

Somehow, Odyssey smiled

At the thought of them

Together –

Jumping ropes,

Destroying the patriarchy –

~

“Life goes on,” she mused.

And if not –

She’d sure as hell leave Death

With a black eye

And stitches.

~

© Ben Ditmars 2021

~

Explore The End of Nights, Journey, and more.

Thank you reading.