Writing Prompt 33: By a Window
Earthly Creature
I’ve been thinking about ghosts lately. Those that haunt our memories and those that haunt our spaces. Do you believe in ghosts? Do you have a story to tell that would make your readers’ toes curl? Or maybe make them scream in fright or sleep forever with the curtains open? What’s the story you would tell by candle light while a storm rages outside. Let’s write something scary…
When Johnathan Leonard walked into the living room on Thursday morning a sudden chill caused him to draw in his breath sharply.
The cool air passed right through him. A shadow moved silently through the room, stepping across the floor before disappearing. Johnathan Leonard sat in the nearest chair, his weight collapsing the cushions underneath him. He sat for a moment. The curtains at the window were thin and light, unable to hold back the bright sunshine the morning promised. He picked up a framed photograph of a young woman from the table beside him.
"Florence," said Johnathan Leonard with a murmur.
The woman in the picture smiled and laughed, her hair curled in the style of her youth, the soft black and white tones of the photograph sculpting her face. Johnathan Leonard replaced the photograph and grasped the arms of the chair to push himself to stand.
The shadow haunted him.
He opened the curtains one by one, revealing the full colour of the day. Rain from the night lay in small pools across his car and in the driveway. Johnathan Leonard blinked in the light, his eyes tired and sore from grief. A ginger cat with white stripes rubbed his head against his legs.
"Stanley," said Johnathan Leonard. "She was here again, you know."
He bent down and rubbed Stanley's head.
"Tuna today," he said, picking him up.
The cat settled in Johnathan Leonard's arms, his purring vibrating against his chest. Johnathan Leonard opened the door to the kitchen. Stanley jumped, landing on the floor by his empty food bowl while Johnathan Leonard tore open a soft plastic packet of tuna nibbles.
Story first posted in January 2020 // Photo: Tanya Clarke 2014
