Coffee Shop

February 19, 2017 Angela Harrison Leave a comment

“I can’t deal with your shit anymore! You don’t respect me; you ridicule me in front of my friends. You tell me my dog doesn’t deserve to live in a house as big as mine! I don’t want to live like this!”

And with that, she turned and was gone from his life forever.

Eric sat at the small table at Starbucks, stunned. He sat starring down at the table, unwilling to watch her walk away. Well, she was fucking crazy after all.

Slowly, the other patrons went back to their own conversations and the noise level returned to normal. They graciously pretended to forget what they had just witnessed.

He sighed. It was too bad, really. He had been so sure this was the correct place and time. Oh, well. Time to move on and continue his search.

He snapped his fingers and vanished. One patron who had been staring at him, blinked, looked confused for a moment then shook her head and went back to her coffee unsure why she felt as if she had just forgotten something.

Writing

Ghosts in the Church Yard

February 8, 2017 Angela Harrison Leave a comment

“Hello.”

She paused and looked around.

“Hello” she called back hesitantly.

Cecilia glanced around the yard she was standing in. She had just stopped by the church on her lunch break to check in with the pastor quickly about a few things pertaining to the upcoming ladies auxiliary luncheon that she was chairing.

It was such a nice day; she thought she’d have her lunch outside in the well kept yard behind the church. She walked through the greenness and sat down on a stone bench. She had just been preparing to pull out the novel she was currently reading when she heard the voice.

The voice was distinctively male. She glanced around again in confusion. There was no one else here and she had watched Pastor Evans leave the church, heading home to have lunch with his wife.

Suddenly there was a shift in the atmosphere around her. There was a loud buzzing noise and the world in front of her slid away as a new one popped into place.

She was now sitting in a lush and massive rose garden. The neatly trimmed hedges and multicolored flowers that had surrounded her were gone, replaced with a sea of blood red, gorgeous rose bushes.

“Who’s there?” A woman’s voice inquired.

Before Cecilia could respond, a young man stepped out from behind a tree. He was tall with light brown hair, a smile lit up his face. He was holding a cap in his hands and Cecilia was sure that the clothing he was wearing was some sort of military uniform.

There was a gasp of joy from the other side of her and Cecilia watched as a young woman in a hoop skirt ran swiftly, closed the gap between her and the young man and threw herself into his arms. He picked her up and swung her around happily, then sat her firmly on the ground and kissed her.

Then, just like that, Cecilia was back in the church yard again, alone. She stood up quickly, her lunch tumbling to the ground. Looking around wildly now, she quickly explored the entire yard.

She cleaned up the debris of her lunch, tucked her book away in her purse and gathered up her things to leave. She knew she would be taking the rest of day off work and heading straight to the library to do some research on the history of the church property. She had to find out why this was happening to her….again. What did these ghosts want?

Writing

Rebels

February 3, 2017 Angela Harrison Leave a comment

She couldn’t see her hand in front of her face; she crouched low and moved carefully amongst the abandoned vehicles.

So this is what the end of the world looks like, she thought to herself. Well, it was about as horrific as she could have imagined. Bodies lay everywhere in the streets. Mercifully she couldn’t see them anymore, one of the up sides to the smoke. The smell though, and the noises, those she couldn’t block out.

She thought she was becoming numb to them though. Finally she found Finn and dropped down beside him, gun at the ready.

“Where are they?” she whispered.

He motioned toward one of the abandoned buildings across the street. Of course it was abandoned, they were all abandoned now. She remembered when this square had been full of people, the hustle and bustle of modern life and the happy sounds of shopping, talking, people having lunch together. She gave herself a fraction of a second to feel the loss then drew a deep breath and focused back on the present.

The building was barely visible through the smoke as it drifted lazily across the road. The haze was everywhere giving the whole area an otherworldly look. She heard the smattering of gun fire here and there but the battle was mostly over. Hell, the war was mostly over. Why was she even still here? Oh yeah, Finn. She wouldn’t leave him and he wouldn’t leave them.

Not that she blamed him. His younger siblings were among the nine children trapped in the crumbling building. She had been sent here with a detachment of American soldiers, a small, elite and unofficial squadron. She was the only one left. He was part of the resistance they were sent to support and arm. She knew what she was risking when she chose to stay. It’s not like the American government would help her anyway. Plausible deniability. She didn’t exist.

It was an insane rescue attempt, pure suicide and that’s what the government forces had counted on when they went after the rebels families and used those hostages to lure them here.

But really, what other choice was there? Let those nine children be slaughtered? She knew they would probably all be slaughtered anyway but she really didn’t want to live in a world where she didn’t try. With another deep breath she nodded at him and readied her weapon.