Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Guest Story: Orange Tulips by Laina

Today's short story is from Laina, one of our other critique partners who doesn't normally write short stories. It's a gorgeous story--very short--and very depressing. Enjoy! 




“I miss you.”
            I know.
            “I still don’t understand why you left with him.”
            I know that, too.
            “Were you cheating on me?”
            No.
            “Were you going to?”
            Maybe. I don’t know. I’d like to think I wouldn’t have, but we’ll never know now, will we? And that’s probably a good thing.
            “I never even saw you drink before.”
            I know. It wasn’t the first time, but it wasn’t a regular occurrence either. And I was angry that you blew me off to go out with your friends, so I went out with mine and  I was angry that I thought you were pulling away and I was… I was angry about a lot of things. Most, if not all, of them were my fault.
            “You know I would have come gotten you if you called me, right?”
            Yeah, of course I do, but I didn’t want to see you. You were pretty much the last person I wanted to see.
            “If you didn’t want to see me, you should have gotten a cab.”
            I know. Getting into a car with someone who’d been drinking was the stupidest thing I ever did.
            “I’m sorry I haven’t come and seen you before.”
            It’s okay. I don’t hang around here a lot either. If you haven’t noticed, there’s not a whole lot going on.
            “It’s not that I don’t miss you. I miss you more than you know. But…”
            Babe, I know. I really do. It makes you sad. Trust me, I don’t want you to be sad.
            “I still love you.”
            Me too.
            Kneeling down, he sets the flowers gently on my grave. Tulips, my favourites, and orange, the colour I wore on the day I died. The last time he saw me. I hop off the headstone and bend down to kiss his cheek, even though neither of us can feel it anymore.
            “Goodbye.”
            Goodbye.

about the author: 
Laina can be found at her book review blogTwitter, and Facebook. She has a short story, Zombie Girl, published in the Zombie Survival Crew anthology Undead Is Not an Option

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

*love*

Laina said...

That's mine!! *bounces*

Anonymous said...

Oh my. That's wonderful.

KT Simpson said...

Love this!!!! <3

Aleeza said...

BLOODY HELL THIS IS AWESOME. why is laina not published yet?! for reals!

Anonymous said...

I KNOW, Aleeza! She has three amazing manuscripts, too! I am so damn lucky she's my critique partner.

KT Simpson said...

I feel pretty damn lucky to be her CP, too. And Aleeza, she's querying soon, so hopefully she'll be published SOON SOON SOOOOON :D

Unknown said...

That's a terrific short story! I didn't see the twist coming!