Point to Point B

Assignment for “Flash Fiction” Skillshare by Ilana Masad

 

Point A: When midnight came and went and all that was left was a pile of…

Point B: Dawn broke with an audible crack, a back stretching itself out of a long nighttime cramp, and all was still.

The Unforgiven

When midnight came and went and all that was left was a pile of what once was me, I looked down at my insignificance and wept. In my life, no want had been left unfulfilled; no need unsatisfied; no curiosity unanswered. Yet here I was neither dead nor alive, without even the clothes on my back. I floundered like a useless bird beating it’s wings upon the window glass; struggled futilely to return to the crumpled sack that so short a time ago had pulsed and lusted with myself. But the door was closed to me.

After what may have hours I found myself distanced from my tousled cadaver and completely alone. I must have come away but I had no recollection of it. I simply was not there anymore. I realized at last that I had truly passed through death though the term had no meaning here. This was not a joyful homecoming nor the gates of burning hell. It was just me forever in this darkness and all alone. Here there was no God nor devil nor joy nor torment. Neither was there the snuff of extinction.

This was forever. Just my self without form and anchor. Separated from God and man alike. The horror that filled me would fill me forever. Every crooked path, every evil act that I had done was like an empty weight upon my eternity. I would always be sorry but never released from that regret.

 I sat up in my bed. Suddenly dawn broke with an audible crack, a back stretching itself out of a long nighttime cramp and all was still.