So pleased to have my story Simon published in the Spring 2014 edition of The Florida Writer, the quarterly magazine put out by The Florida Writer's Association (FWA). For their section Paragraphs, writers are given a choice of three topics that play an integral part of the 600 word story.
Sharing my story below. Hope you will enjoy it.
Audrey
Simon
On the night of the full moon, Simon came
into Regina Osborne's life. For a year since her husband's death she had lived
aboard their thirty-six-foot cabin cruiser. She never took the boat out, but
preferred living on the water. The other boaters would give her a casual nod
and move on. Tonight was different.
She felt a presence close by and glanced
around. A small boy leaned against a a nearby piling. His gaze fixed on her.
His hair was scraggly, silver white like an Albino's. Dressed only in faded blue
cutoffs he was way too thin.
Regina sucked in a deep breath when their
eyes met. He seemed almost ethereal, his eyes light and transparent. “What's
your name?”
“Simon.” His tone implied she should
already know.
“How strange. My son's name was Simon.” A
sudden sadness brought quick tears. “He died when he was eight year's old.”
An enigmatic smile played at the corners
of his mouth. “I have to leave now, but I'll be back soon.”
She watched until he was out of sight.
That night Regina slept fitfully, haunted
by a strange dream. Her husband and son were laughing, playing together. But
something was wrong. The boy in her dream had silver-white hair, not brown like
her son's. Yet Arthur hugged him as if he knew the child. They exploded into a
kaleidoscope of colors and reached down to grab her. The three of them laughed
as they catapulted toward luminescent clouds.
Higher and higher they flew until Regina
felt dizzy. Suddenly her grasp slipped and she plummeted down through a dark
void, unable to breathe. She tried to grab hold to stop the fall. Her fingers
only tore against the ragged walls of black night.
“Wake up,” a voice whispered against her
ear.
Regina bolted upright.
“Are you all right?” Simon stood staring
at her, his eyes luminous in the glow of the brass lamp. The boy reached for
her hand. “Let's go on deck.”
Regina followed, her heart beating wildly.
What was it about Simon that seemed so familiar yet distant?
Simon eased himself into an adjoining
chair. He steepled his small fingers. Brooding eyes met and held Regina's. “We
must make a journey together. Someone out there is waiting for us.”
Regina pressed her hands against her
forehead. A migraine was forming. She looked up, her eyes daring Simon. “Get
off this boat and never come back.”
There was a calmness on the boy's face. “I
can't do that. I've come too far in my journey.” He held out his hand. “Give
them to me, please.”
As though mesmerized by his voice, Regina
reached into her pocket and drew out a set of silver keys. With glassy eyes she
watched Simon insert them into the ignition.
Simon beckoned to her. “You start the
engines while I cast off.” He scrambled to untie the lines.
Trance-like, Regina turned the keys. First
one engine, then the other roared to life thunderously, then throttled down to a steady bass hum.
The cruiser pitched and rolled against the turbulence of a sudden storm that
descended from nowhere, like a great hunching beast.
Simon climbed onto the bridge seat. “Are
you ready?”
Regina stiffened. “Yes.” It was barely a
whisper against the blasting wind.
Simon slowly eased the throttles forward.
The boat moved out of the slip and headed
north toward the open sea.
