OLWG #31- Solvent

 Hope that everyone reading this has a happy and prosperous New Year!

Prospero Año Nuevo as we say around here

This week’s prompts are at the bottom. The story below is just practice for me. Practice makes perfect.

Here’s how to play along, if you are unsure.

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My professor tried to teach me that water, yes water, is the most powerful solvent on earth. I disagreed vehemently with what she was trying to tell us. I knew better. But, I kept the truth inside. I did not bring it up in class. I did not want to draw the attention to myself.

I knew though. I knew from when I was eight years old and playing ‘hide and go-seek’ with my older brother, Luke. He was ten. It was my turn to hide so I scurried quickly upstairs to the room that Luke and I shared as he stood in the corner of the den and counted to one-hundred. A usual, my bed was a mess but Luke’s was made. His bedspread hung low to the floor whereas mine was wadded and wrinkled on top of my mattress, atop of a tangle of sheets. I dove under Luke’s bed, giggling the whole time and concealed by the bedspread; thinking to myself that he would never find me there.

I could hear Luke counting slowly. My mother was in the kitchen cooking and I knew that my dad was in the garden harvesting whatever it was time to pick that season: whatever was ripe. Then I heard what I later realized was the shotgun blast that killed my father. Luke must not have put it together as he continued counting. Sixty-six, sixty-seven, sixty-eight… I heard the noise of the patio door being kicked in, the short scream from Mom that was interrupted by the second shotgun blast, the one that killed her.

The racking of a fresh shell…

the roar of a third blast…

the silence that was punctuated by the cessation of Luke’s counting…

the drone of footsteps climbing the staircase…

the creak of doors being opened in the hallway…

the rasp of my breath that stopped only when I clamped my hands over my mouth.

My bedroom door opened and I held my breath as I stared at the shoes in the doorway while the intruder studied the empty room, unaware of my presence beneath Luke’s bed.

I listened to the footsteps receding and stayed where I was. I stayed still and silent listening to the quiet house below. In those few violent moments my life was changed forever.

The killer was never captured. No motive was ever determined.

Blood.

Despite what my professor tried to tell me I learned that day that the earth knows no solvent more powerful.

Blood.

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This weeks prompts:

1. pierced like daggers
2. CPA
3. Strange but true

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Go ahead and dive in,
Write something
Ready, Set, Go – you have 25 minutes, but if that is not possible, take as long as you need.

Have fun