She downed the last of several shots. A deep hole waited, someone she knew to be placed inside.

She tripped over pebbles and glanced up ahead.  Almost there now.

A small gathering stood around the gravesite. Had they started without her?

She took in their glares, their finger points. Tardy like a schoolgirl. Shame on me.

She didn’t see the hole.

Falling, falling, falling. She landed on her side, her dress torn and ruined.

She pushed a palm into the soft dirt but couldn’t sit up. Stuck. Had this grave been dug just for her? Had they been expecting her? Her nails, ruined by the earth’s filth.

“Six feet under and no place to go?” her mother whispered. “You’re a disgrace. Now get up and get to work. Sofie!”

“Sofie? Sofie?”

She turned and found herself in the reflection of her friend’s eyes, her own muddled haze lessening.

But the hallow void beneath her opened its mouth and called to her, threatening to swallow her whole.

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…” The skinny preacher mumbled.

For the most part, the sky remained clear. The few scattered clouds resembled claw marks as if God, if there was one, was desperately trying to scratch his way in. Or perhaps, out.

(Excerpt from a CD-W novel)

photo credit

via Tardy