Crumble

Originally published in Along the Hudson, Fifties by the Fire

“A String of Droughts” by John Lightle

Abandoned, the building sat like an open sore on the otherwise empty plain.

Brett stared at the house in which the pain of a childhood best forgotten had unfolded, willing the ruin to crumble and fall. He had buried his father yesterday. It was time to leave the past behind.

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I wrote this fifty-word story in response to Justin Deming’s prompt for Fifties by the Fire. The image was the prompt. It appeared at the end of Justin’s story “Lids and Wigs.”

Lids and Wigs

You can read the rest of the prompt submissions here.

The story initially came to me as that of an abandoned house awaiting its demise, but morphed into a son wishing for it after burying his abusive father. I think I was able to convey the deep emotion the son experiences. Did you feel it?