Hello
readers! With December Tingles all done last week, I didn’t know what to write
until I jokingly told my sister “Wouldn’t it be nice to get an email saying
you’d won the lottery?” Well, the email idea brought another one and I’ve
started out this piece, which, honestly, I don’t know where it is heading (thus the horrible title) but it looks like it's on the road toward the paranormal. Oh, by the way, I used picture prompts and included 2 of them into the story.
Enjoy, and as always don’t forget to stop by the other Briefers blogs to read more awesome tales.(links below!)
Clare
It all
started with that email, an email with a few words and a black and white
picture of her street.
From: M@dmailfactory.com
Subject:
Clare
There are
things you should know
The distance between us seems to grow
But you're holding on strong
Oh how hard it's to let go, oh so hard to let go
The distance between us seems to grow
But you're holding on strong
Oh how hard it's to let go, oh so hard to let go
She should have spooked. She should have gone
to the police, the FBI or someone. She should have just erased it. She
shouldn’t have even opened an email like that.
She didn’t.
Perhaps she’d been lonely for too long, or perhaps she’d finally gone mad like
everyone said she eventually would, but Clare replied to the email.
Subject:
RE: Clare
I'm waiting for your call and I'm ready to take
your six six six in my heart
Thus, it began.
Every night she’d
log on to her laptop to see an email from him. The subject never changed. The
sender never altered. For weeks, she received an email with an image and a few
words. The pictures were all related to her in some way: the street, her work
place, the park she had to walk through every day, the subway station, her favorite
coffee shop, the clothes store she liked to browse…The words belonged to lyrics
of her favorite songs. Music that
touched her soul and meant something to her, words that she knew by heart and
loved.
She took it as a game.
One of those addictive puzzles people got obsessed with, like Sudoku’s or Angry
Birds. It was their little thing. He introduced the song and she’d complete it.
She didn’t realize it at first, but as the days sped by she discovered herself
looking for him in shadows, wondering, where he was and how he could snap those
pictures. He had to know her habits, had to know her routine. It should have
scared the living daylights out of her. Instead, she found it charming, fun.
She had her own personal stalker. Any person with a right mind would have
already gone to the police. She waited for his next message. It arrived as it
always did, around midnight. The witching hour, her mom would probably say with
disapproval.
Excitement
coursed through her as she clicked open the message. She stared.
From: M@dmailfactory.com
Subject:
Clare
I'm waiting for you to open your arms.
She knew that
rusty iron door. Knew the jungle of leaves behind which it hid, knew the cracks
in that grey brick wall. She shivered as unpleasant memories filled her mind. Her
gaze dropped to the words: I'm waiting
for you to open your arms. They belonged to a song titled “It’s all Tears”.
An omen?
Clare hesitated,
for the first time. Her fingers poised over the keyboard as she contemplated on
replying or not.Her heart skipped
to her throat and she jumped slightly in her seat as the chime of her inbox
startled her.
Automatically, her hand grasped her mouse and she scrolled over to
see what had arrived.
From: M@dmailfactory.com
Subject: Open your arms and
let me show you what love can be like
Taking a deep
breath, she clicked it open.
Love doesn’t come without pain but I promise not
to shred your heart.
Mikelo
She gaped at her
screen. Her pulse was erratic and nerves fluttered in her stomach and over her
chest. Those were not the words to any song. She swallowed. Her gaze froze over
the name below the promise: Mikelo. The rules of the game had changed.
To be continued...
As a side
note, the lyrics above do belong to
real songs. They’re from my favorite band ever, Finnish Love Metal band, HIM. The first one is titled “Your
Sweet Six, Six, Six” and you can listen to it here. The second one is “It’s
all Tears” and you can have a go at it here.
Wednesday Briefers
Nephylim m/m
MA Church m/m
Elyzabeth VaLey m/f
Lily Sawyer m/m
Chris T. Kat m/m
Cia Nordwell m/m
MC Houle m/m
Julie Lynn Hayes m/m
