The Day After

Welcome to The Spot Writers. The prompt for this month, as we round out the year, is to write a story involving a source of light—to be taken literally or metaphorically.

This week it’s Cathy MacKenzie’s turn—except she’s late! This should’ve been posted on Boxing Day, December 26.

Her writings are found in numerous print and online publications. She writes all genres but invariably veers toward the dark—so much so her late mother once asked, “Can’t you write anything happy?” (She can!)

She recently published WHEN KAYAKS FLY, a mix of fantasy, real life, and gallows humour. This book was made possible after three years of Spot Writers’ prompts—after much editing and re-writing. Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1990589332.

Check out www.writingwicket.wordpress.com for further information on Cathy’s works.

 

The Day After 

by Cathy MacKenzie

 

Did you see that?

Nope, what?

There. Look!

Look at what? I don’t see anything.

The light. Look at it. It’s amazing.

What are you smoking? There’s nothing there. Nada! Not a thing.

And what are you smoking? Look up to the sky. See it now?

Nope, I see not a thing.

You’re half-baked then.

You’re half-baked. There’s nothing there—well, nothing except for the night sky.

There is! That bright light! Wow...so amazing. Powerful.

You’re nuts. It’s pitch black.

All the more better to see. Bright shines in blackness. Ah, wow, look—

You’re absolutely bonkers.

No, you’re bonkers. Or blind. Probably both.

It’s pitch black. Can’t see a thing.

Exactly! Isn’t that what I told you! Lights shine in the black. Ah, there it is...

Nothing’s there, I tell ya. Nothing.

Look again.

I AM looking. Nothing! Do I have to commit you?

Ha, I think it’s YOU that needs committing. Or perhaps you need to go to a school for the blind.

I can see just fine, thank you very much.

Well, obviously you can’t see or you’d see what I see.

I see what you see: absolutely NOTHING. You’re making up things.

I am not.

You are so.

Not.

So.

I give up. If you don’t want to believe, then there’s nothing I can do to help you. We need to believe in order to survive and enjoy life. Don’t you know that? No, don’t answer. You haven’t a clue as to what real living is. You just amble on as if there’s no tomorrow.

Of course there’s a tomorrow. But tomorrows don’t last for infinity. We’re all doomed.

Yes, you’re right. In the end, we are all doomed. That’s why you need to believe. Look again.

Ah... Okay. Ah—what the...! What’s that?

You see it now, don’t you? Do you hear anything?

I do see it. But, no, I don’t hear anything.

Hush. Listen...

Hey, what the... It’s bells, isn’t it?

Yes, bells. Ring-a-ling. And you saw, too, didn’t you?

I did! And I don’t believe it.

But you have to believe it because now you’ve seen and heard it.

Yes! I do.

We’ve never seen Santa returning to the North Pole, have we? But that’s because we’ve never looked before. And we’ve never heard the bells—Rudolph’s bells—because we’ve never listened. And now we know: Santa and his troupe return to the North Pole the day after Christmas.

Happy Boxing Day, everyone (albeit days late)!

 

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Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/

Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com/wicker-chitter/

Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com

Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/