Coming Home

a flash fiction story about loss

Surprise! I figured since I don’t have many subscribers yet, there wouldn’t be too many people to get angry at me for sending an email two days in a row. It’s a holiday weekend after all.

This one is pretty new and raw, but today seems like a good day to share it.

As a jumping off point, I used the prompt from Kathy Fish’s Art of Flash here, which was to write a flash fiction story as a list.

I hope this story makes you sad. But if you hold out, there’s a photo of one of my cute cats at the end. :)

Coming Home

He knew there would be a time after the hospital. A time that he would come home alone.

keys tossed on the bookcase instead of on the hook

Toby, up-tailed and mewling

a cursory pet on the head, a sigh, a whispered, “Oh Buddy…”

cat food in bowl

spoon in sink

empty teacup on the counter, the ugly one with the heart-shaped handle

an almost-empty box of PG Tips

He didn’t drink tea.

Don’t move the cup. Not yet.

Find something to do.

search the pantry for new roll of toilet paper

make sure there’s more cat food (there is)

All these little jobs are his now.

Start basic.

shower

So far the water was the only thing that felt the same.

Easy.

Then,
a long auburn hair stuck to the shower wall
a bar of jasmine-scented soap, half used
He never liked the smell of it, but he left it where it was.

Two towels hanging on the shower rail. He only needed one.

clothes and shoes, so many upstairs in the bedroom. His bedroom.

He stayed downstairs.
One floor of the house at a time, he decided.

He sat on the sofa and tried not to list the things in his line of sight.

blue sweater on the back of a chair
photo from the trip to Iceland 3 years ago
battered copy of Jane Eyre poking out of the crowded bookshelves
the lamp he’d promised to fix but never got round to

Toby sidled up, made a cat noise, hopped into his lap.
There was no other lap to go to.

“Oh Buddy, I’m sorry. She’s not coming home.”

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one of my cats (not named Toby) & the actual ugly mug

This is the Shrouded Grouse, and here you’ll find free supernatural short stories and novellas, essays and musings, zines, and illustrations that explore the liminal spaces and moody places.

Thanks for taking the time to view my work. It is truly appreciated. If you decide to subscribe below, make sure you check your promotions tab or spam for my Welcome Email.

If you’re interested in a less depressing flash fiction story, you can read His Eyes, about two fur trappers on a quest for something supernatural.

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