Replacing ugly truth with a lovely lie

Published on by Jean M. Cogdell

In the old schoolhouse, Karen trembled as memories washed over her like waves of a Tsunami. She gasped for air. Her chest tightened. The pictures that flashed through her mind were not the memories she’d expected nor wanted. Where was the laughter of friends and good times? Ghosts mocked her from the darkened rooms as they moved amid the broken glass and thick dust of the past.

Reunions, even small ones with old flames sounded romantic. She’d been foolish, agreeing to meet Carter here of all places for one last trip down memory lane. I’d be fun he’d said. But there’d been a reason she’d avoided them all these years. Nothing fun about the bullies she’d dealt with every day. How had she forgotten what really happened? By replacing the ugly truth with a lovely lie, that was how.

Something skittered from the door on her left. She jumped out of its way and stumbled back almost landing on her ass. Mice, ghosts, and broken glass were all that remained of her shattered childhood. Karen spun around, turned her back on the old classrooms and hurried toward the entrance. Her heels clicked against the old speckled tile, the echo reminded her of Mrs. Marshall’s typing class. She took a deep breath, slowed her steps and the hammering in her chest eased. A glance at her watch brought tears to her eyes.

Or maybe Carter hadn’t changed. Older didn’t always mean better. The fading afternoon light brightened the front entrance and she let out a sigh of relief. Just a few more feet and she’d be outside within reach of her car.

A metal latch clanged in the distance as a door slammed. She stopped and listened. Footsteps, she heard footsteps. Karen looked over her shoulder but saw nothing in the dim distance of the dark hallway. She raced toward the front door and stepped into the fading evening light. She refused to be the subject of one more joke. Not here in this damned house of horrors.#amwriting

Describli Writing Prompts

In the old schoolhouse

I hope you enjoyed my effort at a writing prompt. Haven’t done one in a while, felt a bit rusty. I can’t tell y’all how much it means to have the encouragement of this community. Thanks everyone.

Have a wonderful weekend!

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15 thoughts on “Replacing ugly truth with a lovely lie”

  2. I live by writing prompts–most much longer than the one you used here. I meet 3-5 or six others in a local writing group where we do four of them over the course of 2 hours. While it works great for short pieces written in 10-15 minutes, they’re like this, scenes. Which can be difficult to make into something more. But it sharpens the mental part of the writing skill. Look for one tomorrow on my writing blog after a 3-week hiatus from the writing group.

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  6. Nice…. nice writing..
    Do you think first-person would have been better? Ok, just thinking.. not a criticism… nice writing though.. the tenses are a little off… could have been off I mean, to give it a more immediate feel…

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Most of my writing is done in first-person but I’m trying to expand a bit. You may be right about a tense here or there, tenses are my weakness. This piece only received one edit run through before I hit post, most get at least 5 but I was short on time. Thanks for reading and commenting.

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      1. Jean, I sincerely hope that my comment did not seem unduly critical for no reason. I know that I do post twisted comments most times and mostly contrary to what people are saying, but it was not my intention at all 🙂
        Heck, this could even turn out to be the beginning of a darn good story in itself, I mean not just a short one, but an expanded story. You are a good writer and I did not mean any disrespect here, while commenting. Of course, if it is permitted then I have no problems disrespecting you either 😀 Just kidding…

        Liked by 1 person

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