Youth and Asia

This is an excerpt from the short story I'm working on. Trying to keep those creative juices flowing...

I returned from the hospital to the painful quiet of the house. My shoes thudded dully as I crossed the threshold to toss my purse onto the hall table. Tears stained my face – leaving white streaks through my blush – and new ones clung wetly to my eyelashes.

The ghosts of her former life haunted me at every corner. Gray smoke from her cigarette continued to wisp skyward, filling the air with its familiar aroma. On her chair, ‘Great Expectations’ lay open at page forty-seven. The dark stain on the rug – where she spilled her wine – still felt damp.

I was certain that at any moment she would skip laughingly around the corner, with a new joke bursting from her lips. I could see her settling into her chair, collecting her cigarette, gathering her book, and taking a long draught from her glass. But no matter how close she felt, she wasn't coming back. I closed the book. Its covers slammed shut.  She was gone.

Novel update: 17 chapters complete, 190 days remaining