This short story is an entry in the 2002 Soc.Sexuality.Spanking Summer Short Story Contest and is copyright by the author and commercial use is prohibited without permission. Personal/private copies are permitted only if complete including the copyright notice. The author would appreciate your comments
Category: Edge
For Haron, who coaxed me back.
The View From Up Here
By
Tasha <halfhisage@earthlink.net>
She's the one. His special one. His special girl.
She cries real tears. She loses herself in him. But more than that, he is lost in her.
When I see her down there, on her knees in front of the fireplace, I want it to be me. Want it to be my pale skin he marks with his belt. I would welcome it. He doesn't know how much I see. Curled against the darkest corner of the landing, I peer through the wooden railing to watch their secret dance.
Seeing her like that, through the wooden slats, she looks like a tiny prisoner in a Japanese cricket cage. Crickets don't sing when they're watched. And neither will she.
I paint her. Them. With wet fingers. My paintings don't survive more than a few minutes before the floor drinks them away. They dissolve like his smile when she is gone. The smile I never see.
I inscribe the slender line of her body where the shadows are the darkest. Etch her fragile silhouette in the dust with my fleshy fingers.
Trembling with silent tears, she awakens something in him that I never could. I sketch my own silhouette next to hers and swallow the sour pang of envy. Smear away my rounder, fuller shape and blink back the bitter tears. I want to love her. I want more than anything to be a scrap of cosmic debris in her golden orbit. But he never stares at me with those mesmerized eyes, that unblinking gaze. As though he is afraid she will vanish like my ephemeral portraits if he forsakes her for the darkness of even a single blink. Sometimes I slip downstairs when he is gone and press my hands into the dampness of her tears, hoping to absorb some of her magic and beauty. But I will never captivate him as she does. She is the one.
Tonight she whimpers. Tonight he must gag her to restrain her cries. Just as he restrains her delicate wrists and ankles with twine, heedless of the rust-colored stains in the coarse plaited rope. And so I steal back to my bed, hearing every muffled cry, every lost, lingering note of their nightly symphony.
And I lie perfectly still when she slips into bed beside me, her tiny body trembling, her legs drawn up, her face pressed into the pillow to hide her weeping. Her whispered prayer. Always the same.
Daddy, no.
Every night. Even in her sleep.
But it is never me.
She is the one.
The End
© Copyrightby Tasha Summer, 2002
Reviews
Anne <Ladyanne60(at)aol(dot)com>
This is a deep disturbing story exploring the more darker elements of sexuality. It is extremely edgy as it clearly shows the agony of both characters. One who is yearning in secret, envious of the other because she is not the desired one. Her sister subjected to physical and mental torture at the hands of her father. Tasha's elegant style shines forth once again, as she paints this dark tale with such fluid descriptions much like a gifted artist creates with such vivid colors. This is a finely crafted narrative one can only imagine in their deepest darkest dreams.
Pam <pamiMac(at)aol(dot)com>
Yes very very edgy in my opinion. This is a hard one to read and makes it doubly hard at the very end. Very effective. Good writing.
MollyB <mollyb(at)newsguy(dot)com>
Really well-written edgy story that captures complex emotions and expresses them so very clearly; in fact some of the edginess (for me) comes from the straightforwardness of the narrator's voice. The kind of story you understand but sort of wish you didn't. <shiver>
Jodi <ladiejj(at)webtv(dot)net>
This story is so well written. It offers us a view into the speakers heart, her very soul. The exposition allows us to see it all as if it is in front of us. It gives us so many beautiful metaphors "their sweet dance" the emotions here are raw and intense. This story is definitely edge, but the author uses words that allow us to see beyond the themes and enjoy it for the beautiful piece of writing that it is. As many great stories this piece makes you think and question things...