Category: Drama

Losing (Emily)

“Losing (Emily)” by Holly Sheidenberger

Emily’s life hadn’t turned out the way she’d hoped. She was a middle-aged suburban cliché.

With each passing year she became more invisible, blending in with the other overweight moms carting the kids to Costco in a minivan.

Mundane chit-chat and idle school gossip crowded out her once-unique identity.

It was time for a change. Drastic.

She ruthlessly cleaned out the pantry. Pringle: gone. Nutter Butters: gone. Froot Loops: gone.

She stocked up on mountains of potatoes, white rice, and pasta. Plain. Simple.

Her stomach thundered, demanding to be fed. Her dreams were of pizza, cake, and cheese.

But Emily endured. And the needed change came.

As the fat melted away, so did the crushing obscurity of mediocrity.

Through sacrifice, she gained self-respect. Through self-love, she gained compassion.

Having freed herself from the prison of complacency, she’d never be hostage again.

Black Fairies

“Black Fairies” by Holly Sheidenberger

It’s Mother’s first night home since the acquittal.

The silence is rigid and oppressive. I shudder, repulsed by her mutilated, sightless eyes.

One questions still burns. With all their probing interrogation, the attorneys never demanded an answer.

“Why?” I ask. “Why did you do it?”

“I didn’t,” is her sharp reply. “They were accidents. Both of them.”

“I mean your eyes.” I swallow. “Why did you blind your eyes?”

The thick blankness in the air echoes the emptiness of her stare.

I push away from the table.

“Black fairies,” she says, unmoving.

Thinking thoughts I dare not voice, I’m mute.

“I saw black fairies. Behind Jamie, just before he fell down the stairs. And in the bathtub with Annie before she drowned. I didn’t want to see them anymore.”

“You’re safe now, Mother,” I soothe. “Safe.”

“But you’re not,” she whispers. A glint flickers in her visionless eyes.

“The black fairies. They’re at your throat.”