With this short story I assume my participation in Week 1 of Season Two Writing Challenge.
My desire to die was constant, like a pure thought in my mind.
Anne Rice
THE VASSAL
Nobody expected the engagement party to last until the early hours of the morning, as it seemed unplanned and, moreover, did not bode well for any kind of fuss. The melody and the cider slowly spread the enthusiasm as the hours passed.
At one point during the celebration, Jonas took the opportunity to slip away among the many guests and enter the room where Sonia had gone to rest. Soon they would be husband and wife according to the terms of the prenuptial agreement, so it was not bad to anticipate something of the future life that awaited them.
Sonia was shocked to see him invade her privacy.
–This is just a formality, –she said.
The meaning of the sentence hit him like a stone. His pulse began to tremble. He threw the glass in his hand against the wall and grabbed the girl by the neck in a rage.
–Kill me if you want, you know I'll never love you, –she finished.
As if he were going into a raging sea, all his courage vanished in one blow. A sudden uneasiness invaded him. He wiped a cold sweat from with his forearm, as he watched through the broken glass the passage of stars and time. He took a few steps back as if in slow motion. He bent his head to hide the tears that ran down his cheeks. He closed the door behind him and walked straight out into the street. Quickly, shrugging his shoulders, he crossed the road as if threatened by a shower of stones from behind, disregarding the cars that snorted in his ears.
Now it had seemed to him that things were losing their meaning and that there was something excessive, deplorable and unfair about his condition, about the size of the houses, about the color of the full moon. He continued to walk without a definite direction, self-absorbed. He ended up in an avenue by the sea. Without consciously intending to, he went down the cliff and dipped his feet in the light swell of the shore. He felt that he lost all his strength and surrendered to the water, sinking his head between his arms.
The reflection of a shadow surprised him and took him out of his abstraction. He lifted his face, where fear and fatigue had already stuck like paws, and found the stranger's weathered, unchangeable, whitish face. He tried in vain to study the features. He looked at her eyes, symmetrically dug over the hard cheekbones. They looked like fish or wolf eyes. She has eyes like a mask, he said to himself.
He thought that chance had betrayed him, that all was already lost, when he saw the dagger in the hands of the strange woman. He crossed his arms and without looking away from the misty coast, dominated by an anonymous sadness that he would say did not belong to him, he waited resignedly for the time of the stabbing.
The stranger seemed to utter two or three words before biting his neck. You will be my vassal, he thought he heard.
Congratulations @morey-lezama! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDo not miss the last post from @hivebuzz:
Hi @morey-lezama. I enjoyed reading your story. It's very intense for such a short piece! In fact, I think this one could use some more information. I would love to know a bit more about these characters, and what causes this main character to be in such a state of mind before he is meets his fate down by the river.
One important note for you: It is important to use license free images. Even though you have properly attributed your images, which is great, the sources are copyrighted. Please be sure to use license free sites such as Pixabay, Unsplash, Pexels or Wikimedia Commons.
On the other hand, I was not very clear about the notion of the license of the images, from now on I will do it as you recommend. Thank you very much.