Promises Kept

So, I promised a little fiction tonight, to start week two in the blog-o-shpere, and I am about to deliver. Below, please find the first chapter in a week-long short story, titled Open Wounds.

Chapter 1

The poignant stench of blood was thick in the air. Harlan sat Indian style on the floor in the bedroom, his back against the wall under the lone window. His eyes were closed and the gun was nearly slipping from his wet palm. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since he'd moved.

Alex slouched in the armchair in the corner of the room. The hole on the left of her forehead stared at the boy as if it were a circus freak's third eye. A lone trickle of blood traced the contour of his aunt's cheekbone.

Wet tracks of tears traced their way through the gunpowder on Harlan's cheek. His ears still rang from the shots fired in the small room. He tried to listen for noises in the house, but he couldn't discern any if there were any to hear.

Nothing. Not a thing.

Henry lay on the floor directly across from Harlan, partially blocking the door. His uncle's wheelchair was tipped over on the other side of the door, in the dark hallway leading to the stairs. The stairs led to the door. But Harlan couldn't go there.

Not yet.

Two separate puddles of blood were slowly spreading beneath the body of his uncle. They were dark red - almost maroon - in the late afternoon sun that streamed into the room through the ragged hand-sewn curtains. Harlan could not stop looking at a fly that had landed in one of the puddles. A single wing fluttered madly on the fly's back; it was stuck and now struggling to escape the feast it had found.

For what seemed like the first time, Harlan felt the weight of the gun in his hand. He almost threw it away, repulsed, but stopped. It would have made a noise. Thudded on the floor. He couldn't have that. Not now.

No. Now he had to think. Think clearly.

Will was out there. He couldn't hear him, but he knew. He knew Will was out there.

Somewhere on the farm, the man who'd killed the only parents Harlan had ever known was waiting for him. Waiting to finish the job and kill Harlan Miller.

So, tune in tomorrow (hopefully) for Chapter 2!