Embers – by K.B. CARLE

Embers

I watch the embers, sore after being thrown to the ground. Watch the crimson sparks skip off the ashen wood as your heavy body presses against mine. Watch as your hand slips under my dress, claws at my legs, rips away my underwear. Hot tears blur my vision as you grunt, enter me, choke me. Your big hand strikes my face as I watch the embers dim. You pull my hair, forcing me to watch you, thick vein pulsing in your forehead, sweat dripping onto my dry lips, black hair on your chest, creeping under your arms.

Every time it hurts but every time I find something new to watch; cobwebs on the ceiling, a mouse hiding under the couch, your friend with the lazy eye looking back at me.

I want to watch as my fingers wrap around your neck, slap you when you cry, slam your head against the floor when you scream. I just want to watch your eye swell, hear your shoulder crack, the arm dangling at your side. Taste the blood on your lips as I wish you goodnight.

I watch your chest rise, your mouth hang open, drool streaming down your cheek as I gather the clothes you purchased me. I watch as the flame creeps up the match. I watch as it devours my wedding dress. From outside I watch the smoke fly, choking you, blurring your vision, making your eyes water.

And I watch the embers soar.

***

K.B. Carle currently lives outside the greater Philadelphia area where she sits in a poorly insulated office, contemplating the struggles all writers face on a daily basis. She earned her BA from Old Dominion University in Virginia, MA from West Chester University in Pennsylvania and is currently working towards her MFA in Creative Writing-Fiction at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. She is a lover of literary, historical and speculative fiction, journeying to conferences in hopes of finding adventure and forming connections with fellow writers that share a passion for their craft. Her short story entitled, “Gone Fishing” is currently available on Pennyshorts’ website.