Linger

Chapter 3: Earl Grey

A tiny reddish dot flew past Marlow's eye as she sprinkled flour onto her countertop. The summer heat and fresh fruit were a siren's call for fruit flies. She could already feel her enemy closing in.

"The cookie impressions are a bit overkill, don't you think?"

Hannah held her hands up in surrender when Marlow leveled her a look.

"They're a gift," Marlow said, flouring the cookie mold. "They're supposed to be over-the-top."

Hannah boosted herself up on the counter. A thin layer of frost covered the faux marble. "And who are these for again?"

Marlow muttered the answer under her breath. A second fruit fly joined the first near her bananas.

Hannah cupped a scarred hand behind her ear. "I’m sorry, didn't quite catch that."

"It's for Charlie's boss, alright? I promised her that I would do this before the breakup and I figured when she comes to get the last of her stuff, I should have these ready."

It was Hannah's turn to give her a look. Marlow pretended not to notice, grinding the Earl Grey tea into a fine grit. Any more fine and it would be dust.

"Charlie, your ex-girlfriend, the woman who walked out of your life two weeks ago. Charlie, the person you wouldn't tell about seeing ghost me."

"That's not that simple! It's just…" A fruit fly flew into Marlow's line of sight, bursting her last bit of patience. "Damn these flies!"

Hannah tsked before hopping off the counter. Her non-corporeal hand hovered over the bananas, ice freezing the fruit along with the fruit flies buzzing overhead.

"You have to let go, Mar."

"I can't." Marlow swept the dead flies with a damp rag into the trash. The bananas joined soon after. Out of sight, out of mind. "Not yet."

Word Count: 297 / 726
Prompt Three: "Third Prompt "   - Animal
For "14 Days, 7 Prompts, 1 Story Contest"