Daily Flash Fiction Entries

What's Left Behind

Written for the "Daily Flash Fiction Challenge" 
Prompt: Write about a homeless couple
Winning Entry
______________

Hysterical laughter threatened to bubble to the surface, forcing her to slap a hand over her mouth to control it quickly.

The ‘slush’ sound of wading feet – knee deep actually – filled the heavy silence as they wandered through the remains of what was once a picturesque seaside home. Their first and only home for the past three years.

He stole a glance at her, feeling his heart sink with every expression that crossed her visage. He watched her stumble, tried to reach out to steady her and received a quick but cold glare instead. Hadn’t she begged him to get a better place so many times in the past? Hadn’t she warned him that this might happen someday? He could still remember the bitter arguments they had gotten into, his pride refusing to let him see reason. This house had belonged to his family for generations. There was no way he was going to leave.

And now this.

A hurricane had swept through the coastline, leaving devastation and heartbreak in its wake.

She sniffled, unaware the tears had begun to fall. She wanted to scream, to smash something. But it was ironic since Nature had already done that for them. Where would they go now? Where could they live?

“Ah…found it,” he said, as he held up the frame, now cracked and barely holding on to the picture within.

In the silence, they stared at the image of the smiling couple, both holding on tightly and swearing to be together till death did them part. How young and naïve they had looked back then.

In unison, they sighed and turned away from each other, wading through the ‘river’ that now filled their home, both knowing that the widening gulf between them was caused by more than just a hurricane.


Word Count: 300