Unholy Trinity: A Day in the Life by Alan Moskowitz
Our church worships at the altar of the Unholy Trinity. Its gospels are delivered as a trio of dark drabbles, linked so that Three become One. All hail the power of the Three.
MOVING
While the sweating movers manhandled her worn sofa into the waiting van, she walked through each room for the last time. Memories cascaded like feathers floating on a warm wind.
As the last of her belongings were loaded the sky darkened with pregnant rain clouds that cast shadows over her beloved garden. She smiled ruefully; a storm made a fitting coda.
She watched impassively as the thrift store van carried her old life away. She felt satisfied; her home was ready for her ex-husband and his new bride. The can of gasoline and a match would provide a lovely homecoming.
TIRED
Parked on the cliff overlooking the ocean, thoughts of her losses scalded her tortured psyche. She had no one, nowhere to go and no strength to start over.
A few foot-pounds of pressure would end the ache.
She took hold of the steering wheel. The familiar feel of the worn leather triggered memories that punctured her feelings of betrayal. No matter what crap life gave her, she always felt safe in her beloved car, the only thing that was still hers. And she was about to murder it.
She shifts into reverse and backs away from the beckoning waves below.
LONELY
If she hadn’t been heartbreakingly lonely, she would have resisted the need to take the naked man stumbling out of the surf into her arms to keep him warm.
He was gone in the morning, leaving her body warm and tingling. The torturous loneliness had been lifted, if only for the night.
The comforting warmth intensified until her skin felt on fire. Breathing air scorched her lungs. She screamed in panic as luminescent scales spread across her legs, fusing them together.
Desperate, she pushed herself into the surf using her tail. He was waiting. She would never be lonely again.
Alan Moskowitz
Alan has worked as a successful screen and TV writer for over forty years. Recently retired he began writing short genre fiction. He has been published in several online venues. New to the art of short fiction writing he welcomes feedback. He is considering a pseudonym. He may be reached at [email protected] or his Facebook page under his name.
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Stephanie Ellis writes dark speculative prose and poetry and has been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies. Her longer work includes the folk horror novels, The Five Turns of the Wheel, Reborn, and The Woodcutter, and the novellas, Bottled and Paused (all via Brigids Gate Press). Her dark poetry has been published in her collections Lilith Rising (co-authored with Shane Douglas Keene), Foundlings (co-authored with Cindy O’Quinn) and Metallurgy, as well as the HWA Poetry Showcase Volumes VI, VII, VIII, and IX and Black Spot Books Under Her Skin. She can be found supporting indie authors at HorrorTree.com via the weekly Indie Bookshelf Releases. She can be found at https://stephanieellis.org and on Blue Sky as stephellis.bsky.social.
