January AW Blog Chain

It’s that  time again. Time for the Absolute Write blog chain. This month’s prompt is Winter Nightmare.

As most of you know, I’ve been having computer problems, but that’s no excuse for what I’m about to do. The truth is, I entered late and at the time my creative juices were percolating elsewhere. So instead of backing out, I thought I’d resurrect an old piece, blow the dust of it, so to speak.

The piece is Snow Blind. Some of you may remember it from the Uxbridge Celebration of the Arts Festival. I stood in front of a sparse crowd and read it aloud. That was September 2010. Since then I have increased my readership here. So if you’ve read it before, please excuse me.

If it helps, next month’s potential prompt is second chances. I have written a short story for it called Second Chances Don’t Come Cheap. Sadly it is too long for February’s blog chain. The bright side is, I plan to submit it to a writing contest.. as soon as I find one, that is.

So without further ado, here is Snow Blind. As always, please check out the other participants entries. There is something for everyone including non-fiction. Enjoy

***

Snow robs the dark of its sight stealing powers and yet, during the day, this very illuminator has the same properties as the darkest night.

Black and white, white and black, opposites and yet they share the same qualities, the same abilities. Both in essence are colours and yet they are, by definition, the absence of colour.

Isn’t it funny how the mind works when faced with adversity? A vast ice plain stretches out before me, behind me, to all sides and yet here I am debating where black and white stand in a colour wheel.

I repeat a litany: “legs keep moving”, “don’t stop”, “legs keep moving”, each phrase torn from my frozen lips by the howling wind and shredded by the driving snow.

All this whiteness robs ones rationality, takes away sense of direction, I don’t know where I am, where I’m going or where I’ve been but what I do know for sure is that if I stop, I’m dead. Maybe I’m dead already. Maybe this is my hell for stealing my uncle’s Playboys; a total absence of all senses. I can’t feel my hands, my feet, I can’t see anything but white and I can’t hear anything except the howl of the wind. Even that is white.

“Don’t stop, keep walking.”

Strawberries.

All this white reminds of strawberries, more specifically, the creamy vanilla ice-cream over which my mom would ladle spoonfuls of home-made strawberries jam, still warm from the canning process. I can almost smell the pot bubbling on the stove.

The jam would melt the ice-cream, if I didn’t eat it fast enough, which I wouldn’t, making delicious, sweet pink slurry.

Man, my imagination is so strong I can actually see it…

No, that’s not strawberries. It can’t be. Strawberries are spooned on carefully, never sprayed on like this, plus, it’s the wrong colour. This red is a deep red, almost black, like… blood. It has to be blood! Someone has been here before me, but why can’t I still see them? It’s snowing so hard but the blood looks so fresh.

“Hello?!” My call sounds muffled. I try to call again and the red splatters grow. It’s blood, my blood.

Why am I not moving? Why is my face pressed into the strawberries and ice-cream? No more, please mom, I’m so sleepy. Even the snow is tired of being so white all the time, it’s fading to grey, to bla…

Participants and posts:
orion_mk3 – http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com (link to this month’s post)
MamaStrong – http://writingofme.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
pyrosama – http://matrix-hole.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Turndog-Millionaire – http://turndog-millionaire.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Alpha Echo – http://aprilplummer81.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
LilGreenBookworm – http://themayhemofwritingsahm-style.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Domoviye – http://lets-get-happy.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
writingismypassion – http://charityfaye.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
kimberlycreates – http://www.kimberlycreates.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Suzanne Seese – http://viewofsue.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Diana Rajchel – http://blog.dianarajchel.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Ralph Pines – http://ralfast.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Alynza – http://www.alynzasmith.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Literateparakeet – http://lesliesillusions.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
in_one – http://quirkythomas.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Tomspy77 – http://thomaswillamspychalski.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Inkstrokes – https://drlong67.wordpress.com/ (You are here!)
kiwiviktor81 – http://storygenerator.net/ (link to this month’s post)
These Mean Streets – http://ohno-anotherwritingblog.blogspot.com/ (link to this month’s post)
areteus – http://lurkingmusings.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)
Abielle Rose – http://stainedglassinthenight.wordpress.com/ (link to this month’s post)

Archive of Past Blog Chains