One Mid-November Monday temperatures hovered around freezing. Dusk pulled up its blanket as rain fell then froze to trees as Arctic air swept in. Limbs groaned with burden. Victims’ cracks and crashes echoed outside of the house, and the earth vibrated with their landing — the equivalent of an earthquake in Michigan.
The old willow lost another limb, downing the power line again. All went dark and silent except for an expletive. She threw another log on the fire and lit candles throughout the house.
Then she heard a prying sound in the attic with a deep voice she recognized calling, “Hello, Lisa! Did you miss me?”
Cell phone in pocket and a cat under either arm, she went to her sanctuary, dialed 9-1-1, spun the cylinder on the Magnum, clicked it shut, and waited. If it’s darkness we’re having, let it be extravagant.
[144 words]
Victoria is today’s host of dVerse. Victoria says:
Today, I’d like to introduce you to one of my favorite poets. Jane Kenyon was born in 1947 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She grew up in the Midwest of the United States but eventually lived out the remainder of her life in New Hampshire, married to fellow poet Donald Hall. Her poetry is immersed in her environments and in the small or not-so-small realities of daily life. It has been described as simple, spare and emotionally resonant. Jane succumbed all too young to Leukemia in 1995. She was 47 and, at the time, Poet Laureate of New Hampshire.
[Y]ou must include the following phrase from Kenyon’s poem, “Taking Down the Tree”:
If it’s darkness
we’re having, let it be extravagant.
image link here
Tao Talk 
Bravo. I like how you built up the tension and then that spinning of the Magnum. Hopefully it isn’t some unruly spirit up there in the attic.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Thanks Victoria. This is the second story in a week about critters in the attic. I wonder what my mind is trying to tell me 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oooh…the subconscious speaks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, my first thought was the noises in the attic in THE EXORCIST, an evil spirit who has visited before. But the .44 brought me back to reality, and real danger.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Glenn. In the last couple of years there have been multiple power outages here. To be honest, it isn’t the dark that gets to me, it is the silence.
LikeLike
Nice work! Real or imagined, ghost or human, the gun sounds like the right move.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Toni.
LikeLike
Very well written. Love how you incorporate the Prompt line.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Sadje!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome Li.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This lady does not mess around! She is ready!! Great job Jade!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Dwight!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That gun may not help if it’s something else…but it can’t hurt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As I think about it, I should have just threw the cats into the carrier and ran out to my car and took off. I’m glad I wrote the story now so I have the plan in mind if it ever comes to pass 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
There you go…you never know.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh so creepy! Loved it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it creeped me out writing it! 🙂
LikeLike
I love a strong woman… no fainting filly here
LikeLiked by 1 person
lol so true!
LikeLike
Spooky! (K)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, wow, wow! Powerful write Lisa!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Linda, thank you, glad you liked it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Self possessed and ready for anything. Bring it on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You got it, Len 🙂
LikeLike
Oh… the buildup is perfect… it’s so much better than “it was a dark and stormy night”… and the additional meaning of darkness holding that magnum… Also love the detail of using your own name when telling the story in third person.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bjorn, thank you 🙂
LikeLike
I love how you end this with the line, hangs with tension, leaves me wanting the next line.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Paul thank you very much.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very welcome indeed
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the mystery in your words and the imagery at the start.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Thanks Astrid, glad you liked the story.
LikeLike
Love your buildup in this. Very clever.
LikeLike