Images Of Chase...A Short Story

It's The Weekly Blog Hop Writing Challenge!

It's that time again for another story. This time we've got two photos from which to draw inspiration. Here are the other rules: 

1) Use the two photos provided in your story
2) Keep your word count 500 words or less.
3) You have until next Tuesday night to link up your post.
4) Add your story (Blue Link) at Leanne's or Tena's sites.

5) Have fun, don’t stress, let those creative juices flow.

 

So, without further hesitation, here's this week's story!

 

Images Of Chase

 

As Michelle Prowse retrieved the keys from her back pocket, she dropped one of the two bags of groceries she juggled in her over-burdened arms.

'Please don't be the eggs,' she thought to herself as she knew instinctively the bag that fell to earth did indeed contain the dozen eggs she needed for a new recipe. After jamming the key into the lock and opening the apartment door she was she able to place her other bag on the kitchen counter and return to the hallway to see if her intended dinner would turn from new meal to Top Ramen. Thankfully only two of the twelve eggs were destroyed.

She gathered the groceries and placed the damaged paper bag next to the pristine one on the counter. It was then she noticed the mail she picked up on the way to her apartment, the three or four envelopes crammed under her purse, and since checking the mail sounded only slightly more enjoyable than putting away the groceries, she opted for the mail.

Bill, bill, credit card application...Michelle froze as the handwritten writing on the last envelope screamed at her, the simple letters that could only be penned by one person on earth struck her with such force her legs began to buckle.

The letter came from dad. She dropped the other letters and stared at the one remaining in her shaking hand. She slowly walked to the kitchen table and sat down.

"Damn you, dad," Michelle said as the first of many tears began descending down her tired face. She opened the letter not knowing what it contained, but thinking it would have something to do with her little brother Chase, ten years her junior who died seven months earlier. When she opened the letter and saw it contained only photographs the gravity of what he sent fell upon her shoulders.

She gently held the dozen or so pictures as if they were delicate spun-thrown glass figurines. The first picture showed Chase playing video games, the boy the most innocent, loving child the 23-year older sister ever knew. He sat on her dad's old brown couch with his feet up. The image shattered Michelle's heart.

'Dad was old-school--I'll give him that!' Michelle thought. Her father still used his old 35mm Olympus and he developed the prints Walmart. Next came a shot of Gunner, Chase's dog--some terrier/spaniel mix. How he loved that dog, a dog Chase only survived by one year. Michelle saw a picture of Chase at his last birthday party, in their father's backyard pool, Chase waiting in line for the latest superhero movie premiere. 

When she had seen them all, she placed them in front of her on the table, one atop the other, each placed exactly over the one beneath. She looked at the groceries awaiting her attention and she no longer felt like eating anything and didn't know when the desire would return.

Word Count: 492