Thursday, August 12, 2010

Flash Friday 55: The Blame Game


Her aging, yellowed skin matches the color of the newspaper clipping she holds in her trembling hands. Ancient wounds feel fresh and raw. Why does she torment herself so? Studying the old obituary she remembers the accusation: “It’s all your fault!” It wasn’t, but she can’t make herself believe otherwise.  Her internal war rages on.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please feel free to ponder and leave your ideas in my comments section: Who is the accuser? Whose obituary is she studying? What are those "ancient wounds"? Is there a reason her skin is "yellow"?


I am participating in Flash Friday 55. This weekly meme is brought to you by G-Man, over at Mr. Know it All. The object is to write a story or prose in exactly 55 words. Come join us and link your 55 in Mr. Know it All's comment section. See you there!

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

This one has many layers, many ways to be translated...I love it, its kinda up to our imagination....great job.

Steven Anthony
http://manndish.blogspot.com/

Stan Ski said...

We often blame ourselves for things that couldn't be avoided.

Buzzard said...

That was a load of guilt to drag around.

Brian Miller said...

its her mother, from when she was born...her father is blaming her...her skin is jaundiced...and now you want me on your team for CLUE dont you...smiles. nice tricky 55 5th!

Mona said...

Guilt is horrible, specially in cases like death!

Jannie Funster said...

It was me accusing myself again of leaving the bunny in the backyard unattended, and he disappeared forever.

I hate how hurts can live on.

But I like your 55!

Cheryl said...

She's obviously been eating waaaay too many carrots; her accuser is her husband; the obituary is her . . .

Ooops, I almost wrote something in jest that would not have been funny.

I loved this. The questions just got me silly. Too damn late for me to be on this dang machine anymore.

G'night Polly.

G-Man said...

Ha Polly...
A ponderous 55 eh My Dear?
I loved it...Great Depth!
Thanks for playing today, and have a Kick Ass Week-End...G

ballast photography said...

This much angst is clearly a matter of the heart. An old lover has died, and it's anyone's guess what he blames her for.

Holly Lefevre said...

I like this one - I guess I am all for torment. A tricky one...do I have any ideas - the surviving twin who lost her sister in an accident and since she has smoked and drank herself into her current state never able to let go even though deep down she knows it was not her fault.

S. Susan Deborah said...

Guilt, conscience, past -- all these are quite active here. The yellowing is because she might belong to a different race!

Thinking caps, umm.

Joy always,
Susan

swputh said...

Is she missing someone who expressed love in a strange way..

Weezer said...

Back in December 1989, she and her husband were returning home from a church service in their car. She was driving and as the car slid on the ice, she lost control and the car went into a ditch. She survived with multiple injuries but her husband was pronounced dead at the scene. Feeling the guilt at her husband's death, she has blamed herself constantly because she was behind the wheel. To mask the guilt and the pain, she began to drink. She now has cirrhosis of the liver and is too advanced for a transplant. The failing liver has caused her skin to yellow. The obituary is her husband's.
How's that?

Claudia said...

this is really good - but i have no clue who and why - hope you will come up with the solution...

John (@bookdreamer) said...

Japanese Father, Australian Mother. Her sister committed suicide after a row over a boy they both liked. Bitter she became a recluse, ticking off those she and her sister had known as they died in the vain hope then when she is the last one left, the voices of guilt will stop.
To hear or read my non-PC illustrated Friday 55 click here. Warning you may have to read the footnote after to make sense of it!

Austin said...

Gracious there have been some heavy 55's today! I think you captured this one very well though.

Mine is here

~✽Mumsy✽~ said...

Great 55 with so much depth! Ancient wounds are all the abuses that she endured..Her accuser has to be the parents..

A Daft Scots Lass said...

internal turmoil.

I like it. Mine is also up.

Willoughby said...

I was watching a "House" marathon yesterday while working on a sewing project, so I'm most curious about why her skin is yellow. I'm thinking liver disease, possibly due to alcoholism. But then again, Dr. House almost always considers Paraneoplastic Syndrome, so I'd want to run some tests. I'd want to consider Wilson's Disease, too. Not that it has anything to do with yellow skin, but it does cause those who suffer from it to act irrationally, so maybe it caused her to do something careless that resulted in the death of another. Are there copper colored rings around her corneas? I'll get back to you when I have the results from the lab.

Am I overthinking this, do you suppose???

Nessa said...

So many things about this are so true. why can't we give certain things up? Why do we torture ourselves?

Very well done. The yellowness of it is so poignant.

Julie Kwiatkowski Schuler said...

ah guilt, that's familiar. My first biggest guilt was when the older neighbor wanted to get a bird's nest off of our eaves. She was very bossy and I was six years old. She insisted I would catch it when she knocked it down. I could not. And there were eggs inside and they broke all over the grass. Blood and albumen on the spring grass. I cried all night.

Anonymous said...

i love such open ended posts !! really great work :)

Anonymous said...

Love the description here, hands the colr of the old newspaper. I could see it. Nice 55!

Linda Bob Grifins Korbetis Hall said...

brilliant 55 in my eyes,
well written,
it makes people wonder and think....

cheers!
an award in my 55 post for you,
Happy Friday!

Anonymous said...

It amazes me how much we blame our selves for when most of the time it is totally out of our control. Very well done and a great pondering story. Excellent. Have a wonderful Friday :)

ruth said...

Oh those dratted internal wars, they just go on and on... and on. If only we could limit them to 55 words, like you've done here, and hear no more from them!

Monkey Man said...

I didn't read the other comments because I didn't want it to taint my imagination about your 55. Here's my theory - Her husband died of lung cancer from second hand smoke and blamed his wife in anger on his death bed for killing him.

KB said...

Guilt is a terrible emotion to process.

Mine’s here.

Mike said...

Written very well but I have no clue what it is about! :)

Anonymous said...

Oh my, there is way too much angst to even begin guessing. Wonderfully mysterious 55.

Teresa

moondustwriter said...

The past can weigh so heavy

guilt ensues...

nice 55

moon smiles

Anonymous said...

After all the years, everything gets hazy.. truth melts into fiction, and vice versa...
Poor woman.. I hope she finds peace soon..
Lovely (albeit sad) 55!

Maude Lynn said...

This is really sad!

Jenners said...

There is a lot that you can project onto this one ... and in just 55 words. Very well done!

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