Halloween Flash #3

OK, here is my third Halloween flash story. It's a revision of something I once posted on another blog in response to a prompt. I hope I was able to turn it into something appropriately Halloweeny. I've also reposted the links to all the other Halloween flash pieces just below my piece. We have new, additional pieces from Avery and Laughingwolf.


HEAVEN

The spaceship jarred as it landed. The computer had done its job, had brought me down safely from orbit. But I was weak, gasping for breath, mind drifting from lack of oxygen. The recycler had broken down. Even my space suit was nearly exhausted of air. But I managed to make it to the airlock.

I didn’t know this planet. Was the atmosphere breathable? I had no choice but to find out. The outer hatch opened under my hand. I staggered through, fell to hands and knees, slapped my helmet release.

A breath shuddered into my lungs. Warm. Languid. It fed me. My lungs filled with it; my body drank it like nectar. I coughed, then forced myself to my feet. The view froze me.

A low mist coiled thickly around my feet, as if I stood on a cloud. But up through the fog thrust metal trees, of copper, black iron, gleaming platinum. Their leaves chimed in a zephyr breeze. Above me, the sky was clear and golden, like melted butter.

And in the sky drifted a city of silver. I heard the belling of trumpets, and rising over the city’s needle spires came a flock of beings who swept toward me. They were white, blindingly white, with feathered wings.

For an instant I wondered if I had died aboard my ship, or if I lay dreaming with brain damaged from oxygen loss. But I’d always understood the difference between fantasy and reality, and the reality was that the creatures who dove toward me were angels.

They began to sing. My heart swelled with the beauty. I lifted my own voice to join theirs.

The angels swirled before me. Their luminous eyes were sharp, piercing. Their voices rose higher and higher.

My own voice faltered. I couldn’t match them. And I realized that their song was no song at all. No song at all.

At the sound of the angels’ laughter, my ears began to bleed.

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LINKS TO OTHER STORIES

TWO NEW ONES:

Problem Child, by Avery Debow.

lady jane, by Laughingwolf.


EARLIER ONES IN CASE YOU MISSED ‘EM:


Fat Man by Stewart Sternberg.

Twisted by Miladysa.

Having His Say by Sidney Williams.


The Empress of the Fescue, by Avery DeBow.


flight by Laughingwolf.
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