Drabble #205: Deep

[redwolf]

...we had a nice response to the drabble prompt of Drabble 204, with entries by apachefirecat and redwolf, and comments by apachefirecat, jalenstrix and redwolf

For this prompt, we continue with our one-word/phrase drabble roots:

Deep

Tell us all about it. Labyfic-style, of course.

Given our entries from recent months, let's continue with the suggested limit of 500 words. Though remember that shorter pieces are most definitely welcome!

Your entry should take the following format, posted as a comment on this entry:

Word count: # of words
$your_beautiful_drabble

I'll be running weekly challenges in the space around jalenstrix's monthly challenges.

You can see our current collected suggestions here.

Remember: Feedback is LOVE. So do reply to your fellow labyficcers' drabbles if so inclined. (Though be careful of concrit unless specifically okayed by the author beforehand. Authors generally write for love.)

Comments

Hollow

[redwolf]

Word count: 500

The cafe was quiet at this time of day. The rush of people grabbing their caffeine fix on the way to work had ebbed and the lunch crowd was still on the horizon.

Sarah was sitting at a table by the window and could see that the butcher had a new owner, but the bakery was still in the family. The pizzeria had been a Chinese restaurant when she lived here. There was a clothing store that seemed to change names every time she passed through, and a hardware store that was unchanged from her childhood.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but why are we here looking at that eyesore?” Sarah jerked her head and glared at the glass fronted shop directly across from where they sat. It had been a bookstore when she was growing up and she’d loved it so much. It physically hurt her to see the store had been gutted and turned into a chain gym crowded with exercise equipment.

Irene sipped her coffee and looked at the overly muscled men who were posturing and shuddered. “I took a yoga class there recently with some of the ladies from my book club.” She frowned as the men added an improbably large amount of weights to a bar before encouraging one of their group to lift it. “While the class itself was enjoyable, the atmosphere was not.”

“I take it that those young men were the problem.”

“The constant grunting they made during our class was annoying, but the comments about some of the younger ladies in the class were not appreciated.” Irene put her cup down before she broke it. “We were concerned enough that we escorted them back to their cars.”

“Why didn’t the gym ban the men?” Sarah picked at a muffin. “Nevermind, forget I asked.”

Irene’s smile was a brittle thing. “The yoga instructor was furious with the owner and has moved her classes to the community centre, as have several other instructors.”

“So what’s the problem?” Sarah frowned. “If the gym owner is stupid enough to alienate his customers for the benefit of those idiots, then he deserves to go out of business.”

Irene’s smile this time was positively gleeful. “With the loss of the classes and word of mouth, I doubt it will last out the season. No, I was curious if you understood those young men.” She nodded to a pair who were flexing for their companions. “They seem obsessed with their bodies in a manner that lacks appeal beyond their own circle, and while they made derogatory comments during my class, we overheard them declaring that having sex with women made them gay.”

Sarah snorted and shrugged. “People are strange. The sooner they accept their latent homosexuality and leave women alone, the better for everyone. With any luck a more accepting business will take over now that will perhaps broaden their horizons further than misogynistic podcasts.” She was sure a little goblin assistance would help hasten the process.

Re: Hollow

[apachefirecat]

I love how you're fleshing out Irene, and I FEEL Sarah's pain over the bookstore having been redone. It really hurts to see so many cherished, old buildings been destroyed by new owners, and we're certainly seeing a rash of that these days.

And yeah, the whole hiding homosexuality thing is far too real as well. I actually know a guy who was a manager who liked to make remarks and place hands where they shouldn't be for years to his female employees -- but was gay and had a long-time lover the entire time. It's a shame people feel the need to hide their true selves so much.

Re: Hollow

[redwolf]

It's bad enough having local businesses go under and be replaced by something else, but at least the developers haven't yet moved in to raze the old buildings and replace them with concrete boxes. And I guess it's a silver lining that the gym isn't destined to last long with the gym bros running off other customers.

I'm not terribly surprised about the toxic masculinity when young men have poor male role models at home, prevailing church structures that are patriarchal and condone and encourage the subjugation of women, and who view a violent, sex trafficking, deeply closeted gay man as a template to emulate.

[apachefirecat]

Word Count:


This world is so horrible, but she can still close her eyes and feel his arms wrapped tightly around her. She can still breathe his scent, practically hear his heartbeat, or what she easily imagines to be his heartbeat, as the rain beats steadily on her windowpane. She moans in her sleep, her body shifting as her nightmares do too. He is always there for her, in her dreams.

He offered her everything, a world so far better than this one will ever be; she should have taken his offer. She should have accepted him. This world holds nothing but misery and heartache for her, but with him, she could have been happy. She would have been happy if she had only said yes. That word, yes, pours from her lips now faster and faster.

It doesn't matter now, or so she thinks, but he's still watching. He's still watching, still waiting, still looking over her -- still waiting for the day when she will say yes to so much more, to the day when she will at last have found a way back into his labyrinth and, thus, back to him. He can come no closer now than his perch outside her window, and he sits there throughout the night, throughout the cold, throughout the rain, watching her, just watching and waiting.

He knows what she's crying yes! to now. He knows, and he can feel her. He can feel her heart beating, her breath coming in greater gasps as her dreams progress. He can feel her body wrapped in his, her tongue crashing against his. He can feel her coming to ever higher levels of passion. But each morning, with the sun, he must leave.

Each morning, she wakes alone. The rain is gone. The nightmares are gone. Her entire body hums, though, as if she's spent the night loving and being loved in return, as though somehow she's living the passionate dreams that overtake her nightly. She knows she isn't. She knows she can't be. But one day, she will find a way back to him and all he promised. She was just a girl when she turned him away, but now she is a woman, still dreaming, still yearning for him, and knowing better than ever before everything she turned away. One day, she'll have him and they'll share the deepest love imaginable.



The End

[redwolf]

I would hope they're getting closer to finding their way back to each other 🦊🧡

[apachefirecat]

<3 Some of the very best things come slowly.