A Sky of Blood
A flash fiction tragedy
Blood streamed across the sky, great rivers of orange-red gushing from an unseen wound in the Earth’s side. It dripped onto the land and trees, the buildings and cars, onto Mark’s hands, staining everything with its rusty damp. He tried to staunch the flow, but he couldn’t find the wound. His hands swam through the blood, probing, searching, to no avail. There was too much, too much, too much! His eyes skipped frantic across the world. The road. The twisted metal. The other people, staring, paralyzed with fear as the whole planet bled to death before their eyes. “Help me,” he pleaded, but nobody could. The Earth’s breath stilled save the distant wail of sirens inching closer, closer, but not close enough, not fast enough. It was all up to him, and he couldn’t stop the blood.
Mark looked at the woman lying on the asphalt beneath his crimson hands. His tears mingled with the blood on her face. “Please help me,” he begged her.
But neither could she.
“A Sky of Blood” originally appeared in the Indies Unlimited flash fiction competition, August 4, 2018. This is the shortest short story I’ve ever written. I made one word change here, and removed a comma.
