There was someone there, someone or something other, he thought. Keeping him company. Impossible to confirm a presence. Just a hint of companionship, like mist rising off a lake. Of the lake, but not a part of it. He drifted in and out. Warm, cold. It no longer mattered.

Darkness flowed into light. Was he? Wasn’t he? And wherever he was now, there was no turning back.

His breath hovered in his mouth, neither in nor out. The mere whisper of it was all it took to go from one place to the next. Life, death or something other?

 

February 17, 2016 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story of a character who is diverse. Who is this person? Does this character know, accept or reject being perceived as different? As writers, consider how we break stereotypes. Tell you own story of “otherness” if you feel compelled. Or, select a story of diversity, such as rainbows revealing gold. How is diversity needed? How is your character needed?

I’ve probably not quite met the brief at the Carrot Ranch this week which was calling for more character than situation but Charli also gives permission in her post to go with where the prompt takes you. Time was short and I couldn’t get this out of my head almost definitely because the next book on my reading list is “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi – neurosurgeon and writer who died of cancer aged 37.

The title of his book comes from a paraphrased line in the following sonnet by Baron Brooke Fulke Greville

You that seek what life is in death

You that seek what life is in death,
Now find it air that once was breath.
New names unknown, old names gone:
Till time end bodies, but souls none.
            Reader! then make time, while you be,
     But steps to your eternity.