Then, snap. Strangle. Gush. Blackness. Silent night.
He stands in my bedroom, in the doorway to the balcony.
The visitation dream is startling, but not surprising. There’s never a gift.
In the nightmare, I’m being chased by the voice of the Christmas figure.
Frantic to find a hole, I scurry along the walls of my bedroom.
I have whiskers and a rat’s tail.
He whispers, ‘Are you sorry, Philippa?’
A word or two of regret, and he’d reward me with a merry cheese tray.
‘Come closer. Tell me.’
I do so love cheese.
‘Good wife,’ the figure says. ‘Stand right there.’
Then, snap. Strangle. Gush. Blackness. Silent night.
The subject of a premonition dream must actually occur.
What happens is the police come on the third Monday in January, the saddest and most investigative day of the year.
They call out, ‘Mrs. Philippa Gould? We want to speak to you.’
Poe the Pomeranian barks.
They knock on the front door.
Poe goes mad and bangs into the hall table, sending my antique nativity scene and Damien’s urn crashing to the floor.
I am annoyed about the table, worried that the police questioning will shock my pet.
Darling Poe doesn’t know.
In the falling dream, the figure plunges more dramatically than Damien had.
My balcony overlooks eternity instead of the condo’s snowy parking lot.
Once out over the railing, his lying mouth forms a perfect O. His long arms windmill.
Damien’s didn’t hold me when our Christmas tree toppled, crushing the angel topper I was.
He held her. Swore he didn’t. The red crotchless teddy wasn’t my size.
Before impact, terrible wings erupt from my back. I fly like a festive falcon.
I dive and, momentarily, we are side by side as we should’ve been on New Year’s Eve everlasting.
Away I soar. Up, up to my bedroom balcony.
The Devil wishes my wings returned, so I neatly fold them and include a jolly note. ‘Happy Holidays. See you soon. XOXO.’
I stand, a figure in the doorway.
Poe is snoring on the bed.
Downstairs, the police are knocking and knocking.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
A short bio: Karen Walker (she/her) writes short in a low basement in Ontario, Canada. Her most recent work is in or forthcoming in New Flash Fiction Review, Exist Otherwise, Switch, Misery Tourism, Does it Have Pockets? and EGG+FROG.
Image generated on Magic Studio
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