“Waiting…”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

“Woe to the man whose heart has not learned while young to hope, to love – and to put its trust in life.”

Joseph Conrad

Sheia stood outside her modest hut, wrapped in a thick sheepskin cloak. She was waiting for her husband to return from his hunt.

This hunt had been different from the rest. The elders had warned the men against leaving, saying that dark magic would soon overtake them.

The men had ignored the elders’ advice and had continued on their way. ‘We need to stock up food for the winter,’ they had said.

They had left when the moon was full. Now, the moon was but a small sliver in the night sky. The hunt would usually last for a quarter of a moon.

Sheia could feel that there was something wrong. When she saw the first few men return through the gates, she knew that something terrible had happened.

She knew that her husband had not returned.

Immediately, Sheia rushed forth to question the men about her beloved husband’s whereabouts. Every man avoided her, walked away when she approached.

Finally, Sheia cornered Vannick, one of her dearest friends. She demanded to know where her husband was. Vannick hesitated before telling her of her husband’s untimely demise.

A siren had called to him. And he had listened.

He had listened. And in that moment, he had forgotten about his love. He had forgotten about her.

He had gone with the siren and had not been seen since.

As Vannick finished his story, Sheia had been reduced to tears.

Until a shape of a man appeared on the horizon…

Final Comments: Another cliffhanger… This prompt was actually pretty difficult to work with and I didn’t really have any ideas about how to go about making a story related to it. In the end, I just started writing and, well, this is what happened.

Overall Rating: 🙄