Genre: Fiction
Word Count: 100
Fear
I’ve heard it said that a woman should never be afraid of her own life. Yet I am. Every day the crowd multiplies. I grow old. The room grows smaller. Am I to be buried alive? Not with grave dirt, but with ghosts. The more confined I, the more rampant they. What diabolical art is this, that the dead suck life out of those they abhor? My nights are theirs to engorge upon in hopeless pain, my days spit out remnants of their celebration. For as vines strangle and overgrown briars encroach, my ghosts encircle me. And I am afraid.
Come along and join in with Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers and Eugi’s Weekly Prompt. Eugi asks us to use any variation on the word prompt (“celebration”).
Rochelle asks that we use the photo prompt (above, © Alicia Jamtaas) and limit our words to 100 or less. Click on the frog to read more stories and participate. 
This Jolly Beggar 
Every day the crowd multiplies. I grow old. This is a great line Dora! I know the feeling!
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Dwight,
Too many ghosts, I fear, as we age. Thank you very much for your comment. :>)
pax,
dora
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You are welcome Dora! What scares me is the number of houses being built a dozen at a time around here!
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I know what you mean. They go up fast, don’t they?! And the green disappears.
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:>(
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Wow! Brilliant piece, Dora, and very relatable as we age. I love your lines ” Every day the crowd multiplies. I grow old. The room grows smaller.”.
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Eugi,
Thanks so much! Appreciate your thoughts.
pax,
dora
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My pleasure, Dora!😊
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Such a dark piece. I dearly hope this isn’t your own experience?
Powerful! Fear is an ugly monster we all face from time, to time.
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Susan,
Thanks for asking, but no, except for old age closing in. But I can easily imagine myself in this state were the pain in our past inescapable and hopelessness takes over. Despair is just a step away from hope. I think what (or Who) we place our hope in makes all the difference. Appreciate your comments so much, Susan.
pax,
dora
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🙂
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I wonder if some detestable guilty past is catching up with her and playing with her mind.
Perhaps she just stopped doing the garden and it is really creeping, slowly with the intention to consume her frail body.
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James,
Could be guilty memories. Something is troubling and whatever it is she feels trapped.
pax,
dora
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I felt for your character, for the fear of all the uncertainties that come with growing older as well as the loss of loved ones. Fear of ghosts who passed before and of memories that threaten to suffocate her. Very well written, Dora!
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Brenda,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments! I agree with you. The past seems her only preoccupation.
pax,
dora
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Definitely a spine-tingling story. I think her place needs a mass purge with sage and a long vaca to make friends with new, living, spirits.
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Lisa,
Yep. A mass purge with sage for the yard, a nice vacation, and some ginger tea for indigestion. She may have just eaten a bad potato. ;>)
pax,
dora
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lol! 🙂
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😉
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Dear Dora,
I felt her pain and anxiety. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
Thank you! I wonder how many feel like this as their world gets smaller and closed in. Too many any way.
pax,
dora
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We are defined by our hopes and fears. You’ve created a memorable character
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Neil,
Your comment’s very much appreciated. Thank you!
pax,
dora
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A very psychological and brilliant piece. Well done, Dora.
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Mason,
Thanks so much for that generous comment!
pax,
dora
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You’re welcome. Have a lovely weekend, Dora.
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You too Mason. 🙂
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A disturbingly realistic piece – I hope she can find some relief but I doubt it. Beautifully written.
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M.,
I hope she can as well. Exchanging her ghosts for the living would be the ticket. Thank you for your kind comments.
pax,
dora
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Love the imagery 🙂
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Thank you very much, Ali.
pax,
dora
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one of the unexpected consequences of getting old. better to live with it or die.
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Plaridel,
Making peace with the past is the ticket.
pax,
dora
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What a great allegory for growing old and trying to ward off thoughts and fears that are new and are growing every day. With help, she might overcome it and get some joy of life back.
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Gabi,
I agree with you. Growing old is an uneasy transition and no one should go it feeling isolated. Thank you for your thoughtful comments.
pax,
dora
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I’m a great believer in clearing one’s mind of negative thoughts and living each day to the full. After all, you don’t know how many remain. Que sera sera!
Here’s mine!
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Keith,
Hopefully she’ll see it your way. Life is too precious to waste!
pax,
dora
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Indeed.
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That was good. I love the metaphorical use of the ghosts haunting her mind.
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You’ve written a disturbing story about growing old fearfully. Powerfully imagined, Dora. May we all have the wisdom to cherish our memories rather than fearing them.
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What a horrible way to live. It prohibits you from actually living. Poor thing.
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Increased isolation and introspection perhaps leads you here especially in old age — That perhaps and a lack of openness to one’s Maker.
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Perhaps.
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I would tell this woman to cry out like the prophet Jeremiah, “Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored!” (Lamentations 5:21).
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Oh dear… you’ve lost me on this one.
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The hazards of conversation 😬🙂
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No worries. I believe very much in to each his own 🙂
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No reason for it to be otherwise among friends. 🙂❤️
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Exactly! I respect you and your choices 🙂 xoxo
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Preach! What the world needs more of . . . . 🕊
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