It’s been a while since Rebecca stared through the window of her Volkswagen Beetle, parked near the treeline of the country road where she had chosen to spend her afternoon; alone. The sharp bend of the road ahead hides her presence from cars coming from the opposite.
Slouching on the driver's seat, she stretches her left hand out of the opened window with a cigarette between the index and thumb fingers. Stimulated by the dust carried out by the wind following every passing car, she sneezes. Her body shakes a bit, and the cigarette burns brighter as the ash builds up on the top it drops.
She takes a puff, a longer one and gallops all the smoke inside— unusual for her as she usually releases a bit into the air and intakes the rest, making her head less dizzy.
She is there from the early afternoon, smoking cigarettes one after another with her reddish shade on. Nothing interrupted her stillness until a Starling with a tiny insect in its beak landed on the hood. Its tiny claws struggle to stand still on the slippery slope of the frontier; screeches, and finally, flaps to get in the right position. Rebecca turns around.
Ah, a bird; she would exclaim, but not today. Something is clouding her mind today, an innate struggle to find a reason to live, to love, again.
Assuming her as harmless, the feathery creature puts the insect on the hood and rests the beak for a while before swallowing it inside. The ash drops again— time to take another puff. But she hesitates, lest her enthusiastic companion would take off scared. The stillness continues.
Time’s flying fast, sunlight getting dimmer, but the bird seems not to be bothered by the declining daylight— nor does Rebecca. She is watching the sun going down as it slowly moves towards the horizon and turns deep orange from yellow.
There stands an English Oak, just a metre down from the bend between her and the sun. She checks her wristwatch; Nah, there is still time before it’s dark.
She rechecks her watch and looks out of the window— black clouds are forming beyond that treeline. She has hallucinated; the sun is not setting down; instead, an army of dark clouds is overpowering it, seizing its bright rays— rain, oh how she loved it once!
A warm cup of coffee with a cigarette in one hand would often steal her attention as she experienced the raindrops rushing towards her but would crash against the transparent window— like a bird confuses it with an open route and breaking its wings in return after landing hard on it.
Sometimes he would join; Lenny— the most handsome fella in her eyes. With a beer in one hand, he would hold her tight and kiss her lips until she gasped in short breaths. Sometimes they would spend the whole night talking to each other on the balcony— or counting stars and decorating their dream of togetherness in silence.
But the memory lane is deserted now. A loud bang has separated their paths as a moving saw slices the wood apart. But it all seems like yesterday— a day of countless hours.
The Starling has had enough; it has to reach its nest before the cloud downpours, making its wings heavy. Rebecca follows the bird as it takes off and heads to that English Oak. Soon it disappears into the dancing branches of the tree. She opens the glove; the smell of newly applied gun oil fills the interior— the pitch black metallic finishing of the handgun has made the compartment darker and is waiting for the index finger to pull the trigger with the safety pin disabled. Lenny bought it the night before he was shot dead by the stalker.
My Lenny, poor Lenny— she weeps.
She reaches for it with tears blurring her vision; soon after she stumbles on the metallic body of the gun; she takes another puff and turns the safety on— not today, she murmurs.

This has to be one of the most beautifully written fictional story I've even seen.
Thank you very much for your inspiring words, mate. Looking forward to read yours too ;)
A sad tale really. The loss of a loved one is never easy especially when lost in a cruel manner.
I enjoyed your story too. :)
Yes, losing someone we love is never easy to digest. But life goes on and that's what Rebecca did; put that gun away to live a little longer. Probably her decision to live for the moment will encourage her to dream about living in this world for years to come and fall in love again.
Thank you for your opinion. It means a lot to me :)
You're welcome and it was my pleasure.
Its always heartbreaking to lose a loved one. I really enjoyed your story. I thought Rebecca was going to end her life but thankfully, she didn't. Nice story.
Sometimes the sudden departure of our beloveds makes it less painful as you didn't know this would happen and it's gone in a blink of an eye. And if all the story's characters die, who will live to tell the tale?
Thank you for stopping by. I am glad you liked it.
Beautifully written. However, I’m confused by your concluding sentence
To me, this is conflicting- the safety is off (so she’s going to shoot herself)
But, she murmurs - not today. (So she’s not going to shoot herself)
I’m probably missing something, but I’d appreciate clarity
Damn, that silly mistake has changed the entire ending lol 😂
Thank you for notifying me about this, updated already. Not having any practical experience shooting a gun confused me with the feature.
Many thanks.
Oh, lovely 🤩🤩🤩
Beautiful, beautiful 😻
🤗🤗❤️💕❤️🤗😎😎
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Sometimes it’s the little things that happen that alter our perception of things and change our course of action, and your tale does a really good job in demonstrating this. Beautifully written, superbly paced and perfectly concluded.
You take our breath away with your gorgeous lines.
Brilliant!
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I am overwhelmed with your welcoing gesture and the army of appreciators you have just brought with you, thank you very much.
I have read the guidelines and have taken steps accordingly. As a first-timer here, I am showered with the immense support and very much pampered hahaha.
Looking forward to contributing more in the community, you rock!
You managed to describe that great scenario surrounding Rebecca as she immersed herself in a world of thoughts full of memories and nostalgia.
You needed only several paragraphs to capture two such intriguing themes as love and death are.
Congratulations on your beautiful story 👏👏👏👏👏 thank you for sharing it with us 👍👋👋👋👋👋👋👋👋👋Excellent work my friend @r-nyn 🙂
Actually, I wanted it in a rainy setting, but then the bird wouldn't be there, and Rebecca certainly couldn't hold that cigarette out of the window; so, changed it to this and am glad to learn it worked well.
Thank you for your thoughtful identification, it means a lot.

Most of the time(, in my opinion), stories with great imagery and descriptive details just work on readers' imagination. But this story also, targeted reader's emotion with it's tone and also with description by showing not telling.
Excellent story!!!
Showing instead of telling, I am trying to achieve this for a long time and still, nowhere near perfection.
Thanks for your valuable opinion on the writing ☺️
You deserve a 🍾 for this wonderful fictional story as it describe what it feels like to lose a loved one
Your words just melted my heart, thank you very much. :)
Your story has been selected to be part of the Featured Authors Magazine #69
Congratulations, @r-nyn ! https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-highlights-magazine-69
Thank you for such a noble gesture and I am honoured to make it to the list. More contributions are on the way; Ink Well rocks!