The footsteps faded to emptiness down the long, colorless corridor.
She was shaken awake by the dream. Another strange dream brought on by the hormones coursing through her body.
The baby was born, to her delight. He smiled up at her from his vantage point between her legs, and he pushed himself backwards to safely climb off the birthing table. He walked down the shadowed hallway, out of the delivery room, leaving nothing but footprints piercing her heart. The fading sound of his steps still echoed in her head, and pulsed through her body. She’d experienced other strange dreams during previous pregnancies. Pregnancies that never sustained themselves beyond eight weeks.
She immediately knew, from the core of her being.
175 words
Full critique welcome
PS: This was my dream many years ago. It was haunting, and it was a portent of things to come. The blanket was finally finished. I went on to bear two sons. However, my heart still holds the memories of the lost ones.
PS: This was my dream many years ago. It was haunting, and it was a portent of things to come. The blanket was finally finished. I went on to bear two sons. However, my heart still holds the memories of the lost ones.
Truly moving. Perhaps her child will be waiting on the other side.
ReplyDeleteOne would hope!
DeleteThanks for stopping by and commenting.
Oh, my heart!!! Never out of mind for certain.
ReplyDeleteOne never forgets.
DeleteThanks for stopping by and commenting.
Congrats on your award, Cyndi
DeleteHeartbreak deserves a voice and you've given it one
Hi,
ReplyDeleteA sad dream. I feel it is devastating when you get pregnant and miscarry every time. A part of you vanishes and it seems like in this dream that a part of this woman vanished too.
Have a Merry Christmas and a happy crossover in 2020.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G
Certainly sad. Devastating at the time.
DeleteOh wow. This one hit me hard. This is so sad and so beautifully written. I've lost a pregnancy before, so I understand that heartbreak. I can only imagine how hard it would be to go through that over and over again.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great take on the prompt and wonderfully done!
Thanks for your uplifting comments.
DeleteSuch a dream. Oh my. It grabbed me.
ReplyDeleteAs Ronald said, baby will be walking in Heaven, holding hands with Jesus.
It was a terrible dream, and a really dark story.
DeleteYet another babe with a home in her heart.
ReplyDeleteSuch a poignant and painful reality for too many.
A beautiful take on the prompt.
Thanks for the nice comments.
DeleteI had a similar dream right before my miscarriage. It has stayed with me all these years, and while I now have two sons, that loss I still grieve. Beautiful and sad. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. It would make a wonderful research project to find out if it is a wide-spread phenomena. I am sorry about your miscarriage. A friend of mine lost her baby at birth. She told me that having a miscarriage is far worse. I couldn't believe that, but she said she at least got to meet her baby and hold him, whereas I did not.
DeleteThank you for your comments.
I agree. In my dream I died from blood loss, and my baby lived. A week later my miscarriage happened and I almost died from blood loss. It was surreal, and the worst thing I've ever experienced. I'd explain the horror but it's not appropriate here, and I do understand your friends reasoning. I would have loved to have held my baby too, but someone stole that from me. I've had the hardest time dealing with that too. Thank you!
DeleteYour experience sounds harrowing, and I can see that the hurt is still there. It is a terrible thing.
DeleteHow sad! Miscarriage is so devastating. And you conveyed all that tragedy and pain in so few words! A great story.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It was a bit macabre, especially in this season of hope and light. But, I started thinking of foot prints, and this is what came to mind.
DeleteOh my! How poignant. How real. What portent of things to come. Such a powerful dream. I'm so sorry that this happened to you. So devastating. I'm sure miscarriage is something that only becomes real if you've experienced it. I'm so glad your blanket was finally finished.
ReplyDeleteThanks for adding to the reading pleasure of WEP. Your entries are very powerful. I hope we'll see you in 2020.
Happy holiday season to you and yours!
Denise
Thanks for your comments. I am enjoying WEP - I enjoy the challenge of having to write to a specific topic, but having so much flexibility. Happy holidays to you, and thanks for all you do.
DeleteA beautiful expression of a difficult experience. Thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome. It's a bit macabre for this wonderful season of beauty and light. I hope you have wonderful holiday times.
DeleteWhat a great sadness for her again and again. Very well done. Thank you for the touching story,
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading it and taking the time to comment.
DeleteA disheartening and tragic tale, that is well written.
ReplyDeleteHaunting, and yet beautifully told. I can visualize the baby walking away. The pain of the reality. Ugh... I literally pressed my chest when I finish your piece. I love when something I read hits me so deep. Will be thinking about you for a while...
ReplyDeleteThis was heart stopping, very touching. The feeling of loss captured so beautifully in a short wordcount. Kudos. Thank you for sharing such a personal and poignant part of your life here.
ReplyDeleteMiscarriage is rarely talked about but it is devastating and the grieving process just as intense and painful as any other loss. That needs to be acknowledged if there is to be closure. Thank you also for contributing to that conversation.
Hi Cyndi - haunting ... I can't imagine losing a baby, or even two - and I know many continue to do so... having a child is one of the more dangerous things in life ... so sad, and poignant - I can believe you can never forget ... but I am glad you went on to bear two sons and to finish the blanket. Really well written - all the best - Hilary
ReplyDeletePoignant and memorable. Well written in a few precise words. Was the choice of P words deliberate? It added to the piece even if it wasn't. And the comments from others - similar dreams too - makes this disturbing too. Dreams are powerful whatever triggers them.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful story. I liked how the baby remained alive after leaving her in the dream. It just wasn't his time to be born. Very hopeful. Happy Holidays and a Happy New Writing Year!
ReplyDeleteHeart-rending Cindi. You poor thing. A truly terrible experience to lose an unborn baby. Glad you went on to have two sons. Dreams linger all the same like scars on your soul and you can never quite shake them off. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a Happy holiday with your family and plenty of inspiring writing for 2020. Looking forward to reading you in the New Year. Take care.
Oh, this made me teary. Beautiful. And, those mom-dreams, before the birth, and after the birth, just stick in your mind, don't they?
ReplyDeleteThis made my heart ache. Beautifully written.
ReplyDeleteIt's really tough for me to comment on this. All I can say is I hear you!
ReplyDeleteWow. So touching and sad, yet real. Glad you finally finished your blanket.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was younger I had a teacher who'd had three mischarages before finally having a daughter. The following year as she stayed home with her little girl, all her former students sent her Mother's day cards. We knew it didn't make her past pain go away, but we felt it showed how much we cared about her and her struggle.
Beautiful and heartwrenching evocation of such a sad experience. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHeartbreaking, and beautifully done. For just a moment I thought it was going another direction, something SF. The line about the footprints piercing her heart told me the truth I didn't want to hear. I'm sorry you had to go through that.
ReplyDeleteHeart wrenching but yet still full of hope. Lovely short.
ReplyDeleteA sad tale, that too many of us have experienced. Thank you for a moving story. Happy Holidays to you and a wonderful New Year.
ReplyDeleteSo much tragedy, such poignant sadness.
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays to you and a wonderful New Year.
Such sadness, my heart weeps for all the mothers of babies that are never born but go straight to heaven :)
ReplyDeleteBig, big congratulations on your WEP award.
ReplyDeleteHi Cyndi - gosh what a dream to have and to know to a point it's real - I'm just glad to know you had two sons to comfort you as we all live on. Take care - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteHi Cyndi - congratulations on your Runner Up position ... a very sad evocative story ... so glad you did have two sons ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the WEP award! Well-deserved, I think. You captured a lot in a very short story.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! That was very touching.
ReplyDelete