And so Elizabeth knew the gargoyles had leapt from the top of the Cathedral and come down to earth to take her back into their dark realm because she could smell the wet earth wiggling between their toes.

She cringed as their apelike feet clawed at her gown, but she appreciated being able to touch the ground again, through them, because her hospital bed had been stifling the life from her for over a month.

Elizabeth knew she was weak, and that she had little ticking time left, and so she turned to her children and smiled.

“Be good,” she urged them, “My strength leaves me to become you.”

Her children nodded; one of them wiped away a tear trickling down Elizabeth’s face.

“And you,” she turned her head and struggled to catch her waning breath on the inhale, “you were a great man, but not a good husband.”

He took a step closer and held her outstretched hand.

“Now, be a better father.”

A gargoyle grabbed her other hand and began to plunge her under, and — as her heavy heart and battered breasts and growing liver all began to sink her — Elizabeth found one, little, last puff of life and quickly whispered, “You cannot marry my betrayer.”

And so she was gone; having lived a full life that, in the end, was filled with a bitterness wholly of not her own making, but completely of her ultimate undoing.

6 Comments

    1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
      David W. Boles says:

      Thanks, Gordon! Reality is always the best test of truth.

  2. ANNE – I live and teach on the upper West Coast of the United States. My interests are Philosophy, English, and Social Communication.
    anne says:

    Stunning story, David. I think she married him as a power grab. He was pretty and she was smart. Together, they almost made a whole person.

    1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
      David W. Boles says:

      Thank you, Anne! You’re on to something, here. She had all the ambition and all he wanted to do was play around — and in the end — they separated to become who they always never wanted to be: Apart together.

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