Iain Kelly

Midday, there he is, like clockwork.

She looks out the window as he walks along the alley.

He gets to the junction and stops.

She checks her watch and starts timing him. Thirty seconds exactly, then he starts walking again.

Everyday the same routine.

She has imagined why he acts this way. Has he lost something, or someone? Is he retracing his steps everyday in the vain hope that someone will reappear at that exact spot at that exact time? A lost lover, a glimpsed stranger, a missing child?

She longs to ask him. It’s not through lack of courage that she doesn’t. She can’t get out of the locked room. Her doctor won’t allow it.

When he tells her about the man in the window he only asks if she has been taking her medication. Is she sure he isn’t a figment of her imagination?

She might be crazy, she tells him, but she knows what she sees. She can trust her own eyes.

Can’t she?

Written as part of Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers. The challenge is to write a flash fiction story or poem in around 150 – 175 words, based on the weekly photo prompt. Thanks as always to the challenge host Priceless Joy. For more information visit HERE.

To read other stories based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.