From the moment I looked at the picture prompt courtesy of ©Björn Rudberg, I couldn’t get the title song out of my head. I had to sleep on it to work it into a 100-word story for this week’s Friday Fictioneers challenge.
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Dance Me To The End of Love
“What’s the song for your first dance?” asked Peter
Johnnie fumbled with his cuff-links.
“Some moody old thing Olivia likes.”
Olivia stood alone in her mother’s bedroom, the mirror’s reflection showing a beautiful figure in sparkling white.
She tried to smile but couldn’t as she realised her dream of marriage was too different from Johnnie’s.
Olivia walked to her place of solace, the shore path where surging waves caught her dress. Leonard Cohen hummed in her head as she shed tears of burning grief and shame.
Everyone would be at the church. Waiting.
She stood and watched the tumultuous turning of the tide, then braced herself and rang Johnnie.
©Siobhán McNamara
Oh no, poor Johnnie! It’s probably for the best in the long run, though, if she feels like that. I thought for one moment she was going to fling herself into the waves…
I think they’ll both be ok, just not together!
Better to call it off last minute than to find herself in the wrong marriage. And, perfect timing for Leonrad Cohen… Now I’m humming it!
Thanks Dale, enjoy your humming 🙂
😆
Oh no. I have some sympathy for Johnnie here, not a great time to make this decision! Nice take on the prompt.
Thanks Iain, yes, tough for Johnnie but I suspect he knows deep down
Great take on the prompt and I really felt the pain of this situation…for both parties. Ultimately, however, they could both well be singing “Alleluia” down the track.
xx Rowena
I just got a chill… for real. This story hums with regret and loss, and yet hope. Too many don’t follow through with that call, and live with regret. I’m hoping she doesn’t jump.
Thanks Dawn, I have a feeling they will be both be able to move on from each other, it just might take a while.
I do love how you used Cohen for this week… so timely and so well done… I think the decision was probably for the best though
Thanks Bjorn, and what a lovely, evocative photo you gave us 🙂
Dear Siobhan,
I suppose better to realize now than years later when they’re both miserable. Of course I have Leonard Cohen singing in my ear now. Wonderful song, sad, but wonderful story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle. I think Leonard Cohen’s life work must be reverberating round the world at the moment. It’s impossible not to catch those sad but wonderful vibes
Simply lovely. I like how you used the choice in their music to symbolize their differences.
Thank you 🙂
Left t the altar, harsh but for the best in the long run.
Indeed, best all round. I suspect it won’t come as a total shock to Johnnie. Thanks for reading 🙂