We found him in a ditch. Frozen hands curled like claws, broken fingernails from where he’d tried to pull himself out. We scraped and dug, revealing him bit by bit, until his face emerged, etched in fear. Three months he’d lain in that icy grave, while we cried and searched, accepted that he was never coming back. We hauled him into the truck, rubbed our hands as the heating blasted through. A scraping sound, a glance in the frosted mirror, and there he was, sitting up in the back, his blue lips curled back in a rictus grin, slowly thawing.
Author bio: SJI Holliday has short stories and flash fictions published in various places online and in print. She has a novel out on submission and another telling her that it's ready to be written. You can find her on twitter @SJIHolliday and at her blog www.sjiholliday.com.
Thaw is part of 101 Fiction issue 2.
I want to know what happens next, when he's completely thawed out :) Great piece of writing.....
ReplyDeleteThanks Stella :) Might be an idea for a longer story... I want to know too!
ReplyDeleteWell isn't that a terrifying sight in the rearview! Let's hope he just wants a nice thermos of tea. Great piece!
ReplyDeleteThere's something both sweet and disturbing about this. I like it. That rictus grin gives me the shivers!
ReplyDeleteMmmm. I loved it, especially the ending. Well done, you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the lovely comments - glad you enjoyed :)
ReplyDeleteTerrific tale! I love the detail of rubbing hands in the blast of heat.
ReplyDeleteAlso agree with it being simultaneously sweet and disturbing.