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PHOTO PROMPT © Jean L. Hays for Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers. Other stories featuring the prompt can be found here.
“As cute as a button” her husband would say as she frantically whizzed around. Always running late. Never wore a watch even when they were in fashion. Why bother? Her mobile phone acted as her nagger – if she could find the damn thing amongst the chaos.
Black, she needed to wear black.
Don’t think about anything else.
Her mind paralysed with pins and needles. She pulled out the black coat from the pile of clothes on the bed. What were the red and grey items of clothing doing out? What’s the time? Where’s the phone?
Tears sprayed down her cheeks. Dave, her safety pin, now with the angels.
Tannille 
Loved the idea of her partner as a safety pin
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Thanks Neil 😀
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I could feel the chaos and her grief – beautifully done, Tannille.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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Made me sad writing it.
Thanks S!
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Dear Tanille,
It sounds like she needs to stop and take a breath. Her grief is tangible.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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It’s early days. Hopefully the funeral will grant her some closure.
Thanks R!
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Such a sad tale.
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Grief comes to us all. I think she’ll be raw for a while but will come good.
Thanks J!
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Sit down, take a few deep breaths… Great, if sad, little story.
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It’s sad, but they had a great life together and sometimes that’s more than what some people have. She’ll work through it in time.
Thanks T!
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You are right, that great life together is something special even if it is now at its end.
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Oh, that’s heart-breaking! Struggling to be punctual for Dave’s funeral because he’s no longer there to help her organise her life. You’ve written a wonderful metaphor for the way grief can shatter the ways we do things.
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Exactly! She’s lost.
Thanks P!
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It is ineffably sad to lose one’s safety pin. Well drawn, Tanille.
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Thanks L!
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Oh. My. God.
This one went straight to the heart. So well done, Tanille. Absolutely shatteringly real.
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I know! I still feel sad. With time I believe her heart will go on.
Thanks N!
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😦 I would like to believe that, too. …
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Well done, the grief is raw and tangible.
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Thanks Iain!
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Oh, that last line made the story way to upsetting. Great write! 🙂 ❤
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It’s been days since posting and I am still sad. But what I great love they had.
Thanks B!
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This is stellar writing, I could see her coming apart from her grief… and nothing left to keep her together.
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The lowest moment in her life…
Thanks B!
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Her husband, the glue of their lives, like baked beans in fry up, to use a slightly worse metaphor than your beautiful description!
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Yep! And she kept him feeling alive with her energy. In my mind they balanced each other out.
Thanks Shrawley!
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I can to totally relate to that frantic sense of trying to keep it together as you prepare for that horrible day. Gawd. You brought me back to almost five years ago.
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Thankfully I have never been there to this extreme. It would be devastating. I couldn’t imagine anything worse in terms of normal life stuff. Hope your day went well – all things considered?
Thanks D!
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I hope you don’t. It is not one I think back on often. I focus on the good things.
Absolutely! No worries!
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Poor woman, her anchor gone.
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That raw moment of grief…
Thanks D!
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The sense of falling apart whilst trying to keep it all together run right through the piece. Well done.
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A hard day…
Thanks S!
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Wonderfully descriptive, I could almost see her within your words.
Here’s my story!
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Thanks K!
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Her mind paralysed with pins and needles. ** Great line it sums up the turmoil of her grief. A piece of precise writing,
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Grief is challenging to show with words because there is a mental numbness. I’m glad I pulled it off 😀.
Thanks J!
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It is a day of mourning. Dave is with angels. She has to wear black today. Nice story.
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She just needs to breathe and push through the day.
Thanks A!
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I like how this goes from concrete to abstract. The chaos of her surroundings to the chaos of her mind facing life without a loved one. Nice picture of panicked grief.
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Sad fact of life, we all go through grief eventually ☹️.
Thanks A!
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Great last line. Her remembrance of his steadfast love for her will help her through. In the meantime … the chaos of loss. You portrayed it well!
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She just has to ride it out.
Thanks B!
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My goodness, how poignant! Wonderfully tearful story written exceptionally well, This is a good idea how to think of a loved one. He or She was a safety pin in people’s lives which will never be the same again. Nice going!
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Heart breaking situation but a sign of great love.
Thanks for your kind words 😀.
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