Sunday Photo Fiction is a weekly challenge to write a 200-word story based on a photo prompt. Thanks to Al Forbes (A Mixed Bag) for providing this week’s challenging photo.
I wake to the sound of dogs barking. An ambulance wails in the distance. With each beat of my heart, the pain in my head intensifies. If I could just throw up.
Think.
There was a party, I was with Charlie. I remember drinking wine. Was it one glass…two? A whole bottle?
I am not sure where I am, but it is not my bed. Too hard and cold. Ah, the bathroom floor.
I feel something sticky against my cheek.
I open my eyes. The light intensifies my nausea.
I swear on my mother’s grave I will never drink again.
I hear a muffled voice and I call out.
“Charlie…?”
It’s not Charlie’s voice that answers.
“Tess, I’m officer Kendall. Can you hear me?”
I grunt. Why is there a cop at my house?’
“Tess, you’ve been shot. We are taking you to the hospital, but first, I have a few questions.”
A matter-of-fact voice announces, “Male victim, gunshot to the head.”
Charlie’s dead?
I start to remember.
Accusations.
Crying. Screaming.
A gun.
My finger on the trigger. One pull, then two.
Officer Kendall patiently asks, “What started the argument, Tess?”
It started with a glass of wine.
Redbuds and Roserocks 