Loyalty and Loneliness in the Realm of the Snow Princess

Short Fiction by Abram Dress

Oct 26, 2024

∙ Paid

A misty graveyard at night, illuminated by the soft, silvery glow of a full moon, casting an ethereal light on the crumbling headstones and weathered mausoleums that seem to stretch towards the darkness like skeletal fingers, the air thick with the scent of damp earth and decaying leaves, shadows dancing across the overgrown grass like restless spirits, the only sound the distant hooting of an owl or the faint rustling of unknown creatures in the darkness, the atmosphere heavy with an air of mystery and foreboding.

Tickets to hell, loyalty, diodes, traffic patterns at Talladega. Perhaps they all operate best when they are one-way. Justin pondered the one-sidedness of his relationships as he sat on a stone bench staring at the tombstone.

Last Halloween, the bench had been much colder. Snow covered. Chilled by an early winter wind. This year it was more comfortable.…

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