Thursday, December 3, 2009

Dead Inside

“I look at the trees, green and growing, and I see a ruin of skeletal limbs, black bark against a stark white sky.  Winter, forever.  Or, worse, just a stump.  Nothing left at all.”  He wouldn’t meet her eyes.  “It’s the same… with everything.  Inside, there’s a death, clawing its way to the surface.  Inevitable.”  His hands wrung each other, pale fish writhing in a sunless well.

“Look deeper,” she said.  She held out the bit of spongy wood she’d taken from the trunk.  The soft white bulb of a mushroom clung to its surface.  “Just a little deeper inside.”

4 comments:

Loren Eaton said...

His hands wrung each other, pale fish writhing in a sunless well.

Great metaphor. Nice imagery throughout and a beautifully poignant tone.

r2d2y said...

once again, totally reminding me of The Amber Spyglass...

Scattercat said...

Loren - Glad you liked it. As you may have noticed from the tags, I was more ambivalent. Mind, I do love metaphors (too much) and flitterfics rarely have room for a really good one (unless the metaphor IS the entire flitterfic, at which point it ends up a trifle actionless.)

Mandi - I'd still have to have read the books to know what you're talking about, chica. :-P I only ever read the first one, and that nearly a decade ago...

r2d2y said...

i'll keep on it till u read it ;D