Photograph by Barbara W. Beacham
The Lives of Witches and Bitches
From her small balcony, the witch watches her world go by.
Although no one has seen her closely, hers is a youth scarred by years of neglect and ill-health. Frail body, matted hair and dull skin make her look older. Some mornings, one can hear her howling as she sits in her balcony, staring into the vacuum.
Recently, community youngsters reported that she’s now a regular at the local pub. Some nights she gets so tipsy that she laughs boisterously while picking ruckus with all the ‘gentlemen’ there.
What amazes our community is that her pub persona is so unlike her usual weeping self within her quiet house. The new joke around town is: ‘Witch by the day, bitch by the night’.
Little do they know that the duo are identical twins. One, a house-bound agarophobic who cries a lot, and the other a sociopath who laughs unbound. Two daughters deserted by a mother who was deserted by a gentleman.
(149 words)
.~~~
This is my take on flash fiction challenge Mondays Finish The Story. We are provided with a new photo each week, and the first sentence of the story.
Copyright ©2015 Written by Alka Girdhar
Magnanimous Word 
Very cleverly written, Alka. Very nice fiction and I like the vivid descriptions. We all have split personalities, don’t we? When we’re happy, the good side of ourselves might come out and when we’re down, another side of us comes out. Or at the very least we have different ways of expressing ourselves and our emotions 🙂
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Thanks Mabel! It seems like fiction is working for me. You are very right. Every single person has good and bad sides, or else, like you said…people chose to portray themselves differently at different times. Here, she hasn’t got a split personality but there are two different women, two sisters who look alike but have different personalities 🙂
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Wow, I wasn’t expecting the twist of identical twins. It’s sad that they were unfortunate to have parents who both left.
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Basically, two sisters who faced similar adverse circumstances, but each took a different path. Sometimes people like their mother land into unwanted parenthood, but cannot cope with their new role. Their weakness then passes one and becomes an essential in-born character of their off-springs.
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Such heartbreaking story in a few words… Kudos:)
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Thanks Shivangi! Whatever came in my heart at that moment 🙂
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Great story Alka! I, like Ameena, was not expecting it to be identifcal twins. It is sad they were both so adversely affected by their parents abandonment. Such a sad tale.
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Thank you so much Joy! Probably the twist is not that obvious. I can try to make it clearer when I write a longer version of it.
A tale of abandonment it is but some people can rise out of it, others can’t. Yeah but one should write happy stories 🙂
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Oh, I didn’t mean the twist was bad, in fact, I like stories with twists at the end! I thought it was great!
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Yes I understand your point. In general, I try to get as much critical appraisal as possible so that I can improve my writing skills.
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I understand. That’s good that you do that because it will help make your writing better.
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Ah a nice twist! Great story!
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Thank you so much Tessa!
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Nicely done Alka! I like the way that you split your seemingly one character into two. Very clever! Thank you for participating in the Mondays Finish the Story challenge. Be well… ^..^
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Thank you so much! I wanted to show how two people growing up in same negative environment are effected differently, albeit both of them negatively still.
It’s a pleasure to participate in such an inspiring challenge! Good wishes.
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Reblogged this on Stories I Need to Tell.
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