Past Showing

Prose from SHS.

Photo by Isi Parente on Unsplash, edited by Slaidey Valheim.

I can’t feel my own life behind me,
like I am the one who lived it,
but I can see it.

It’s on an old tube tv with a gelatinous screen,
that used to bend when I touched it
and dole out the occasional shock.

But the screen began to thicken;
The electric jolts fettered to little more than a playful numbing;
The sharp vibrant colors of a life in chaos
muted to sepia,
and further to a blurry monochrome.

What am I supposed to feel about that girl
running around in black and white?
How am I supposed to decipher the static?

Eventually, I’ll switch the channel.
That old jumbled picture
littered with dialogue cards of
voiceless screams
just isn’t hitting the same anymore.

Thanks for reading! If you like my style of prose, please make sure you follow the Bits & Bones publication, where I’ll be dropping short speculative non-fiction Mondays and Wednesdays!

This excerpt is THE LAST INSTALLMENT of many that I’ve been posting to Medium from the collection Strangling Heartstrings (a memoir in prose).

If you’d like to get your hands on a copy (featuring more stories exclusive to the ebook) you can get it on Amazon or download it from my Patreon (Skull+ tier, along with many other creative goodies).