UPSIDE DOWN. – October’s Short Story Picture Prompt Winner

UPSIDE DOWN.

By Esther Bella

I have heard the dream countless of times, more clearer each time. An upside down universe. I
asked Mama about it and she brushed me off with a shrug like always. Today, however, I wasn’t
backing down without some sort of explanation.
“Your brain is working well, Sasha,” she said. My math teacher could have had a good laugh
with that, I barely scored ten in my last paper
“If so why is it stuck on that one dream,” I countered, she sighed and I could see the lines of
fatigue arched on her face. She was working late since Daddy left. I didn’t where to and neither
could I ask. Mama cried whenever I brought him up.
“Don’t you have school or something?”
“We are on a break, I told you last night,” she rubbed her face tiredly.
“Yeah, I remember,” She didn’t. That was another thing about Mama, she lied a lot. Mostly
about Daddy’s whereabouts. See, we lived in a community where single parenthood was looked
down upon. It was the second worst sin in Matopeni after criminality.
She rested in her room for a couple of hours while I passed time sorting through old CDs in the
living room. These were the only things belonging to Daddy that remained around here. I did
this often while waited for Dina. She lived next door but rarely stepped out until after her daily
dose of tutoring. She had perfect grades but that wasn’t enough for her overachieving parents.
Thank God for Mama. My head could explode if I had to came the entire mathematical table.
“Sash,” Daddy’s voice came from out of nowhere. I ignored it, thinking it to be a figment of my
imagination. It had been a while since he left and I missed him terribly. The voice came again,
louder and clearer.
“Sasha,”
“Daddy,” I whispered pushing back the mist of tears in my eyes. The voice beckoned me and I
followed it, almost like in a trance. I didn’t stop for anything, not even when Dina called after me
from her window or when a car beeped at me. I was going to my Daddy.
His voice led to the ocean, a favorite spot of ours. We came here to ride the waves and build sand
castles. He was terrible at both but he still came with Mama and I. My body chilled at the
coolness of the water still, that didn’t stop me. I was going to see my Daddy.
A raging wave crashed into me and I lost my balance. I sunk underneath the waters despite my
many attempts to stay afloat. I tried calling to Daddy or anyone but that only filled my lungs up.
And even if someone heard me, there was no guarantee I could be saved. The water had a force
of its own, pushing me down from all sides with a school of fish and sharks swimming thirstily
around me. My heart pounded hard against my chest, I was either going to drown or be eaten
alive. Two bleak fates.

I was almost giving up when I saw it, the upside down universe from my dream. Everything
moved slower as I neared it. Gravity, I think. I still couldn’t breath well but I wasn’t in the water
anymore, I was at a much better place surrounded by stars and planets. That certainly wasn’t
enough words to describe the beauty of it, especially up this close. There was starred cravings.
‘D&S, forever,'
Those were the words Daddy and I often drew into the starry night. Us against Mama, especially
when she asked about the missing change in her piggy bank or the bitten cake she tried to hide in
the top shelf. He was here, somewhere.
“Sasha,” I turned and saw him in flesh. He looked the same as I could remember- oddly tall with
a very bushy chin and a big smile on his lips.
“Daddy,” I rushed to him, that could have taken seconds in a normal world but here it took a
while. And before I reached him, I was being sucked back into the water, back into the world and
away from him. The worse thing was I couldn’t fight it, whatever it was.
“Sasha, honey, please open your eyes,” I heard Mama’s voice amongst the many voices that
surrounded me. Something pressed on my chest repeatedly until I couldn’t take it anymore. I
woke up in a bout of coughing.
“Are you okay? Does anything hurt?” Mama hugged me. I nodded, I couldn’t speak. My throat
burned from all the water consumption.
“What were you thinking wandering into the water like that?” Mama asked as the crowd
dissipated around us.
“I-I was looking for D-Daddy,” I stuttered, she sighed taking my face into her hands.
“Your father is dead,”
“No, that’s not true,” I said choking on my tears.
“It is true. We have been over this, Sasha. Reality doesn’t change no matter how much you try to
reject it or erase it in your mind,” she pulled me into her arms again and I wept like the child I
was.

Congratulations Esther! The judges and I had a wonderful time reading your story and are so happy we get to publish it in the Kingdom of Pen.

Why we chose this as the Winner:

We love how you took the imagery of the ocean of stars and used it to illustrate the tragedy of becoming lost in something that is not reality. It gives the image and the story depth.

We also loved how you showed a bit of Sasha's personality through what she thought about her math grades. It makes her character stand out more and feel more real.

It was also really well done how at the beginning from Sasha's thoughts we believe that her mother lies a lot, but as the story progresses, we come to learn that Sasha herself was the one that was lying. And she was lying to herself. This was so wonderfully done!

Again congratulations Esther! Thank you for sharing you lovely story with us!

 
And thank you to everyone else how submitted their stories for the contest! It's an honor to be able to read your work. The judges and I truly had a fantastic time reading every single story submitted, so thank you again for giving us that opportunity.

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