Sunday Writing Prompt “Harlequin’s Mirror”

Posted on November 19, 2018 by pensitivity101

I was intrigued with this prompt and wondered where I could go with it.
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This is our brief:

The Scene

The glass is icy to the touch and forgiving like water. Your body passes easily through the surface, curiously malleable as if your bones had been replaced with elastic. On the other side of the glass you see a replica of the previous landscape save for the reversal of left and right. The birds in the sky are in the same formation as before only now they are facing the opposite direction. You stare at them for a long time before realizing that their wings only appear to be in motion, they are, in fact, suspended in the gauzy skyline.

The challenge is simply to write a story or poem using this basic scene description.

My take:

So is this what it’s like to be Dead?
You leave familiarity and step over the threshold into……………. familiarity that is suspended in time?
It makes sense actually.
At Your Time of death, time stopped for you. The clock may be ticking in the real world, but in this one it is there, but silent, hands never moving.
So, what happens next?
How long does the conscious mind retain memory or thought?
Is this what it means to follow the light, or is the light a means to call you back as it’s not quite Your Time to go and you have just been allowed a glimpse of what the Afterlife may be?
Would you want to stay in a place of no movement or sound? Will you be engulfed and then absorbed by it, become a part of it, waiting in the shadows for the next arrival?
Is the portal the same for everyone? There is no-one to welcome you, explain the rules or what is expected of you, just a still landscape for you to explore until you literally fade away.
So many questions.
But when Your Time actually comes, will you really care, or just embrace it as a sense of release?

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About pensitivity101

I am a retired number cruncher with a vivid imagination and wacky sense of humour which extends to short stories and poetry. I love to cook and am a bit of a dog whisperer as I get on better with them than people sometimes! In November 2020, we lost our beloved Maggie who adopted us as a 7 week old pup in March 2005. We decided to have a photo put on canvas as we had for her predecessor Barney. We now have three pictures of our fur babies on the wall as we found a snapshot of Kizzy, my GSD when Hubby and I first met so had hers done too. On February 24th 2022 we were blessed to find Maya, a 13 week old GSD pup who has made her own place in our hearts. You can follow our training methods, photos and her growth in my blog posts. From 2014 to 2017 'Home' was a 41 foot narrow boat where we made strong friendships both on and off the water. We were close to nature enjoying swan and duck families for neighbours, and it was a fascinating chapter in our lives. We now reside in a small bungalow on the Lincolnshire coast where we have forged new friendships and interests.
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7 Responses to Sunday Writing Prompt “Harlequin’s Mirror”

  1. Michael says:
    November 19, 2018 at 8:43 pm

    The sense of release must be a plus for those who have suffered a long time….good questions Di, It can’t be all that bad as no one has come back to say otherwise.

  2. Sadje says:
    November 19, 2018 at 9:29 pm

    Interesting take on the prompt.

  3. wildchild47 says:
    November 20, 2018 at 2:07 am

    Hi Di – it’s Pat here, filling in as Yves most likely won’t be back in for some time …

    I really like the way your mind chose to explore this …. it has the tone and feeling like a conversation, a musing, from one still living, and yet, there is a “curious” distance in the narration, the voice speaking …. and the two blend and exchange, bringing us from here to there and back – while offering us shadowy (but not necessarily in a dark way) glimpses or reflections. A wonderful interpretation of this prompt!

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