Here's a flash story I wrote months ago (probably summer 2019) and the more I think about it, the more I want to extend it. I wrote 56 Seconds and Becoming back to back. 56 Seconds focuses on a failed life and Becoming focuses on the why. I'm currently working on a Donnie story that looks at the people partying below his feet, set just after 56 Seconds. Donnie Couldn't See the Rotten Angel Wings is before 56 Seconds. I will try to get some more information up about everything soon-ish. I hope the italics copies over, there's a lot of it.
Donnie Couldn’t See the Rotten Angel Wings
By Dani Brown
Orange orbs flickered inside the B&B room. Donnie squinted and they were gone to chase the long dead miners back to the tin mines.
Donnie couldn’t see the angel wings rotting in the gloom. An autumn storm kicked off outside and swallowed the orange orbs, chasing their ghosts back inside the tin mines.
His bride kicked in her sleep each time the orange orbs disappeared into the tin mines. He couldn’t see her rotten angel wings. The monster projected onto the wall through the thin blanket with each flash from the storm outside.
For better or worse; in sickness and in health. The vows meant forever, even though his bride wore rotten angel wings and called orange miners’ lanterns from deep below. They belonged in the tin mines.
Orange orbs flickered inside the B&B as his bride’s necklace let out a cry. Souls trapped down in the tin mines couldn’t drown the sound. It reminded him of his daughter, lost the day before she turned fourteen.
His bride rolled over and grunted pulling the thin blanket with her. Blue and purple paint ran down her neck and dyed her hair. He knew the fingerprints were fake. No one’s bruises lasted forever. But she wouldn’t let him forget. I lost my daughter too, the day before she turned fourteen.
Orange orbs flickered inside without their miners. They carved a hole into the wall and tore through the plaster. Donnie squinted. His bride snapped his glasses and ground the lenses into her necklace.
Pink neon light leaked out of the hole in the wall and swallowed the miners’ lanterns. I can give you a new daughter. His bride’s necklace cast a blue neon glow to match the light from the hole in the wall.
A cockroach hissed from inside and Donnie flinched back. Orange orbs flickered and urged him awake with the storm raging on outside the B&B window. The vows are forever. Let me give you a new daughter. He thought he saw his daughter in the flickering pink neon.
His new bride, asleep by his side, cast her shadow onto the wall through her thin blanket. A monster with tentacles where limbs should have been. Donnie’s imagination ran away with his broken glasses and missing contact lenses. Her necklace looked like fingerbones stolen from teenage girls.
The hole in the wall swallowed the orange orbs. They couldn’t return to the miners, drowned in the tin mine. Help me, Daddy. His daughter stared from the hole in the wall with his same piercing blue eyes. He blinked and she was still there. His bride flushed his contact lenses down the toilet on the first day of their honeymoon in the rain.
Orange orbs lit up the face of another teenage girl inside the hole in the wall. She held up two arms, tapered with hooks at the end instead of hands. Help us, Donnie, she has us trapped. His bride’s necklace twinkled and shrieked. But that could have been the storm raging on outside.
The wind and rain brought the howls of the ghosts trapped inside the tin mines as Donnie’s bride slept by his side. A flash and he could see the monster projected onto the walls and the rotting angel wings. His daughter cowered inside the hole in the wall with the orange orbs to cast her decaying flesh in shadow. I’m so afraid.
Orange orbs lit up hooks where his daughter’s hands should have been. Donnie stood up, careful not to disturb his new bride. She promised him a new daughter after his went missing. Her body found down in the tin mines one week later with her hands chopped off and her throat slit. Six days after she turned fourteen. She couldn’t scream for her daddy anymore.
The wind howled with a warning from the miners trapped forever in the tin mines. Don’t go into the hole in the wall. The lamps went out leaving only a pink neon glow and the flicker of neon blue from his bride’s necklace that looked a lot like the fingerbones of teenage girls.
Donnie’s bride grunted in her sleep. Let me give you a new daughter. He walked closer to the hole in the wall. A floorboard squeaked when the wind died down and he paused. His wife turned over, casting her tentacles onto the wall with her rotten angel wings.
Quick, Daddy, hurry up. Donnie wheezed. Nearly. His bride’s necklace threw neon blue around the room. Fog seeped in from the hole in the wall. The monster oozed out of the shadows cast by his bride. An angel feather fell from her wings ripe with sour decay.
I can give you a new daughter. You are safe with me now. He threw a glance over his shoulder, his bride lay asleep under the thin blanket in the B&B bed. Fingerbones jangled from the monster’s neck and his daughter screamed with her stepsister by her side. Both dead the day before they turned fourteen.
The monster oozed slime dripping with fertilised eggs. The babies growing inside had tentacles instead of limbs and blinked with Donnie’s piercing blue eyes. His daughter stepped out of the hole in the wall and slashed one open with her hook. These are the babies she promised. She held her hook up dripping with baby flesh and tentacles. An eye rolled across the floor and blinked.
Chains tightened around his daughter’s ankles and she screamed. You are here with me now, you can’t free. The monster bent down and plucked an egg from the oozing puddle of slime. She ate.
Orange orbs lit up the room and Donnie’s daughter fell to the floor. The hole in the wall dragged her chains and swallowed her. Plaster reformed and cut off the pink flickering neon.
His wife sat up in bed.
“Let’s make a baby.”
The monster blinked from the projection on the wall. The shadow oozed eggs already fertilised the night before.
Donnie Couldn’t See the Rotten Angel Wings
By Dani Brown
Orange orbs flickered inside the B&B room. Donnie squinted and they were gone to chase the long dead miners back to the tin mines.
Donnie couldn’t see the angel wings rotting in the gloom. An autumn storm kicked off outside and swallowed the orange orbs, chasing their ghosts back inside the tin mines.
His bride kicked in her sleep each time the orange orbs disappeared into the tin mines. He couldn’t see her rotten angel wings. The monster projected onto the wall through the thin blanket with each flash from the storm outside.
For better or worse; in sickness and in health. The vows meant forever, even though his bride wore rotten angel wings and called orange miners’ lanterns from deep below. They belonged in the tin mines.
Orange orbs flickered inside the B&B as his bride’s necklace let out a cry. Souls trapped down in the tin mines couldn’t drown the sound. It reminded him of his daughter, lost the day before she turned fourteen.
His bride rolled over and grunted pulling the thin blanket with her. Blue and purple paint ran down her neck and dyed her hair. He knew the fingerprints were fake. No one’s bruises lasted forever. But she wouldn’t let him forget. I lost my daughter too, the day before she turned fourteen.
Orange orbs flickered inside without their miners. They carved a hole into the wall and tore through the plaster. Donnie squinted. His bride snapped his glasses and ground the lenses into her necklace.
Pink neon light leaked out of the hole in the wall and swallowed the miners’ lanterns. I can give you a new daughter. His bride’s necklace cast a blue neon glow to match the light from the hole in the wall.
A cockroach hissed from inside and Donnie flinched back. Orange orbs flickered and urged him awake with the storm raging on outside the B&B window. The vows are forever. Let me give you a new daughter. He thought he saw his daughter in the flickering pink neon.
His new bride, asleep by his side, cast her shadow onto the wall through her thin blanket. A monster with tentacles where limbs should have been. Donnie’s imagination ran away with his broken glasses and missing contact lenses. Her necklace looked like fingerbones stolen from teenage girls.
The hole in the wall swallowed the orange orbs. They couldn’t return to the miners, drowned in the tin mine. Help me, Daddy. His daughter stared from the hole in the wall with his same piercing blue eyes. He blinked and she was still there. His bride flushed his contact lenses down the toilet on the first day of their honeymoon in the rain.
Orange orbs lit up the face of another teenage girl inside the hole in the wall. She held up two arms, tapered with hooks at the end instead of hands. Help us, Donnie, she has us trapped. His bride’s necklace twinkled and shrieked. But that could have been the storm raging on outside.
The wind and rain brought the howls of the ghosts trapped inside the tin mines as Donnie’s bride slept by his side. A flash and he could see the monster projected onto the walls and the rotting angel wings. His daughter cowered inside the hole in the wall with the orange orbs to cast her decaying flesh in shadow. I’m so afraid.
Orange orbs lit up hooks where his daughter’s hands should have been. Donnie stood up, careful not to disturb his new bride. She promised him a new daughter after his went missing. Her body found down in the tin mines one week later with her hands chopped off and her throat slit. Six days after she turned fourteen. She couldn’t scream for her daddy anymore.
The wind howled with a warning from the miners trapped forever in the tin mines. Don’t go into the hole in the wall. The lamps went out leaving only a pink neon glow and the flicker of neon blue from his bride’s necklace that looked a lot like the fingerbones of teenage girls.
Donnie’s bride grunted in her sleep. Let me give you a new daughter. He walked closer to the hole in the wall. A floorboard squeaked when the wind died down and he paused. His wife turned over, casting her tentacles onto the wall with her rotten angel wings.
Quick, Daddy, hurry up. Donnie wheezed. Nearly. His bride’s necklace threw neon blue around the room. Fog seeped in from the hole in the wall. The monster oozed out of the shadows cast by his bride. An angel feather fell from her wings ripe with sour decay.
I can give you a new daughter. You are safe with me now. He threw a glance over his shoulder, his bride lay asleep under the thin blanket in the B&B bed. Fingerbones jangled from the monster’s neck and his daughter screamed with her stepsister by her side. Both dead the day before they turned fourteen.
The monster oozed slime dripping with fertilised eggs. The babies growing inside had tentacles instead of limbs and blinked with Donnie’s piercing blue eyes. His daughter stepped out of the hole in the wall and slashed one open with her hook. These are the babies she promised. She held her hook up dripping with baby flesh and tentacles. An eye rolled across the floor and blinked.
Chains tightened around his daughter’s ankles and she screamed. You are here with me now, you can’t free. The monster bent down and plucked an egg from the oozing puddle of slime. She ate.
Orange orbs lit up the room and Donnie’s daughter fell to the floor. The hole in the wall dragged her chains and swallowed her. Plaster reformed and cut off the pink flickering neon.
His wife sat up in bed.
“Let’s make a baby.”
The monster blinked from the projection on the wall. The shadow oozed eggs already fertilised the night before.
