I’m running late this week, somehow real life has got in the way, damn you….. Any how, time for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by the lovely Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. A 100 word flash fiction based on a weekly photo prompt. Get yourselves in, the waters lovely, follow the link to join the other 100+ swimmers every week.
Photo Copyright : Adam Ickes
Over the bridge or not, was it really her choice to make? The light slowly ebbed as a faint brush of lips touched on her forehead, then another on her lips. People moved forward hovering above, every one a whispered goodbye. Each kiss to her forehead, her cheek or her lips stole a fragment or moment from a lifetime of memories; each one taking away a smile or a look, a joy or heartache. Their heads bowed in reverence as she took her last breath.
Dancing barefoot across the old wooden bridge, she smiled, for she knew she had made the right choice.
helen midgley 
Very nice Miss H. Very uplifting.
Thanks Richard, chaos and lesson observations kept me away from wordpress for a bit and I was getting twitchy,glad I can catch up with reading again 🙂
Always a pleasure to see you
This photo seems to have generated similar themes mine included. I enjoyed the soft feel of the farewells contrasted with the sheer joy of a right decision. Very well done Helen.
Thanks 🙂
Sounds like a perfect way to go. Lovely Helen.
Thank you, for some reason I can’t attach mine to the linky but glad you found me 😉
If you email Rochelle she’ll post it for you. She is wonderful like that and has saved my bacon in the past.
Lovely short piece 🙂 It’s nice for farewells to feel happy sometimes.
Helen, you’re not late. It’s only Friday. 🙂 Lovely story with so much happiness.
janet
love your last line about dancing barefoot…a right choice indeed and a lovely story.
What a beautiful way to leave this life-the spirit free and dancing 🙂 Loved the line,”Each kiss to her forehead, her cheek or her lips stole a fragment or moment from a lifetime of memories; each one taking away a smile or a look, a joy or heartache.”
Great job Helen:-)
Dear Helen,
When I first joined Friday Fictioneers, the photo was posted on Wednesday to give us all time to edit and polish our stories by Friday. So indeed, you aren’t at all late.
I find it intriguing that, in the end, death is her choice to make. Well written and thought provoking.
Shalom,
Rochelle
This was very cool, Helen. I enjoyed this taste of one’s last moments, the lips brushing on her skin. I get the sense that as it’s happening, she’s already moved on, but she’s soaking up the experience of each memory. I love the image of her dancing barefoot on the bridge. Very well done.
Working at Hospice, I know that these loving endings are not always the case… but what a very sweet way to go, when it is the case! Seems a few of us saw this boardwalk as a connection to the next world! I love that synchronicity!
Beautiful. I hope I go so peacefully.
It sounds like it was quite a nice, quiet way to go.
Your last line about her making the choice to go leaves me wondering what the history is!
Hmm…Keep it up
this was really peaceful and beautiful, Helen…
Helen, you are a master at this. I loved the good-byes one by one and dancing on the bridge. Beautiful Helen, Beautiful! Nan
Lovely story Helen, well done.
I found it eerie that every touch or kiss took away a bit of the past, almost as if giving her permission to die. Beautifully done.
What a beautiful description of a peaceful passing with family and friends there to bid farewell. Well done.
So to me, her dancing barefoot was metaphorical. So often when people are dying the care givers tell their loved ones to let them know its okay to go. So we say our good byes until they are satisfied we will be okay and then they exit in a way that paves their way to Joy, such as dancing barefoot across the old bridge.
A beautiful way to describe the final farewell…