The second half of my creative writing exercise.

After completing a creative writing exercise below (my last post) to write a poem using 20 words that I had previously written based on an image or idea, I moved on to the last part of the exercise.  I was to use the same 20 words (listed in my last post) and write a short story using all 20 words.  At first, I had just a scene from a longer story but than realized that was not the assignment.  The exercise wanted a short story - so a beginning, a middle and an end.  An actual story.  And I was supposed to accomplish this in less than 300 words.  Hmmm.  Well, if I could write a poem, which is NOT something I ever thought I would attempt, than I could do a SHORT short story.  Not publish-worthy - please remember that this is an exercise!  Don't be too hard on me! :)

He was the only one left.  Of the forty families that were tenants for more than 400 years on this land, only Collum remained.  It was his home, this tiny, white, thatch cottage at the foot of the mountain.  As he wandered along the low stone wall, he remembered the days with her, spent roaming the fields.  SHE was his home as much as this place was. 

But with her gone, he felt lost.  He longed to walk amid the fields of straw with her, talking of future plans, lie amid the yellow blooms and watch the sky as it turned from brilliant cornflower blue to dark royal blue to midnight black. 

Now she was gone, as were the rest of them.  They left slowly at first, one family at a time.  Then the laird had forced them out to distant shores and replaced them with long-horned steer and herds of sheep. More profitable, he said, than people.  Collum was asked to stay on to tend the animals and mend the dry stacked stones in the wandering walls.  With her here with him, it was peaceful and he felt he could live this life forever. 

Than the illness came.  It hit her so hard and took her so fast that he scarcely had to time to grasp the lonely reality that awaited him.  In this great expanse, he looked for comfort and freedom from the constant ache in his chest but found only emptiness.

He knew it was time. 

At the bottom of the field, near the sharp turn in the stone wall, was a tree.  Her tree.  She had waited there for him after his long days in the field so they could walk back to the cottage together.  He lay down under the tree, bid farewell to Alba and closed his eyes forever.