In the Dark
Gas Lighting
Their names in lights, bright as their burning bodies, in the 1800s, ballet dancers often went up in flames. Gauzy tutus brushed flickering lamps, a pirouette of torched limbs, and incandescent hair. Reams of human candles snuffed out before the curtain call. Ravishing death bringing down the house.
Luminescence
Undulating in the depths, red paper lantern jellyfish illuminate aquatic rooms. On bronze sconces, the pandea rubra’s tasselled cousins glow, regimented on the Opera House walls. I count the scarlet lamps. Quick. House lights fading, I don’t catch them all. Cymbals glint in the orchestra pit. The emergency exit sign hums above the door.
Afterglow
My heart emits a signal, a pulsing sea creature beneath the wreck of my ribs. A faint pulse caught on Daniel’s radar. Louder. Brighter now.
Jakob can’t know I’m texting with Daniel. Fear is a solo dive. I’m locked in, plummeting to the sea bed.
About the Author
Ali Mckenzie-Murdoch (UK) lives in Zürich, Switzerland. Her work appears or is forthcoming in JMWW, Fractured Lit, Ilanot Review, Litro, Gone Lawn, Bending Genres, and others. She is a Fractured Lit Flash Open Contest Finalist, was shortlisted for the National Flash Fiction Day 2023 Micro-Fiction Competition, and received an Honourable Mention in the 2023 Scribes Prize.
