The Prompt:
Choose an old street photographs below. Write a scene of no more than 250 words. Halfway through, the central figure notices that their reflection no longer appears in a window or mirror. People still move around them, but no one registers their presence. End the scene at the exact moment they decide to test their reality.
Corbin and Rose married when both were twenty, excited and in love, sharing dreams and cracking wise. They developed a routine of walking downtown every Sunday after church. Followed by lunch at the Sunset Café, some window shopping, and home.
Rose’s first pregnancy only lasted two months. The midwife reassured her such things were common.
“Your uterus isn’t quite ripe. Keep trying and things will be fine.”
Rose suffered several more miscarriages until finally bringing a baby to term. She labored for two days, in agony and growing as pale as her sheets. Finally, powerful forceps pulled the baby free. A river of blood followed, fed by a hemorrhage in Rose’s unripe uterus. Crimson life left her body so fast she couldn’t raise her head to see her stillborn baby.
After that, Corbin drifted away. Rose tried to keep a conversation alive, receiving only occasional grunts from her chain-smoking husband. He’d taken to carrying a flask of cheap whiskey to slip into his coffee at any opportunity. He kept a newspaper handy to flip open the moment they sat down.
After church Rose and Corbin paused at a window display with the latest nursery accessories. As she studied the baby buggy Rose noticed Corbin silently crying in the reflection. Then she noticed she did not have a reflection at all. She grabbed at Corbin’s sleeve, but her hands passed through. Her memories rushed back, and the heartbreak. She ran into traffic hoping to make it all stop.