Artwork © Robert Fleming

 

Costumes

She wanted to be a grown-up for Halloween and, fittingly, didn’t want help making the costume, so I let her figure it out on her own. When the time came, she nailed it. An undying lifetime of baggage like a vampire. A zombie in her devotion to a meaningless job. Anxiety and mistrust worn like the quivering lips and glistening fangs of a werewolf. All the joy and wonder gone. I saw for a moment her future. Or maybe I just saw myself. “Can I be a pirate instead?” she asked, after looking at herself in the mirror for a time. The gold autumn sun peaked through the window from behind a looming cloud. “Of course,” I said. “I’ll help you make the costume.” And she rushed down the hallway to gather the materials, feet pattering against the floor wild and free, and I thought that maybe I could hold on to this a little longer.

 

Eliot S. Ku is a physician who lives in New Mexico with his wife and two children. His writing has appeared in Whiskey Tit, Maudlin House, Carmen et Error, HAD, and Bending Genres, among other places. His writing has been nominated for Best of the Net and a Pushcart Prize.

Robert Fleming is a digital artist and visual poet from Lewes, DE. His books are White Noir, an Amazon best seller and Con-Way in 4 in 1 #4. Founding/contributing editor of Old Scratch Press and editor of Instant Noodles.