And Then There Were Three

 

She sat among shattered porcelain. Bright red blood mixed with pale yellow roses edged the plate.

The drops were so round and so red. She stared at them, thinking they were too perfect to belong on a thing that was broken.

Blood was supposed to be messy. She remembered rust-colored smudges.

Plates were supposed to be whole. She remembered choosing china with lemon-colored flowers.

Nothing here was right.

Her daughter’s dolls didn’t seem to notice the chaos, sitting at their table with tiny cups and saucers. They stared at her, though, as if waiting. “I didn’t mean to break it!” She flung her arms up to show the cuts. “I tried to catch it! The roses…she loved the roses. My little girl.” She buried her face in her hands, smearing blood. “She’s going to be upset. She’s going to hate me.”

The dolls now held anger and guilt and fear in their shiny glass eyes. “Yes. That’s right. You see? There were four. Four plates. Four children. I broke it.” She grabbed a handful of shards, throwing them at the table. “She won’t come back now, you see? I broke it! It’s gone, you stupid things! She’s not coming back!”

 

 

200 Word Tuesdays is a flash fiction writing challenge with a monthly prompt which must be written in 200 words.
200 words. No more, no less. Okay, 200-ish. (This one is 200 on the nose.)

Hosted by the the lovely ReeDaBee

April Prompt: And then there were three