Angel Wings
flash fiction from Smoke & Mirrors
For the last few days Dave the ghoul had been waking up during the day, when the sun was high in the sky. His old grave, sunken in the center with a tall tombstone rising above it, had not been comfortable. Normally he woke, when the sun was setting, and then he would dig through the dirt to the night.
By that time the owls would be hooting from the tall light poles around the small city. The mice would be searching for food to store in their nests. He would pounce on the mice, catch them, and then crunch with his fang-like teeth and swallow them.
His preferred food was humans, but they were hard to catch. They hid in concrete and steel structures. Many times he had crawled up the sides of these buildings, look into the windows to watch the humans eat, trance in front of a light box, and then sleep. It was frustrating like having a tuna can without the can opener.
The protected humans made him crazy with hunger. He thought about them all day and all night. When he slept he dreamed of opening one of those buildings and gorging on human flesh. When he awoke he was hungrier than ever.
His stomach grumbled. The mice barely took away his hunger.
So this day when he woke up in the middle of the day, he crawled out of his grave and crept through the bushes to the huge building next to the cemetery. His claws scraped and clung to the building as he slowly crawled up it. He checked each window and they were all close and locked tightly until he came to the tenth floor.
There was a window with just a screen between it and the ghoul. Inside was a girl, sweet crunchy girl, her back was to the door and she was staring at her light box. A light beat of music was the only sound as she breathed in and out.
He drooled.
A voice from the living room said, “I’m leaving now, Melissa.”
“Yea. yea.” The girl waved her hand. Then she went back to her box.
Dave leaped and before the girl knew she was in danger, she was on the floor and her light life bleed from her eyes. Dave ate, and ate, and ate. Then he burped. He cleaned his teeth, and left back through the window. He would sleep well tonight.
All that was left in his wake was shoulder and two arm bones. Angel wings.
Published in “Smoke and Mirrors” 2013. This is the edited version.