Peacehaven…

100 words - A haven of peace - perhaps?

Sep 15, 2023

The following is a true story.

At Peacehaven
The cliff top was deserted as I braced myself against a warm, frisky head on wind.
A young man approached, walking downwind and quickly towards me. His anorak zipped, hood up, head down, hands in pockets.
He appeared strangely intent and I thought, ‘a man on a mission!’
He walked past me, without averting his concentrated gaze, resolute on reaching his destination.
He passed, I looked momentarily down the fifty meter cliff face, waves crashed violently over the pebble beach and concrete sea walk and then, immediately understanding, after the young man…
But the cliffs were already deserted…

I was the only witness.

At the inquest, several weeks afterwards, his mother tearfully thanked me and apologized for the torment caused to me personally. She told me that he had escaped from his latest rehabilitation centre and that his suicide had been a blessed release for him. That he had spent his short, tortured life almost permanently in psychiatric care and had spoken often of needing a haven of peace.

I’ve rather missed the prompt this week for Erica’s Free Writing Fridays, but I would love to think that for some in particular there really is a land of fairies and lights, and just maybe it is called Peacehaven.

Here is the prompt —

In a land of fairies, anything is possible. Take this place, for instance. I wonder what secrets we could uncover and who we might meet during our visit.

AND…

Because I completely forgot to publish this here last Friday, here is a second 100 word story.

Someone mentioned snow the other day - maybe as an antidote to the still crazy hot temperatures outside, who knows? And in the environmental study class, transport was discussed in terms of effects on climate, efficiency and how we might travel in the future… there were some interesting ideas too.
Two entirely different subjects that somehow ignited the idea for a 100 word story!
Into the void.
For two hours interior lights in the coach reassured the passengers, now, they begin to flicker, the battery obviously failing.
Outside snow is falling, swirling white curtains whipped by a wild and worsening wind.
Normally, all eyes would have been filled with childlike joy at the winter wonderland before them. Instead, perched as they are on a précipice, 36 lives hanging in the balance, the beauty of the landscape is lost in the panic of the darkness.
Someone leaps up shouting, look there’s a light approaching, the coach groans, metalwork creaking, then teeters…
Somewhere in the distance a raven calls.