I’m happy to present my entry for the second #writecampaign challenge. This is the prompt:

Write a blog post in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should:

– include the word “imago“ in the title

 -include the following 4 random words: “miasma,” “lacuna,” “oscitate,” “synchronicity”

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional and included in the word count), make reference to a mirror in your post.

For those who want an even greater challenge (optional), make your post 200 words EXACTLY!

There’s no mention of a mirror in my entry, though it is exactly 200 words, and meets all the other requirements. As always, I’m curious to know what you all think. If you’re so inclined, vote for my piece here. I’m #87. Be sure to read through all of the other excellent entries as well!

-oOo-

“Imago, Shattered”

The cicada buzzed and writhed, barely-there wings oscillating with fury. Stuck fast to a corkboard, speared by Tessa’s sharp pin, it struggled in vain. She had stabbed it savagely, wishing all the while that it was Robert Elliot.

Though Robert sat mere feet away, a lacuna oscitated between them, mocking the intimacy they once shared. Theirs had been a linking of souls that transcended fortune, and rank. Robert was a penniless tutor, she the daughter of the nobleman who employed him — an unlikely connection, filled with synchronicity. While their love blossomed, such impediments seemed minor annoyances, no harder to penetrate than a miasma of smoke.

She loathed him, yet her heart was bruised and aching, a betrayal of her true feelings. She couldn’t, wouldn’t lose him.

One hand splayed over the slight swell of her stomach, Tessa lurched to her feet, the crashing of specimen jars drawing Robert’s attention at last. Wreathed with sunlight, misery in his eyes, she saw him for what he was: a fragile man, neither villain nor saint.

She charged towards him, bridging that insurmountable distance in a dozen steps. Just before their mouths crashed together, she thought she saw tears glinting on his cheeks.