Sunday Photo Fiction is a weekly challenge presented by Susan Spaulding, who has taken over this great weekly prompt from my old friend Al Forbes.
This week’s photo comes from the lady herself.
The general idea is to write a short story (200 word max) inspired by what you see in the picture (below).
Click on this link to enter your tale, and see what others have written.

© Susan Spaulding

Click here to hear the author read the tale:

The Woods

I love to walk in the woods.
This is my escape each time she drives me crazy
The great trees restore my tranquillity.
The chirping birds bring joy to my heart.
She has brought much to my life, but not happiness, and certainly not peace of soul.
I know it is my own fault.
I have loved her from that first smile.
I don’t think she ever loved me.
Don’t get me wrong, we have had great times together.
We have walked sun-kissed mountains and starlit beaches.
We have sailed on the Pacific and bathed in the Mediterranean.
We have laughed and loved in different countries and continents.
We have lived, and I, at least, have dreamed.
But she has always been able to hurt me.
With a word or a glance, she has ripped me apart.
Time and again.
I have never known if it was intentional.
Even today, when she saw my pain, she just shrugged.
So I flee to the woods.
The solitude calms me.
The undergrowth is thick here, and the slope steeper, yet my breathing grows more measured.
I am at one with Nature.
Now, where should I bury her body?