Friday Flash Fiction
  • Home
    • About Friday Flash Fiction
    • Comely Bank Publishing
  • 100-Word Stories
  • Longer Stories
  • Poetry
  • Authors
    • A-F
    • G-L
    • M-Q
    • R-Z
  • Submissions
    • Writing Good Flash Fiction
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Technical Help
    • GDPR Compliance

Poster Boy, by Mark Tulin

20/12/2017

 
Once outside I found a concrete bench to sit on and turned my back to the museum. But the damage was done. I experienced the pain that Daniel, the little boy on exhibit who lived in Germany during the Holocaust, must have felt.

My eyes were red and watery from crying as people looked at me when they entered the front door of the museum. I could feel their apprehension upon entering the building for fear of an emotional reaction similar to mine. I felt like I was the poster boy for ‘Holocaust Pain’—and I didn’t like it.

My daughter’s arm soon wrapped around my shoulders. “Dad, It’s okay. You need to get it all out.”

I should have been happy that I was getting all those trapped emotions out of my body. I should have been happy that my daughter was so comforting and gave me permission to cry.

But the tears would not stop. Tears that were like the flames that the Nazis started when they burned shops and businesses down.
My tears were like the pain of the Holocaust that doesn’t end. It never ends, I thought. It lingers like the crematorium smoke that billowed up to the red and black sky over those concentration camps.

My daughter took my hand as we walked a few blocks.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “Trust me.”

Soon we pushed our way through the plastic screen entrance of the Smithsonian Butterfly Garden and was greeted by thousands of friendly winged creatures landing on flowers, floating over our heads, in front of our noses, and at our feet. I marveled at their exquisite colors and designs. I was mesmerized by their frenetic energy.

In that instant, it hit me. The idea flooded my thoughts and my watery eyes began to dry up. 

I imagined that the butterflies were all the dead Holocaust victims rising up again. They rose from the furnace of death and hate. The black smoke from the crematoriums billowed up, but this time, once the smoke hit the sky, the bodies of all those millions of people were transformed. They transformed into a large cluster of butterflies. They spread their wings in happiness and forgiveness.
All the people who once were in pain were no longer hurting, but were now reborn, celebrating a new day, an evolution of their lives. They rejoiced in their frenetic flutter. They will live forever, I thought. Their beautiful memory will never be destroyed.

My daughter turned to me and smiled. There were no more tears.

Comments are closed.

    Longer
    Stories


    Longer Friday Flash Fiction Stories

    Friday Flash Fiction is primarily a site for stories of 100 words or fewer, and our authors are expected to take on that challenge if they possibly can. Most stories of under 150 words can be trimmed and we are currently not accepting submissions of 101-150 words.


    However, in response to demand, the FFF team constructed this forum for significantly longer stories of 151-500 words. Please send submissions for these using the
    Storybox


    One little request. Posting and publishing 500-word stories takes a little time if they need to be formatted, too. Please note that we tend to post longer flash fiction exactly as we find it – wrong spacing, everything.
    Picture
    If you would like to try the
    LONGER STORIES
    automatic RSS feed in your browser toolbar, click the blue "Subscribe" link below. For more help see the Help page
    SUBSCRIBE to Friday Flash Fiction - Longer Stories

    Archives

    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014

Picture
Website by Platform 36