One Black Day

It was like a raincloud was waiting to pour down on me. I had just waved goodbye to my oldest friend, who was starting a new life abroad with a man I never liked but, for her, I would have learnt to love. Black days, like bright ones, stretched ahead.

Determined to forget them, I set out to drown myself in alcohol in a low-lit bar, where I encountered Eve, alone, shrouded in a fur coat, a bottle of gin and two glasses in front of her. She beckoned me to join her – and proceeded to drink me under the table.

I woke up on a park bench, tucked under a fur coat. Sitting up, I spotted Eve strolling round the corner, her smile like the sun breaking through cloud. She was carrying two cups of coffee and the beginning of a new friendship.

Kim M. Russell, 21st July 2025

Image by Darina Boiko on Unsplash

It’s Monday and I’m bar-tending at the dVerse Poets Pub with Prosery, the very short piece of prose or flash fiction that tells a story with a beginning, middle and end. It can be in any genre, but it does have a limit of 144 words, and must include a complete line or two from a poem. The poem I chose for this month’s Prosery is ‘Dark August’ by Derek Walcott, one of my favourite poets, and the line is:  “I would have learnt to love black days like bright ones.”

38 thoughts on “One Black Day

  1. Love this and the juxtapositioning of light and dark. You used the line in the beginning….I used it at the end. 🙂 Will be interesting to read these posts! I do love a good prosery!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Very engaging!! The line breakage is brilliant. I so enjoyed all the images but had to smile at “I woke up on a park bench, tucked under a fur coat.” Great stuff.

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