Patsy scratched her underarms, rolling a vein between thumb and forefinger. She was hungry; for food and more.
She would struggle to find another climb; to find the heaven she had touched so many years ago.
She was sixteen and Justin’s eyes were starlit wells. In the background Robert Plant was crooning.
“It won’t hurt”, he said. “Let’s climb together”.
Just the prick of a needle and then came stars, a rush towards sky.
Once they’d been invincible.
She reached for Jason, and just touched ice.
Jason had left for a private stairway, a stairway that might reach his heaven.
I expect I’ll not be the only one who sees “Stairway to heaven” in that image. For some reason I have always assumed that some reference to drugs is in that song, and that is where the prompt took me.
Friday Fictioneers is a group of bloggers who write 100 word stories every week to the same picture. Rochelle set the bars (high) and selects the picture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q7Vr3yQYWQ
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September 21, 2016
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Chilling, and well- writen
Thank you…
Tragic tale and very poetically written. A lot of stars and stairways from the prompt so far, but nothing wrong with that. Great piece.
Thank you.. yes it’s tragic.
There is only one ride up, the rest is just bottom dwelling. You captured that so powerfully.
I agree… once down, the stair is gone.
Drugs and music. It’s all in there. You nailed it, Bjorn.
I had to listen to Led Zeppelin to get into the mood…
I really enjoyed reading this, great realistic take on the prompt
Thank you, alas it’s probably realistic.
quite a poignant little story with punch!
I guess with drugs you always have a menage a trois…
lol 🙂
Tragic and a waste of life, but then so many people have ended this way. Not truly a Stairway to Heaven after all. Nicely written and well framed with the jumps from past to present. Great tale, Bjorn
I think that stairway is just an illusion.
One that people are very happy to fool themselves with
Oh, what a brilliant take on this week’s photo prompt. So many young people still step in the same trap. It’s tragic but part of our society. Well done! Well done!
Thank you… I thought everybody would jump at stairway to heaven.
Now since you mentioned it…. 🙂
I can’t count the number of times my boyfriend and I listened to that song on our way to an after-school janitorial job. I didn’t see that in the picture and glad you did. You took it and ran. And yes, I think drugs must have played a big part in the music.
Maybe even for those playing the music…
Takes me back to Trainspotting 🙂
Never saw that movie…
Very tragic and I love the musical references – I’m dusting of my vinyls!
Yes there are some very good old ones… White Rabbit is another one…
It has never occurred to me before, but that totally looks like “Stairway to Heaving.” 😛
This is the best opening ever: “Patsy scratched her underarms” … I’m picturing her all monkey-like. 🙂
And this is a super-rad follow-up: “rolling a vein between thumb and forefinger” … I’m seeing her playing with a vein she pulled out of a wrist. Then you go into the hungry part, which makes me think of her as a cannibal. (Can o’ bull?) I’m such an idiota.
Ha.. yes I can see her veins being just like ropes on a skeleton… maybe a monkey is quite apt for her… alas.
The best animal to be. 😛
I’m likely the only one who thinks that, though.
“All-as(s).” You’re so clever!
Intense, tragic. Sad.
Alas… I have never had the itch, but I think I can understand it.
Well done! I love this one. Dark and beautiful at the same time.
Thank you… I wonder if it’s not heaven but also hell that’s a place on earth.
Dear Björn,
I suspect Jason’s heaven might have been something more painful. Dark and chilling. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
I think that the lure of heaven on earth is often a highway to hell… hmm that’s another song-title to incorporate.
Well written. Good description of the lure of getting higher until there’s no return.
I think if you are high enough the fall is just more painful
I always enjoy your work and have missed it during my time away. Can’t wait to get back in and catch up on some of your work I’ve missed. Great work!
Oh Nice to see you back… as you say it’s been a while… catching up might be a challenge… looking forward is a lot more fun.
What a great take on the prompt and beautifully (tragically) told. I’m listening to Led Zeppelin often, it’s one of my favourite bands. Back in the days, almost all music was connected to drugs. I didn’t see the Stairway to Heaven in the picture until you wrote it, and then I had this, “but of course!” moment.
Yes Led Zeppelin has a song for every mood of the day I think… and actually I think I could make a whole story just out of their song titles.
Like this:
Babe I’m gonna leave you, we’ve been through good times bad times, but this communication breakdown has left me dazed and confused.
You promised rock and roll, a whole lotta love and a stairway to heaven. But you left me stranded, trampled under foot, for those other dreams of yours, over the hills and far away.
To Kashmir. 😉
to the hum of immigration songs
LOL, we better stop now.
Grim and powerful, great piece!
Thank you… I think dazed and confused could apply as well.
Gritty and tragic but realistic, Bjorn. In certain years, a lot of songs referred to drugs. Good writing. —- Suzanne
I’m not sure it’s about drugs… I actually think not, but yet it works that way.
Yours is the first I’ve read this week, and we have the same title! I’m not sure whose story is darker, but yours certainly made me shudder.
Ha, like minds… no one else had seen that title… Like minds.
Ouch, I felt her desperation and the need for an ever-greater high to match the one before. I have this feeling Jason isn’t coming back down. I liked the description of ‘ice’ there – conveys so much.
No Jason is not coming down again… I think she will follow him though.
I love the description in this. A really imaginative take on the prompt.
Ha, I thought it was gonna be one of many with the same idea,..
Very descriptive. I like where you went with it.
Thank you.. I like you like
Wow. Well told. And a bit creepy too. She may follow before too long. Sad
I think she will follow soon
Great job, Bjorn. I read in the paper yesterday where heroin is making a strong comeback here in the U.S. That’s one reunion tour I don’t care to see.
On the upside, this photo made me think of an earlier post I had written entitled “Stairway to Kevin” that ended with the discovery of an old man in an outhouse.
I think a stairway to Kevin is a much better place to be..
Great tale, well told and very poetic. Rolling a vein between thumb and forefinger gave me a weird sensation, I think I like it and don’t like it in equal measure, which has got to be a sign of good writing.
I think the vein should make you cringe a little
Desperate wasted dreams rendered in 100 words… Wow.
Grim and tragic but your compassion shines through. Bravo Bjorn.
I think waste is exactly what it is.
Great take on the prompt. Drugs and heaven. Beautifully written though it took some time to understand fully.
Probably a good thing it was a bit hard to understand – we probably shouldn’t understand it.
A deeply moving account. We all seek heaven’s stairs in out own way. I climb it when I read a good book ot write one myself. I didn’t see a stairway to heaven. I couldn’t get past the reflections. They captivated me.
I think some try to shortcut though
You may be right about that
I knew you’d find a tragic twist for something like “Stairway to Heaven”. I also have always assumed there was some liked of connection to drugs.
It’s a great song.. but there is so much tragedies in dreams sometimes.
Great story, very well done. If that’s the Stairway to Heaven I’m pushing “B” for basement. This is the best piece I’ve read in a while.
I think I would prefer to go down rather then being tripped to fall.
Great take on the photo. I enjoyed reading this and love that you don’t spell it out and it’s so tragic.
Sometimes spelling it out make it less tragic I think.
I just love this sentence: She was sixteen and Justin’s eyes were starlit wells. I love these things paired together. Well written, moving and sad. Drugs are so hopeless and destructive.
They are, but behind the misery there is a sweet little child somewhere.
A sad story, beautifully written.
I could picture this story very well
You’ve written this very true to what I would expect the experience to be.
Oh I’d love to read your take on the lemon song… ‘jus sayin’ a good play on the prompt and the song. Just like the singer, gritty.
Nice set-up. I like your play on words ‘heaven’ and ‘ice’ Very effective. Tragic story, and unfortunately an all too common experience, it seems. The lure of escaping to a higher state of experience traps so many young people.
Yes I believe so too… I still recall some of the lures (not just drugs) that tempted you before you grew more careful