Between the falls

· by · in dVerse, prosery. ·

I knew the end had come, so on the evening stroll I made you stumble off from the cliff. 

You never cried…

I only had to make sure…

as dusk tiptoed closer to your grave among the hills so dry… 
so dense the underbrush…

that where I pushed my way. The giant hush was changed
… to soft explosion of your battered body
…blood pooling into sand… the first blowfly entering your nostril. 

Your hair, not yet matted, captured the last rays from the setting sun. 

I waited…watched closely… closer still… as your breathing slowed
…slowed
… and ceased. 

Climbing back onto the trail I worked some amount of panic before making the emergency call.
Later when your corpse had been brought out, I wore a mask of mourning that would be my new forever. 

I purged the time between falling in love and your fall.

Photo by Elly M on Unsplash

Sanaa hosts the prosery today at dVerse with the very challenging line:

“The hills so dry, so dense the underbrush, that where I pushed my way the giant hush was changed to soft explosion.” from “On a View of Pasadena from the Hills.” by Yvor Winters.

June 8, 2026

20 responses to “Between the falls”

  1. Ooh, this is dark, Björn! I really like the lighter detail in ‘your hair, not yet matted, captured the last rays from the setting sun’.

  2. I love this – especially the continuance of “to soft explosion of your battered body …blood pooling into sand.”

    A compelling prose piece, Bjorn! 💙💙

  3. Every detail deliciously evil with its tell-tale lack of empathy. The way that once the utilitarian aspect of his victim has gone the mask drops away is the most chilling aspect of your story.

      • You’re welcome, and you certainly did! How he watched her die gave me the goosebumps. Not sure if you ever heard Johnny Cash’s song, “Folsom Prison Blues” but your story reminded me of a line from it: “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.”

  7. A surprising and very dark take with the line, easily fitted

    Thanks for dropping by my blog, Björn

    much love

  8. My gosh, this is dark, Björn! I can’t say I enjoyed it (it has been too many women’s real experience) but it was certainly very well-written.

  9. Delightfully dark and chilling, Björn! The agonizing wait you described is palpable. Oddly enough, it perfectly mirrors my current mood while I sit here waiting for my cabinet painters to finally finish up. Luckily, my kitchen renovation won’t end in a “soft explosion”!

I try to reciprocate all comments. If you want me to visit a particular post, please direct me directly to that post.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.