Here’s a piece of fantasy flash fiction about what happens to the pieces of our broken hearts. It’s actually quite hopeful (see – I don’t write horror all the time!) It’s about 550 words and has an estimated reading time of 2 minutes. Let me know what you think!
When our hearts break, pieces of them drift away.
But to where do they drift? You may not believe it, but these pieces of our heart go to a faraway place.
It is Vylan’s and Lyka’s job to keep these pieces safe.
“There must have been a war,” Lyka said. She brushed aside her honey-blond hair and stared deeply into the crystal ball.
“A war or famine. Some catastrophe.” Vylan stroked his majestic beard; they were both concerned. They knew when they felt this many hearts breaking on earth, there was what the people called a “humanitarian crisis.”
“What shall we do?” Lyka’s eyes watered up. No matter how many hundreds of years they’d been doing this, it never got any easier.
Their cottage in the Otherworld was a small, cramped place. But outside were fields of green grass, lush forests, and pristine lakes. It was here that the broken hearts, the fragments of these people would come.
“We’re in for a busy few days,” Vylan said. He consoled his wife, rubbing her shoulders and letting her head rest on his chest.
The broken hearts came in bunches, in through the portal in the center of the green field. They came screaming and wailing, bloodied and battered. The broken hearts would eventually move back to earth in a different shape – reincarnation, as they call it. But invisible pieces of their heart, the broken and shattered parts, would always remain here with Vylan and Lyka.
Vylan and Lyka welcomed them, fed them, washed them. Over the few days, droves of broken hearts stumbled into the field, and they restored them to health and sent them back into the world.
The broken-hearted men, women, and children thanked Vylan and Lyka. Some didn’t want to leave the Otherworld – it was so peaceful and calm. But that wasn’t the deal, they reminded them. The broken-hearted had to be reintegrated into the society of humans.
“But my children!” one middle-aged woman wailed. “I’ll never see them again? Never?”
“I’m afraid not,” Lyka admitted. “That part of you will always be broken. I’m afraid you’ll carry that hurt eternally throughout your multiple lives. But …
“You will find love again. You’ll marry again, have new children. There will always be a nameless sadness, but there will be many new joys, too.”
Most people, like the woman, begrudgingly accepted this. Through the tears and heartache, they stepped into their new reincarnations bravely. They wouldn’t remember this time in the Otherworld, no, but they’d have a hint of paradise in their hearts.
When the last wave ceased, Lyka and Vylan finally got some rest. They knew there would be busy times again, but, for now, they could sleep.
Vylan made his wife tea, and they cozied up in the cottage. He put a warm blanket over her and kissed her on the cheek.
“The humans are lucky to have someone as kind as you,” he told his wife.
“And you too, my dear.”
They slept outside that night under the canvas of the night sky and stars. The eternal couple who soothes the broken hearts of earth.
Their hearts were filled with love for each other and the mass of humanity. Their big hearts were made for healing the brokenness inside us all.
The End
(Photo by alexey demidov on Unsplash)
True, you don’t write horror all the time — and this went in quite a different direction. Your story is really imaginative, and your story has heart for those broken pieces to have the chance to heal a bit before re-entering the world. And that’s a fantastic part about “a hint of paradise” remaining inside them.
Thank you Dave!