Maudine couldn’t leave good enough alone. She picked at the wound until a generous mixture of blood and pus oozed out. The perimeter had enlarged two-fold and had become difficult to conceal. It had been festering something awful since yesterday and now gave off a putrid mustard stink. Tucked away in the upstairs bedroom hidden from prying eyes, she felt free to indulge. Her fingers worked independently and deliberately to peel back the inflamed skin flap. Flinching with every tug, her lips pursed tight keeping the screams locked inside. The searing pain hit, hard, her head swimming in nausea. She took pause every few seconds, to catch her breath, to savour the accompanying relief. Soon she felt nothing at all. Maudine detached from her surroundings. She was unaware of the passing of time, the passing of her young life. Her practiced fingers vacillated between nursing the grisly damage and mutilating nubile flesh. Hovering out of body, she was oblivious to the approaching footsteps. Jerome bent on confrontation, his engorged tatts pulsating through a soiled, buff, tank, lurked around the corner. He burst into the room yelling at her to cut it out, threatening he’d tie her hands down if she could not control herself. Maudine cowered. ‘He was a miserable shit. Didn’t know when to mind his own business.' Her gut clenched, a vice grip holding back vomit and rage. She swallowed it whole. Gunmetal eyes bore down on her. She recognized the emotionless glare. The frenzy and combustible force was over. Jerome flicked his hand in disgust and pivoted on cowboy heels satisfied he had inflicted ample torment, and stormed out. Welts and humiliation were left throbbing. Maudine didn’t dare move. She remained on high alert until she heard the full-throated growl of the motorcycle revving up to leave the compound. Silence swelled to fill the space inside her head. The room reeked of fear and desperation no ventilator fan could ever drive out. She did not have long. Maudine harboured no thoughts of escape. She had nowhere to go. She had been down that road before. Ignoring a faint reminder of life that once held promise, she followed the dark voice inside that pulled her beneath the surface. And with the ringing of the death knell, she was gone. Maudine burrowed deeper into the gaping hole until her nails hit bone. The pain was acute and arresting, a welcome distraction from her pathetic life. Word prompt - 'bloodstained' - 121 & 101 word count flash fiction contest Word Prompt: 'distraction' Published in 'Blood Puddles: Night Terrors & Day Mares' Anthology, May 2018
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