Microcosm

The Bruises That Never Faded

Every mark on her skin carried a story someone didn’t want forgotten

Image created by the author via MidJourney

Melody saw her first bruise on a Tuesday.

The dark bruise was located on her arm and looked like the size of a silver dollar. The painful mark made Melody wonder how she got it.

By Friday, three more bruises had appeared. One darkened her shoulder, another spread across her thigh, and a third stretched along her ribs. Each hurt as much as the first.

Then, just as suddenly as they had appeared, they vanished.

Her doctor couldn’t explain it. “It’s possible your skin has become more susceptible to bruising,” he suggested.

Melody nodded politely, but she knew something was wrong. Especially when the bruises kept coming.

With both parents deceased and no close relatives left, Melody had nobody to ask about family history. She tried to ignore the mystery until she noticed something unsettling.

The bruises always appeared after a particular dream.

For years, she had occasionally dreamed about the house where she grew up. Recently, however, those dreams had become more vivid and frequent. In them, she walked down a narrow hallway toward her older brother Larry’s closed bedroom door.

Larry had died 25 years earlier when Melody was a kindergartener. Her family claimed he had accidentally fallen from the treehouse in their backyard.

Melody had few memories of her brother, though she recalled that her parents had been far more strict with him than they ever were with her.

In each dream, Melody got a little closer to the door before waking. Then one night, she finally opened it.

She saw Larry sitting on the floor waiting for her. He looked like the same lanky, handsome teenager she remembered from photographs. But his face, arms, and neck were covered in bruises.

“Melody…” he whispered.

She woke up screaming. She ran to the bathroom mirror and was stunned to see a fresh bruise wrapped across her neck like a handprint.

Then the mirror’s glass began to fog, and shapes began to emerge. She saw Larry shielding himself as a steady breath grew louder. Suddenly, she heard her father’s voice before the glass shattered.

Melody was thrown backward as memories she had buried for decades resurfaced. She recalled a violent argument between Larry and her father. She remembered seeing Larry bloodied and unconscious, and his father holding him, sobbing.

She realized then that everything she was told about Larry’s passing was a lie. Larry never fell from the treehouse. Consumed by rage, their father inflicted the injuries that ultimately killed him.

Melody collapsed onto the floor, crying uncontrollably. Then, through the scattered shards of glass, she saw Larry. He was smiling peacefully.

“Now that you know, Melody,” he whispered to her softly as she began to lose consciousness, “let it all go.”

When she awoke the next morning, sunlight streamed through the bathroom window. As Melody stood up, she realized the bruise on her neck had completely vanished.

She smiled. For the first time in a quarter century, neither brother nor sister carried the pain anymore.

The story was inspired by the June Microcosm prompt from May More:

[embed]They Bruise Easier & Cry Quicker Microcosm Flash Fiction Prompt for Junemedium.com