Micro/Flash Fiction 2

Chasing Death, by Kimberly Holt-Whitlock
http://www.wingedhalo.com/mag/chasing.html

This flash fiction is about a child dealing with it's mother's death. The child and the father are the main characters. The child is waiting for the mother to return, not fully understanding that she is gone. The conflict is within the child, since it struggles to understand the death of its mother. The child simply believes that the mother is sad and crying, as she had in the past, and will return. The father explains that she is not coming back. The child chases the hearse down the road until it disappears and the child is unable to run anymore. The father consoles the child and says that death cannot be chased away, which is the theme of the story. Death is a part of life and cannot be escaped. However people react and deal with death in different ways. A child may not accept it, an adult is able to as adults have more life experience. This flash fiction is very short but still conveys a powerful message about how death is part of life.