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The Dove

There she was again, whispering prayers. “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” “Clair?” She turned in the pew. “Hi John. What are you doing here?” He stepped forward from the vestibule, feeling the warmth of the sun alternate with cool shadows as he passed through slanted rays of light coming through the stained glass windows. “I came to see you.” “Hello, then.” She got up from the kneeler and sat back in the pew, her hands resting in her lap. “You look like an angel.” “Thank you. Perhaps I am a fallen angel.” John took her hand. “You will work through this, Clair. Your mother was in pain. Not anymore.” Tears glistened in her eyes, and were illuminated by the shafts of light. “I know. But everything she taught me, John… that taking your life is a sin. That those who do can’t go to heaven. I don’t know what to believe. Or what I want to believe.” If only he could take her torment away. She would smile again. They could begin planning their wedding. There was a fluttering of wings, then, and a small white dove circled the church once and landed on the altar. It bobbed its head, as if trying to impart some message. Then it was airborne again. “Oh!” Clair gasped as it flew past and out the open door into the sunshine. Then she smiled. “You’re right, John. I will work through this. She wants me to be free.”

Thank you so much for reading my short story. This micro-fiction story is exactly 250 words. As I am the host of the weekly micro-fiction contest, I wrote it as a "just for fun" participant. The prompt for the week was "grace." This micro-fiction contest has evolved from a 50-word challenge to a 50-word contest to a micro-fiction contest. I'm still making adjustments to make it easier for more people to participate. Last week I announced we would broaden the word limit for each entry to 100 words, and now I'm raising the limit again. Going forward it will be a micro-fiction contest with a weekly maximum word count of 250 words. Watch my Steem blog for more information at https://www.steemit.com/@jayna. Animated signature

Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://jaynalocke.com/2019/01/13/the-dove-micro-fiction/