55 Comments

This made me weep. Everyone thinks that losing someone to death is the worst loss you can suffer but it's not. Someone you love can dissolve in front of you when they're still alive and it's worse. Enough of these stories for today.

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Yes, Chris, this is right. Someone you love dissolving in front of you is worse. I've known it, too. It's desperate. Sorry (not sorry) I made you cry. x

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This is compellingly disturbing and beautifully written. Sadly, I was in a relationship like this one. Once. Thank God, I got out when I did--I got off lightly I guess. My sentence was only a year. I'll tell you this. It changed me. I am not the same person anymore. It makes me sad. I thought I had armor before--now, I'm a Sherman tank. One day, I hope, the ice will melt, the armor will rust and I will love again. Thank you for sharing your story.

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Thank you for sharing that. I've witnessed the devastation with close friends in this dynamic, the utter devastation of it. I wish you well, that all your needs are met.

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Thank you. I traded being burned at the stake for true self-reflection. Sometimes, the Devil does you a favor.

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The closeness you create between us and your persona is incredible, Eleanor. I really like the way you create a such a stream of consciousness and yet cover so much ground. Wonderful.

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Thanks so much Kathleen. Can't wait to get to yours. I've got an evening of gorgeous reading ahead of me. x

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Eleanor, this story is masterful, beautiful, and terrifying. You've captured something here that will live on and speak to so many just as the rest of your work does. I'm so glad you participated in this project.

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Thanks, Ben. We've all decided you're a hero x

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This was so powerful, raw, and gut wrenching, Eleanor. There was a moment near the end where I realized I had my hand on my chest, because I could feel this person's pain so deeply and my heart was breaking for them. I feel like we all know someone who has suffered privately in this way, and the heartbreak of leaving someone you love in their own madhouse that you so vividly crafted here brought me tears in the end. I just love the darkness, grit, and integrity your writing. What a gift you are to this community.

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You just made me cry. So there's that.

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Me too with the hand on chest!

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This is so chilling...

I love how the story started very lightly and romantically and then, gradually, came to the chilling end.

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This is as engaging as it is sad.

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Achingly beautiful, a heartbreaking portrait of madness and generational trauma. I always want to believe love is more than enough, but it can’t spare us from pain. Brilliantly conceived and written. Thanks you.

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Oh, thanks so much Julie. When I opened the prompt, it felt like such a gift. I already cared. It felt like it wrote itself.

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The flow of your narrative is excellent. From the bright beginning to the gradual change, the hint of something in her past slowly manifesting, and the inexorable march to what, madness? And the mystery. Where did she go?

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Where indeed... I don't know either, I had to leave it there. Thanks for your kind comments.

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"I don’t know where you went when the plants died in that house." Such a brilliant sentence to (almost) end the story. Superb writing.

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Also, I cannot tell you the satisfaction when someone you respect picks out a line you love. Oh, actually, I can. Just did.

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🙂 For me it's basically two lines of verse with three strong beats in each, with such a superb rhythm and balance to it (them). There's more I could say, but you don't need a mini-essay on how good your own sentence is! 😄

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☀️

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Thanks, Jeffrey. It all felt so vivid. I'd love to hear from my prompter if they'd like to get in touch. What a gift they gave me.

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Extraordinary. Beautiful written. You accomplished what we strive for, to move the reader and you succeeded.

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Thank you, Linda. That means a lot to me.

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Such a potent and incredibly moving way to tell someone else's story, beautifully done, Eleanor.

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Thanks so much, Mya.

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Incredibly touching!

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Thank you, Rhiannon

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I’m breathless just reading this. So masterfully done, so beautifully detailed. My son loved a woman who was bi polar and he told me once it was what she had, not who she was. Such a beautifully poignant , scary life .

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Thanks, Jean. I felt breathless writing it. Impossible. Upsetting. Your son knows the truth of that life.

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This is the kind of writing that can break a person. Haunting, and a bit too close to home.

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Thanks, Jodie. It kind of broke me, too, in the writing of it.

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I get that. I've got a couple of stories in me that I'm not quite strong enough to write yet. I admire those who can.

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Beautifully written, Eleanor. The pain of memory emanates from the piece which is written like a letter to one who disappeared a long time ago. The gradual descent into hell is described in a slow narrative which still has traces of the great love which was there initially. If your other fiction is as good as this piece, I'm a devoted fan already.

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Thank you very much.

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