Bittersweet by Lorette C. Luzajic

It was never easy going back. The gloom was as thick as the damask drapery, and their enormous dusty tassels seemed symbolic somehow, ornamental bonds. The whole house smelled of chocolate and oranges. Bitterness polished in culinary perfume like a scarred banister salvaged by lemon oil. Descending those curlicue stairs, you saw more than your reflection in the grand gilt mirror that had hung there since World War One. In the desilvering ripples, the redhead was always floating down after you, the girl with no eyes and fire for hair.  

Lorette C. Luzajic reads, writes, publishes, edits, and teaches flash fiction and prose poetry. Her own has appeared in Ghost Parachute, The Disappointed Housewife, Bending Genres, Unbroken, Trampset, The Citron Review, Flash Boulevard, NFFR, and beyond. She won first place in a flash contest at MacQueen’s Quinterly. She is the author of two collections of small fictions, Pretty Time Machine and Winter in June. She is the founding editor of The Ekphrastic Review, a journal of literature inspired by art. Lorette is also an award-winning neoexpressionist artist, with collectors in more than 30 countries. She is also passionately curious about art history, folk horror, ancient civilizations, artisan and tribal jewelry, and culinary lore, to name a few.