“Beneath the Surface” was the second story I recently wrote for the Cascadia Weekly Fiction 101 contest. The stories were supposed to be 101 or few words.
Sometimes there’s beauty in mental illness. Remy, whose schizophrenia manifested in college, swam between reality and technicolor fantasies. As the years passed, spending more time underwater, watching colorful creatures morph into mermaids in filigree castles.
He’d floated in-and-out of reality throughout his mindless days, leaving his sparse apartment, catching the bus, maintaining the grounds of a large office park, eating a baloney sandwich, coming home to microwaved ramen.
Routine suited Remy.
On a cold morning, raking leaves from a partially-frozen pond, Remy slipped. As hypothermia paralyzed his limbs, he watched the detritus swirl like a kaleidoscope, sinking slowly to the bottom.
Thank you to Pamela Nhlengethwa for her photo on Unsplash
Rajalary 